The UK’s 24-year-old Gaucho restaurant group has unveiled its bright new future, under the direction of Martin Williams, CEO of M Restaurants and former Gaucho MD. Diners are set to experience the evolution of Gaucho’s menus and a series of high-quality food and drink events.
The Smithfield branch of Gaucho on Charterhouse Street
Key to Gaucho’s new era is a broadening of its culinary vision. The group will remain a destination for top-quality Argentinian steaks, while also drawing on the contemporary flavours and energetic culture of the wider Latin American region.
Gaucho’s new menu offers two choices: ‘Classics’ and ‘Nuevo’. The Nuevo dishes include Cured Patagonian Red Prawn Tiradito to start (with pickled cucumber and salsa verde), with mains such as Grilled Swordfish (with a mixed-bean cassoulet, palourde clams and grilled lemon) and Pearl Barley Arrabiatta (with grilled courgette, artichoke hearts, Peruvian olive, cipolline onion and cherry tomatoes). These choices are inspired by the new wave of culinary talent and innovation which has emerged across Latin America in recent decades.
Gaucho aficionados, however, are also catered for with the menu’s Classics dishes. These reinterpretations of long-established dishes include the Empanadas (beef, humita or sun-dried tomato and mozzarella) and The Gaucho Burger (bacon, onions two ways, pepper mayo and Guindilla chilli).
Gaucho also remains a temple to Argentinian meat: Black Angus beef, raised in Argentina and fed grass from the country’s Pampas region, available in cuts including Colita de Lomo (spiral-cut tender tail fillet) and the Tira de Ancho (spiral-cut rib-eye, slow grilled with chimichurri).
A series of world-class guests are lining up to champion this new era, with each making appearances in Gaucho kitchens over the coming months. The Gonzalez brothers, behind London’s Michelin-starred Lima, will be cooking a special menu with Gaucho chefs on 30-31 October followed by Germán Martitegui from Argentina’s Tegui in February. Tegui featured prominently on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year. March 2019 will also see a Gaucho bar takeover by Renato Giovanonni from the Florería Atlántico bar in Buenos Aires, which landed at number 14 on The World’s 50 Best Bars list 2018.
Finally, The Gaucho Argentine Wine Awards will be reintroduced in 2019, preceded by a series of ‘winemaker dinners’ starting on 6 November with Pablo Cúneo, from the Luigi Bosca vineyard in Mendoza, followed by a second with Maurizio Lorca on 7 November, who hails from Mendoza’s Viña Patricia winemaker.
While championing culinary trailblazers, the evolved Gaucho won’t underestimate the pull of tradition: Sunday diners can choose the £20 Sunday Roast. Roast beef sirloin, roast potatoes and unlimited, beef-dripping Yorkshire puddings are given a Gaucho twist with carrots tossed in churrasco marinade and red wine gravy. Meanwhile, the Electro Brunch experience remains a trademark for Saturdays, combining a chilled club soundtrack with two hours of unlimited drinks and dishes for £49.95, from 11am to 4pm.
“I’m excited to be back at Gaucho”, says Martin Williams. “It is a restaurant group that I’ve been passionate about since its inception. I am delighted to be leading this incredible journey which will re-establish Gaucho as the leading premium restaurant group in the UK. “I’m delighted that South America’s best talent is coming to Gaucho to kickstart and celebrate a new chapter in our journey, the new menus, new pricing and new management team have created an amazing value option for diners in the UK.”
