temper City.

temper City

Neil Rankin opened this one months after Soho and pointed it at India, so the fire pit sends out smoked meat with parathas and curry-side dishes.1

Why go

Rankin took the last unit in the Angel Court development at Bank and built the same thing he built in Soho, an open kitchen with live-fire cooking at the middle of it, then swapped the Mexican slant for an Indian one.1 The group takes its beef, pork, lamb and chicken from one Yorkshire farmer, Charles Ashbridge, and ages the steaks in house, which is the reason the menu can be as short as it is.1 Harden's diners describe the format from the seat: sitting at the counter with all of its theatre is amazing, with really cool (well, hot) feature are the 'fire pit' cooking stations.1 Those lines cover the group rather than this room, which matters, because five sites have traded under the name and two of them shut in autumn 2024.1

Order this / avoid

• Order: a prime cut for the table off the fire pit. Harden's fans call them fantastic prime cuts for sharing.1
• Order: the curry-leaning side dishes and the parathas, which is what this branch was built to do and Soho was not.1
• Avoid: ordering light and hoping. Portion size against price is the complaint that recurs most in the survey feedback.1

What locals & experts say

• Harden's survey diners, on the group, most recent edition: Proper steak venues with fantastic prime cuts for sharing is how fans applaud Neil Rankin's cocktail-fueled smokehouses: vibrant hang-outs featuring live-fire BBQ in the open kitchens that form the heart of each outlet. The same entry records that ratings have varied of late.1
• Harden's, the same guide printing the demerits in full: service is often a bit all over the place and dishes can arrive lacking genuine flavour; an earlier edition records chaotic service and lack of value, in particular, inspires repeated gripes ('plates were minuscule at ridiculous prices…'; 'we joked that you needed a microscope to find the portions…').1
• No critic has written up the Angel Court room on its own in anything reachable here. Everything above belongs to the brand.

Good to know

• Which door this is. Jeff's pin is 2 Angel Court, the Bank branch. Soho and Covent Garden are the other two survivors. Paddington and Shoreditch closed in autumn 2024.1
• Lunch deal: Harden's records a 15 pound steak frites lunch offer, and it is Covent Garden only.1
• The venue's own site returns a 403 to us, so hours, menu and prices are not published here.

Verdict

could-visit — Neil Rankin put a fire pit in the middle of the room and built the menu around it, and this Bank branch is the one he pointed at India rather than Mexico, so the smoked meat arrives with parathas and curry-side dishes instead of taco platters. The group buys its beef, pork, lamb and chicken from one Yorkshire farmer, Charles Ashbridge, and ages the steaks in house, which is a real supply decision rather than a menu adjective. The counter seats put you in front of the cooking, which Harden's diners call 'amazing' theatre. Against that, the same guide has watched the ratings slide for three editions running: service 'a bit all over the place', portions that 'promise more than it delivers', and a chorus about price against plate size. Two of the five sites shut in autumn 2024. Worth a counter seat and a steak, worth checking the bill against the appetite.