New meat hospitality

Sometimes you think that in these vegan times there is no longer any place for meat in hip hospitality. Nothing could be further from the truth: establishments with names as unapologetic as The Dirty Chicken Club and The Beef Steak Club prove that meat is still hot. Often even without an obligatory excuse-veggie dish on the menu.

The Beef Steak Club in Amsterdam is opening its doors in March. The creators drew inspiration from the late nineteenth century, when beef steak clubs primarily attracted a male audience with large pieces of meat, pitchers of beer and entertainment until deep into the night. Clubs full of men in butcher’s aprons and top hats who ate with their hands and downed litres of beer. As in the film Gangs of New York.

Whole cow

The Beef Steak Club in Amsterdam is pursuing that same experience. In this revisited steakhouse: buckets full of beer or cocktails and, of course, slabs of meat. They do offer shared dining, but in a different way: besides steak, you can buy an entire cow with your friends and have it prepared for you during various visits.

A beercan chicken or a whole cow?

It is not only whole beef carcasses that are being worked through in the newest meat hospitality venues in the capital. The whole chicken is doing well too. After years of hanging on the spit/rotisserie, the chicken is now grilled over open flames. As at the Portuguese Franggo and The Dirty Chicken Club.

Beercan chicken

At the latter establishment, a cooking method is being introduced into the hospitality industry that until now was primarily high on the list of home grillers in the American South: beercan chicken. A chicken is placed upright over an open can of beer and roasted over flames. The beer evaporates and keeps the chicken juicy on the inside, while the flames char it crisp on the outside.

At festivals, carcasses roasted nose-to-tail have been completely normal for years. And now they are also being brought indoors. Why? Probably because vegans can imitate quite a lot of animal-based flavours and textures, but cannot put a complete cow or chicken substitute on the table.

You can find information about Beefsteakclub here.
You can find information about The Dirty Chicken Club here.
You can find information about Franggo here.