Remember when “sizzlers” became a thing in pubs? Back in the Balsamic Glaze Years of the early Noughties, iron skillets would be topped with a medley of vegetables and a piece of fish or meat — herb-crusted salmon or cajun chicken, that sort of thing — before being served positively spitting at the table. Smoke would rise, cheers would erupt. They were emphatic in the mid-market, a hit up there with hunter’s chicken and salt and pepper squid. Genius, really. More so when paired with a Heineken or a Grolsch as part of some horny-for-the-suburbs meal deal.
Sizzlers are canonical today. Find them at the chain Sizzling Pubs, but also now at the much-loved Gun in Hackney, where they’ve been brought back to life in a manner befitting of their graceful surroundings: fine British wagyu comes hot and heavy over onions and should be enjoyed with a pint. “Come for the Guinness, stay for the wagyu” is the new strapline. I’ll come for both, then have a Japanese whisky or two.
