Steak house is a cut above for meat lovers

IF you take your steak seriously, The Rythre Arms Steakhouse is the prime choice.

For over 30 years the restaurant and public house in Ryther, near Tadcaster in North Yorkshire, has had a passion for beef that is evident from the first taste, with great skill and care ensuring the cut that appears at your table is nothing short of perfection. This doesn’t start in the kitchen – although The Rythre’s head chef, Andrew Bennett, will cook your steak, be it T Bone, fillet, rib-eye or sirloin, beautifully – but with the cows in the field.

The Rythre has a strict policy of only serving the best; this means only using grass-fed cattle, so they grow naturally, they must be under 30 months old and have a good fat content so the beef ages properly. This dedication to quality has seen it win the Best of British accolade at last year’s Yorkshire Evening Post’s Oliver Awards, which rewards the best food venues in the region, and another shortlist nomination for 2015.

“We take our beef, especially the steak, very seriously; it’s our passion,” says Tony Linley, who owns the family-run steakhouse. “It’s about getting the right beef first and foremost. It’s got to be stock raised especially for the quality of the beef. A lot of cattle are bred primarily for the supermarket butchers where they want big lean cuts and presentation is more important than flavour. We need beef that eats well, rather than what it looks like in a packet.”

This drive was instilled by Tony’s dad Eric, a slaughter man from Leeds, and has been taken forward by Tony, a trained chef but who can be found front of house. Thanks to this knowledge, the steakhouse has a wealth of suppliers to call upon to ensure it always serves up the best quality.

Currently, Yorkshire produce is being served, with beef sourced from specialist suppliers all over the county. However, such is the popularity of the steakhouse (it gets through some 25-30 cows a week!) it will look further afield if needed.

Once the meat has been selected it is matured by the traditional method of hanging, for up to three weeks depending on the cut, before it is butchered by Tony on the premises. This means that diners can have any size they wish cut to order, with steaks on the menu ranging from a 6oz fillet to The Rythre Monster – a huge 78oz rump steak.

The best cut is down to personal taste. For those who want tenderness and flavour, opt for the fattier cuts of sirloin or ribeye. Rump is leaner and firmer but has flavour all of its own, or the super tender fillet steak melts in your mouth.

However, it is the T Bone that The Rythre is best known for – with sirloin on one side and fillet on the other.

“It has always been our flagship steak,” explains Tony. “As much as anything it’s because we can dry age it for longer, typically four to five weeks. Beef aged to this extent has a nutty almost sweet flavour and improves much better than beef that’s matured off the bone.”

We take our beef,

especially the steak, very seriously;

it’s our passion.