Reviews Tramshed

A great place in Shoreditch. It has ample seating and not sure if it will be full unless there might be an event nearby. They have a pretty vast menu and the staff was really cool and friendly.

I had ordered the Garlic mushrooms, Fries and a salad with a Burrow Hill Cider.
The mushrooms were not quite the ones I liked. But the rest were great to the taste buds and there is a lot more on the menu that can be tried.

Visited Tramshed for lunch. It's a repurposed old building and the charm of that gives it an ambience and a style of its own. Add to that a huge tank atop a high pole with a whole real cow and a real rooster preserved within it - and it's self- identity is sealed. The menu is all cuts of meat and roasted chicken which comes at no surprise. I went for a tasty sirloin steak with fries and salad. All around us impressive whole chickens were being served upright to hungry patrons and we quickly realised this must be a popular and signature sharing dish. Next time. The food was good. Service was a little impersonal. Loves the actual venue itself.

Based on Rivington Street in Shoreditch is the new revamped Tramshed, one of Mark Hix’s restaurants. Named so as it is situated within a former East End tram-generator building. High ceilings and long tables and booths with a large installation by Damien Hirst of a cow with a chicken on top, signifying the restaurants specialties – chicken and steak!

You can't go wrong at Tramshed. For a start there's that fantastic Damien Hirst art piece of a real cow and chicken smack bang in the centre of the restaurant for a start!

Your choices are chicken or steak, so what should you choose? Do the right thing and order both. Your chicken arrives looking like its done a highdive into the French fries, and the steak is gigantic and unbelievably delicious. 

I also advicse you to leave a teeny bit of space for dessert, because you have not lived until you've tried their salted caramel fondue with giant marshmallows and donuts!  Hello!

The atmosphere is buzzing, yet casual. I can't recommend it enough.

This week’s Throwback Thursday post is about Tramshed in Shoreditch. I first went a couple of years ago for New Years Eve with Tim. We wanted a nice dinner with good grub that wasn’t too fancy, and this ticked all the boxes!. You may know of Tramshed because of its controversial/awesome art display in the centre of the restaurant by Damien Hirst, featuring a whole cow, with a chicken riding on the top, preserved in formaldehyde solution, known as ‘The Cock and Bull’. Not for the faint hearted, but an impressive feature.

Pretty good place. Friendly staff and nice interior. Really good steak (although I question why they couldn't provide a sauce each, instead of making a group share). Pork crackling could've been better. Credit crunch ice cream was nice. All in all, nice place... probably more suited for 'occasions' rather than random place to eat.

You’re probably aware, along with the rest of the world, that celebrated chef Mark Hix has turned a disused tram shed (from 1905 don’t you know) into a chicken and steak restaurant in Shoreditch. You may or may not also be aware that there is a Damien Hirst formaldehyde-encased cow standing on a huge pillar in the centre of the room, with a large cock perched on its back. Well, he has to do something to stand out I guess.

Arriving ridiculously early for a birthday party having just picked up our wedding rings (eek!) Ian and I settled down at the bar to while away the time. He had a zombie and I went for a Temperley sour – both were pretty bloody sour! The zombie was served with a flaming, rum-soaked sugar cube which entertained me enough to make up for it.

We decided to go for a 250g sirloin and half a chicken between us, which both come with chips and a variety of dips. The chips were perfect – really hot and crispy, and it seemed like they’d been cooked in rosemary oil or something; there was a really subtle hint of it. The steak was lovely with the béarnaise and the chicken, served with feet and all, was also good. But.. that’s it. It was all good, I have no complaints about the food at all. But I think I was expecting to be blown away. We paid about £140 for two, and I can’t help feeling that we could’ve paid that in Hawksmoor or MASH and had a better steak! (Although I have to say that we drank a fair bit so a chunk of the bill was that).

The dessert was incredible – salted caramel fondue with big soft marshmallows to dunk in it. It was rich, decadent and unnecessary but so good.

We were up on the mezzanine level which gave a great view of the buzzing restaurant and blue-hued cow, and staff were constantly running up and down the stairs to give really attentive service. We were a big group so no mean feat.

It was a great night overall and everyone had fun – I really enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong. You could go elsewhere.. but then you wouldn’t get to hang out with a real cock and bull now, would you..

The Indian rock chicken and the Tbone are some of the best food I've ever tasted. If you love steak this is the place to go. Nice relaxed atmosphere with a really cool decor. Damien Hirst has a very prominent presence in this place!

We finished with a warm blueberry pie drizzled with cold cream and and a bottle of the cheap and cheerful French white, Fontarèche Blanc. The prices are pleasingly low, the food is unfussy and of a high standard, served in cool surroundings. You've done it again, Mr Hix.

Absolutely lovely place! Nice crowd. Come dressed well. The food is just gorgeous! Beware, if you don't want to eat at the bar make a booking because this place is very busy even during the week!

If you ever feel like a great steak, and don’t want to spend 50 pounds, go Tramshed. This industrial-looking restaurant only serves chicken or steak, in different variations with different sides. 

I would recommend the Holy Fucked Chicken Wings (unfortunately contain gluten however my friends were loving them). For the main either go for the whole chicken to share or one of the steaks (which will be made exactly the way you want). With your steaks you get a buttery sauce infused with herbs, and delicious homemade fries (the thin type).
Other than some of the starters this is a great place for people that want to avoid gluten, even the sauces are gluten-free. The service is excellent and you can that they are having fun themselves, adding to the inviting atmosphere of the place.

Heinously cool like every Hix restaurant, though a bit flatter on a Saturday evening than I'd expected. Had the sharing chicken which I don't believe topped Clockjack, but prices and surroundings decent.

“It’s everything that you think it will be”

So said our sprightly, smiley waitress as we enquired about the chocolate fondue. We could be forgiven for casing out the pudding menu before we had even ordered the rest of the food, as the menu at Tramshed is not exactly what you would call voluminous…

The overbearing lack of choice at Mark Hix’s latest bastion of recession-busting British gastronomy is well-documented, as is everything else here. The Tramshed, tucked down Rivington Street in Shoreditch, is currently the darling of London’s restaurant scene and yet another jewell in the already blinged-up crown of East End cuisine. Ever since its opening in June 2012, Tramshed basks in the glory of rave reviews, reviews which commended the oh-so-simple and oh-so-fashionable chicken-or-steak menu, the quality of the cooking and even the architecture of the shed itself – where the magic happens.

There is of course, the little matter of ‘Cock and Bull’ – not alluding to the hype surrounding Tramshed – but Damien Hirst’s installation; a monolithic vitrine supported on an anvil-like structure, containing a chicken perched on a cow’s back, the sorry pair sunken in formaldehyde. The piece salutes the purpose of Tramshed, its presence a result of Hix and Hirst being besties. Our chef friend appears to have quite the social life!

All things being equal, Tramshed has been screaming “Look at me!” to London foodies for the past six months and (as I am easily suggestible) it worked. My yearning to go here was only exacerbated when the restaurant won ‘Best Meat Restaurant’ in the 2012 Time Out Eating and Drinking Awards. Personally, I am much more likely to pay attention to that than a big dead cow in a tank of water.

Seemingly a half-year after the rest of London, I made it to Tramshed last weekend, catching up with a couple of mates who, seeing as the airport broke, selfishly didn’t make it out to Budapest last month. Lunch was the order of the day, and so on a bitingly cold Saturday in January we set off in search of warmth – and how that search took us via the open-air bar at Cargo I shall never know. The novelty of sipping over-priced beers under a tit-freezingly cold tarpaulin soon deserted us and we moved on to the main event.

The shed itself seems to disappear into the mess of a typical East London street all too well, yet opens up and yields all its space on the inside, much like the Tardis from Doctor Who. First impressions were very different to what I had imagined. For a start, the place was near-empty, not packed to the (very high) rafters with carnivores, East London’s finest and ladies who lunch, as I had imagined. The atmosphere did get a little more exciting when Rick from Tool Academy rocked up and sat on the table next to us. Cock and Bull does dominate the room, a focal point that sticks its middle finger up at the sins of vegetarianism and veganism, but there is much more to gaze at; I was drawn to another Hirst original, a massive cartoon print of Cartoon Nework’s Cow and Chicken, hung on the far wall above the Mezzanine level. It’s called um, Beef and Chicken.

Tramshed does possess more than a touch of the Tate Modern, and not just because of the art (though there is an entire gallery in the basement). As my more cultured friend quizzed the waitress on all things art, where, when, how much, who by etcetera, it dawned on me that, like at the old Bankside power station, Hix and his design team had done a really rather grand job of doing the place up. The 107-year old electricity generating station for trams has been set upon like a skilled butcher would to a beef carcass. Spacious booths nestle into a sliced away section of a side wall, light pours in from a single window cut into the corrugated roof and every dose of clinical factory-esque decor is offset with flecks of the finer things in life; the colour of a well-stocked bar, the occasional (barred off) bookshelf and a cozy-looking lounge area-cum-holding pen for eager diners.

Despite the shortcomings of the menu, ordering took a while – as per usual – this time, we had belated Christmas presents to sort out. Mine included a tea-towel illustrating a periodic table of offensive phrases (I’m sure I could think of someone who ‘Stinks like a piss Ceefax’) and a pack of popping candy.

We finally ordered drinks; a lager, of the ‘craft’ variety (yeesh) – though it was served in a chilled glass which is always a nice touch – and went on to survey the wine list. The multitudes of wines are crammed onto one sheet of A4 and cover all tastes, regions and budgets. A nice touch, I thought, was selling plonk by the carafe, though at the other end of the scale – if you are getting the party started – there are quite a few magnums to choose from too. We went for an Oz Shiraz called Stone the Crows, a choice made simply on the name alone. It was glorious. All well and good so far, but hey, we’re in the Tramshed! Let’s look for the USPs! Let’s get wow’ed! And we did, when Ash noticed something on the menu called a Cock Shot, being sold for a fiver.

An ironic taste of things to come, the Cock Shot was basically a chilled dose of chicken stock and vodka. To be honest, we couldn’t not try it, but to have what seemed like a half-cooked, freezing cold chicken soup sloshing around my gums was too much even for this Moodivore. We decided against a second round and relaxed into the wine. As my taste buds relapsed back into normality, the food arrived.

There are only ever three starters on offer – and they change daily. On our day, we were blessed with Coronation Prawns, and a plate of stewed-down leeks. Both were fantastic; the prawns with Coronation dressing was something that I have simply never tried, yet it was moreish and had that ever-so-slight spice that patriots know and love. The leeks – a vegetable that I can usually do without – were cooked down yet retained a crispness that chucked around flavour like there was no tomorrow. The two starters were accompanied by Yorkshire Pudding (a nice touch – they are traditionally served as starters), which were in turn accompanied by a really rich, iron-y pâté which was top drawer, beating even the mighty San Carlo (sorry boys). While quality was there, quantity certainly wasn’t; and we were left somewhat bereft, as we awaited the main course.

We decided to transcend boundaries by ordering – wait for it – chicken and steak, specifically the roasted Swainson House chicken for three (Tramshed also offers a Spring chicken for one though I have been told that the de-boning gets a little laborious), and the Mighty Marbled sirloin, which comes in cuts weighing multiples of two hundred and fifty grams (which is exactly what we ordered) Everything comes with chips, though when these arrived it was disappointing to discover that they were nothing but off-the-shelf french fries. Surely Hix could offer a little better? Thick/triple-cooked/chunky etcetera are not even an option. For shame. We ordered a side of Scrumpy-fried onion rings, which were decent enough, crispy and tangy, though I have had plenty better.

Maybe the sides were a case of what Viz magazine calls ‘going ugly early’, as the meat was smashing. We’ve all seen the pictures of the poultry at Tramshed – served arse-end up, the claws of the chicken praying to the heavens (or maybe simply to Cock and Bull), but it tasted as good as it looked – probably the best chicken I have ever had. I simply cannot stand carving chicken – I am not great with anything on the bone as I do not believe in singing for supper – but my mate, who courageously stood up to the task of carver, did so beautifully, as the meat was sliding off the bone as easy as de-waxing a Babybel. There was certainly enough wing, leg and breast for three strapping lads.

The two hundred and fifty gram sirloin seemed a bit sorry-looking in comparison to the bird, looking like nothing more than a sliver of medium-rare rear-back of beef laid upon a large plank of wood (I was angling for at least half a kilo; and should have pressed my co-diners further!) Nevertheless, it was cooked beautifully; perfectly pink all the way through (steak does come medium to rare as a standard). Like the chicken, it gets served with a whacking great carving knife, letting the diners do all the work. Nice touch!

You eat well at Tramshed, make no mistake; and I can sort of see why it was a case of ‘easy on the starters’. Replete, we still made room for a little pudding (again, an ever-changing choice of three or four), opting for the fondue, after it was bigged up by the waitress. The fondue – like all the other food – was served exquisitely, upon a bespoke clay dish. The marshmallows were served on the right side of soggy and there were enough for the three of us. The chocolate itself was rich, dark and plentiful. We had started to piss around with the popping candy by now and tipped some into the last of the dessert. It caramelised and went minging.

Though we left Tramshed a good few hours later full, on the brief side of drunk and all caught up on the frivolities of the the holiday season (and as it turned out, en-route to a back-street pub in St. James’ and about five pints of Guinness apiece), I do maintain that though they could never steal the show from the food, the staff are surprisingly good. No, check ‘fascinating’ instead. The service is, like everything else, simple and wholesome, with a crust of quirk thrown in; for example, our principle waitress was a vegetarian, if you can believe it. I couldn’t, and pressed further;

“So why work here then?”

Like she had never heard that question before.

“…and more to the point, why are you a veggie?”

“Well, I don’t agree with the way meat is looked after [when it is butchered], but everything is treated really well here”

I nodded, but stole a glance up at Cock and Bull.

Another waitress, who strangely looked a lot like the young Janeane Garofalo from Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion, took a wonderfully childish fancy to our popping candy, eating her fair share of it and then (apparently) heading into the kitchen and successfully suggesting a popping candy cheesecake that will make its way onto the menu in the first few months of 2013. Watch this space… The personal touch – in this case, banter – is a simple pleasure in a restaurant, a priceless, costless gesture that means the world. Such simplicity is in abundance at Tramshed, so much so that it surprises me, but never at a level encroaching on cheap and nasty; the food – exemplifying the ‘limited choices executed to perfection’ zeitgeist-slash-mantra of modern London gastronomy – finds that balance. And get this, kids eat free at the weekend. Uncharacteristically charitable for this neck of the woods.

As we did the obligatory ‘men take turns in the toilet’ hang-around after the meal, I took the opportunity to take a look at the gallery underneath the restaurant. It is all modernist junk; junk that ‘makes you think’, but there was a cool picture of a tiger down there and I thought that, well, there are a few restaurants out there which offer great food, great service and an art gallery, yet still can get away with being referred to as down to earth.

The price for all this simplicity? A rather less straightforward £160, but hey, apparently Cock and Bull is a nightmare to get cleaned. Despite the trendy cost, Tramshed is, as the waitress said, everything that you think it will be. Which is awesome.

For full review please visit http://www.thefunkytruth.com/2013/01/20/plain-old-tramshed/

What a place! Once you get over the massively impressive food hall and outstanding art work its time to get on with the main reason you're here. Meat. With their meat coming from one of the finest farms in the country and arguably Europe, Sillfield you know you are in for a treat. Peter got really know his stuff. With so many interesting small plates and interesting beers here. There is something for everyone.

If you seek out conviviality, this is the place you should go to ! There you can have roast chicken for one or to share, steak, chicken salad, or steak salad. This is great value, especially as French fries are included in the price. You will have dinner in a vast room with a soaring ceiling and enormous arched window located in an industrial building. On top of that, food comes with art thanks to one of Damien Hirst's art work standing in the middle of the dining room.

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We chose Tramshed as our first eat out restaurant following lockdown and were thoroughly pleased with our choice. While we ate outside on Rivington Street (which got a little chilly as the evening went on) the food and service more than made up for the temperature. Between us we plumped for the ox check croquettes, rock oysters and raw bream (gluten free option) to start which were all very well received especially the croquettes which stole the show. The mains were the lamb shoulder (shared between two) and the grilled chicken and aioli with a side of roast potatoes (also gluten free). The lamb was rich and flavoursome and the chicken tender and juicy. Everything was paired with cocktails and wine and left us feeling full and happy! Check out Tramshed for good drinks, food and atmosphere 👍🏼

A great place in Shoreditch. It has ample seating and not sure if it will be full unless there might be an event nearby. They have a pretty vast menu and the staff was really cool and friendly. I had ordered the Garlic mushrooms, Fries and a salad with a Burrow Hill Cider. The mushrooms were not quite the ones I liked. But the rest were great to the taste buds and there is a lot more on the menu that can be tried.

Tramshed definitely lived up to its hype! Such a lively atmosphere! Excellent place for dinner, offers both chicken and beef dishes. The roasted whole chicken was amazing and tender, with a crispy and flavoursome skin! The gravy was smooth and added another element of rich flavour to the chicken! This dish was also served with delicious chips! Very quick service! Extremely attentive and friendly staff! Interesting interior with an exhibit of a large cow and chicken in the middle of the restaurant!

Had the work Christmas meal here yesterday, preset menu. I found the starters to be nicer than the actual beef and chicken mains. Speed of service wasn't too bad. I would definitely consider going again and paying from the my own pocket.

Great place, famous for their chicken served for two. But ... also for their locally sourced beef. And of course they have GT's aswell. Really nice location with lots of seats, reservation needed for 3 or more though if you want to be sure of a table. Bar staff quick and nice. Also Shoreditch it is ....

I'm a chicken lover and simply thought I would eat a good roasted chicken and that's it! What a big surprise when we got to the restaurant. It's a huge place very minimalist and beautifully designed and decorated. There's an art piece in the middle of the main dining room and it's just majestic. As for the service nothing to say if it's not that staff were friendly and very helpful and kind. The food is way more than I expected. The roasted chicken is by far one of the most delicious I've ever tried. Very well cooked and very delicious. The stuffing was Wow!!! Everything was amazing. Next time in London we'll be back for sure.

Dropped in for a quick lunch. There're six to choose from on the £9.95 lunch menu - we picked the chicken burger and chips. The breaded chicken breast fillet in a brioche bun was served hot and the meat was succulent, so no complaints. Slightly pushy staff though.

Lovely outdoor dining area in the heart of Shoreditch. Service is a bit weak but they’re coming out months of lockdown at the moment. Our waiter and the chef team had some misunderstanding over the menu items so I didn’t get all of the ingoridnets that were listed. A little pricey too.