Flat Iron’s Carcass Club Comes to Cambridge
The popular Flat Iron ‘Carcass Club’ has finally come to Cambridge too! Last Tuesday, we were invited to join the team for their first Carcass Club event at their Cambridge restaurant on Market Street, offering a unique take on the classic Flat Iron experience.
What is the Carcass Club?
Carcass Club is a series of one-off events, which gives guests the chance to taste some of the rarest and most exceptional beef. Each carcass is broken down in Flat Iron Covent Garden’s in-house butchery, before being taken to the selected restaurant to be enjoyed by steak lovers.
Hosted by Flat Iron’s Head of Beef, Fred Smith, the Carcass Club will take over the Cambridge restaurant for one night only, shining a spotlight on their very own Wagyu. Over ten years ago, the Flat Iron herd was first founded with the intention of rearing the best beef possible without the financial constraints that most farmers face. After running a herd of native and rare breed cattle for six years, Fred and the team decided to select one breed to focus on to push the boundaries of remarkable beef even further. They chose Wagyu.
About the menu
At the first Cambridge Carcass Club, guests were served F2 Wagyu (75% Wagyu genetics). The animals have lived their whole life in Thirsk under the careful eye of Charles Ashbridge, a third-generation farmer who cares for the cattle and shares Flat Iron’s passion for remarkable beef.
For just £20 per person, guests were served a Wagyu steak, alongside a portion of beef dripping chips and sauce Choron – a variation on the classic Béarnaise. As always, guests were treated on their delicious beef dripping popcorn before their meal and Tahitian vanilla soft serve ice cream as a sweet goodbye. The Carcass Club started at 5pm and the cuts of meat were available on a ‘first-come-first-served’ basis. There is no choice of the cut of meat, but you will be served whatever cut is available.
Our review of the Carcass Club
We were served a rump steak on Tuesday, which was tender and cooked to perfection. Apart from a double portion of chips, we ordered creamed spinach and Parmigiano, both of which were delicious and a perfect match for the steak. There is no better drink to have with a steak than a full-bodied red wine. We were lucky as their premium red is a velvety Malbec.
This Malbec is a limited-release Reserve, with only 3,000 bottles available across all restaurants. The Reserve Malbec has been crafted for Flat Iron by Château Grand Moulin, a family estate located in the wine-making region of Lézignan-Corbières in southern France and builds on the success of the existing Flat Iron Malbec. The Reserve is rich with notes of dense dark fruits, a hint of oak spice and smooth fine tannins. Produced from the finest fruit, the wine is 100% Malbec and has been aged in oak barrels for 12 months making it the ideal accompaniment for steak. The only pity is that it’s a limited release, so once it’s gone, it’s gone! Hopefully, this estate will produce a similar wine, as it is fantastic!
Why is Waygu so special?
Fred Smith, Flat Iron’s Head Beef, says: “I believe that Wagyu genetics – with their natural propensity to produce marbled meat – and the fine pastures of Charles’s Yorkshire farm combine to produce beef of remarkable quality. It feels incredibly special to share Wagyu from our own herd with Flat Iron guests in Cambridge.”
When will the Carcass Club return to Cambridge?
Did you miss the June Carcass Club in Cambridge? Don’t worry, there will be another chance this year, possibly twice. Keep an eye on Flat Iron’s social media to be one of the first to know. Make sure you turn up early as there are only a limited number of cuts! The Carcass Club starts at 5pm, with the menu priced at £20 per guest. Walk-ins only.
The return of the Green Chilli Burger
There are more reasons to dine Flat Iron, not just their fantastic steaks, but their burgers too! This month also marks the long-awaited return of the ‘Green Chilli Cheeseburger’ on the Flat Iron menu. Created using two beef patties from the Flat Iron herd, melted Gouda cheese, fresh green chillies, crunchy shredded lettuce, sliced pickles and homemade smoked chilli mayo.
About Flat Iron
Founder Charlie Carroll opened Flat Iron in 2012 as a pop-up above a pub in East London. Committed to doing a few things really well, Charlie aimed to make great steak available for everyone. Flat Iron have now 15 restaurants in London, including the recently opened Flat Iron Southbank; in 2023 they opened their first out of London restaurants in Cambridge, followed by Leeds and Manchester in the summer of 2024. Working closely with British farmer Charles Ashbridge, Charlie and Head of Beef Fred Smith have created their own herd of Flat Iron cattle in Thirsk, Yorkshire, where they are now concentrating on rearing Wagyu.
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