In any event, it’s hard to be truly disappointed by an onion ring bigger than my hand. The inside is a bit stodgier, and the onion itself is bland, but this felt like bad onion luck rather than anything else. The outside of the onion rings are perfect: hot, crunchy, and dotted with nigella seeds. The chips are great, just on the delicious side of very salty, and the kind of crisp that means that one out of every ten is almost hollow. A separate dish accompanies it, overflowing with frites, and two onion rings as big as DVDs. Most of the fat is gorgeously rendered, rich, beefy and plump, with just a couple of chewy bits. And the steak is pretty good, tender and full of flavour, served pink, with a generous puddle of peppercorn sauce. A steak au poivre feels like a good test of a brasserie.
