Large portions and fair prices are always unexpected in central London, but Misha Zelman knows what he’s up to
Zelman Meats, 2 St Anne’s Court, London W1 (020 7437 0566). Meal for two including drinks: £50-£80
I first met Misha Zelman in the autumn of 2006, in a supermarket café on the outskirts of Moscow. He had been described to me as a restaurateur with “almost unlimited” funds. The ritual that attended the meeting backed this up. I was driven out to meet him in a 4x4 with tinted windows, bodyguards in the front and bucket seats in the back – the essential accessories for any self-respecting baby oligarch. Zelman himself was rather unprepossessing: a soft, open, babyish face, big blue eyes and full pink lips. He was just 29, but had a nice line in grandeur and rhetoric. He had a small chain of steakhouses in Moscow called Goodman. Their slogan: “Good steaks for good men”, because who cares what good women want? “Goodman’s will be like Starbucks one day,” he said.
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