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Ramside Estates Magazine
R AW TA L E N T A slab of prime beef is a thing to be treated with respect. At the helm of The Rib Room, head chef Paul Beckwith is a man who’s at home in the meat locker, as Kathryn Armstrong discovers.
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very week at Ramside Hall’s Rib Room, the meat men cometh. Their job? To fill the restaurant’s meat locker with prime Hereford beef. The mighty meat locker acts as a working showcase for the beef which is the menu mainstay at the Rib Room. On a busy weekend that might mean satisfying the appetite of some 800 diners who want their version of the ultimate steak. That might mean a blood-red rib-eye, a medium rare fillet or a ‘push-the-boat-out' celebratory Chateaubriand carved at the table for two. Nothing fazes chef Paul Beckwith when it comes to meat (though it nearly makes him weep to have to send a well-done steak out of that kitchen). His workstation is butchery paradise. Paul started out at 14 working in a butcher’s shop and honed his skills with saw, knife and cleaver. The tools of his trade are not to be messed with. Heavy steel knives that he manages with the deft touch of an expert, lifting these mountains of meat as though they were a feather. Meat is pride of place in The Rib Room as the name suggests. The restaurant takes as its starting point a French brasserie-style which is reflected on walls which are lined with vintage wine lists and labels as well as chateau signs and posters. ‘Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!’, proclaims one. The provenance of meat in the restaurant is important – and of course, the key to a great steak. Local butchers provide the Hereford beef and it is hung for
dinner might mean a blood-red rib-eye, a medium rare fillet or a ‘push-the-boat-out' chateaubriand carved at the table for two