CAU, Cambridge; 24 May 13

It’s been a week of two birthdays. They were both 30 year birthdays, both males and both sons. And both were celebrated with meat.

Alex is my son-in-law and soon to be father of my first grandson. He was 30 at the beginning of the week and this birthday was celebrated at a barbeque lunch at his parents’ home in Nottinghamshire on Sunday. His brother, there doesn’t seem to be a special term for the brother of a son-in-law even though he counts as a brother-in-law of my daughter, is a butcher, as was my grandfather, and that meant that the barbeque was well provisioned. We had lamb burgers, pork sausages, beef schnitzels and chicken plus, I guess, a few vegetables and salad on the side. A sort of un-vegetarian meal.

We celebrated my son’s birthday on Friday and we went to dinner at CAU, an Argentinian restaurant in Cambridge. Given that it styles itself as a steak restaurant, although it does offer alternatives, I got to thinking about the best steak restaurant I’ve been to.

You can of course get good steaks locally today, think about the St John’s Chop House, and you used to get excellent unpretentious fare including steaks at the Cambridge Lodge Hotel before that closed prior to its imminent conversion into flats. What happened to that great idea? And of course those with long memories will remember the Turk’s Head, a Berni Inn, on the corner of Green Street where we drank schooners of sherry and got a steak dinner for less than a pound.

I’m fortunate in that I have been around a bit and enjoyed some excellent steaks in most of the English speaking world and especially in the US: at Morton’s in Chicago, Chops in Atlanta, the Palm in Philadelphia, Boston and Denver, and at Delfrisco’s in Dallas. I’ve even been to Ruth’s Chris in Kaoshiung.

Then there are derivatives: Benihana’s in Tokyo and any one of the many super Churrascerias in São Paulo.

But there is one place that sticks in my mind as being unique and exceptional: Vlado’s in Melbourne. Google tells me it’s still there (www.vlados.com.au). I went in the late 70s and in those days it was BYO. And it wasn’t a matter of steak with vegetables on the side. It was just steak.

But back to CAU. It does steaks and they were good although my son’s lomito came cold. OK it was ordered rare but you still expect it to spend a couple of minutes each side under the grill.

There’s plenty of choice in the menu: different cuts and sizes and other dishes for those who don’t want steak. The wine list is fine with lots of Malbecs and it won’t break the bank. We enjoyed starters, salt and pepper squid, tomato and cheese bruschetta and mussels, and deserts, chocolate fondant, chocolate mousse and cheese cake without feeling that we’d overeaten. And the service was super. But …

There’s always a but. We sat upstairs. Downstairs has a bustle, there’s an open kitchen and I guess you feel that you’re a part of the action. Upstairs it’s sterile and the plastic seating is a bit overwhelming. Plus we were encouraged to order crisp bread starters (two) and these were underwhelming. And although the wine was excellent (Finca la Colonia Malbec) I didn’t really need 200ml poured into my glass at one go.

So, and in conclusion … yes go to CAU for excellent steaks but book a table downstairs, don’t order the crisp breads and don’t let the manager pour the wine.