The Butcher & Grill, London SW11

This clearly comes under the heading of "why didn't someone think of it before?". To combine a butcher's shop with a steak house means not only do you get synergy, continuity, and a reassuring sense of provenance, you can also pick up tomorrow night's meal on the way home from tonight's dinner.

Or do you? Currently, the butcher's part of The Butcher & Grill shuts for business at 7pm just as the grill part is kicking off for dinner, which seems a pity. One of the great things about The Butcher & Grill's fishy equivalent, Fishworks, is that the fishmonger is an integral part of the restaurant operation, keeping pretty much the same hours. I hear that the butcher's hours may soon be extended, but, until then, it is more of a steakhouse with a butcher's shop, than a butcher's shop with tables.

There is still much to admire about this brand-new operation from the always-worth-watching Dominic Ford. The former food and restaurant manager of Harvey Nichols has created something of an old-school reunion, teaming up with former butchery and charcuterie manager Paul Grout, and bringing in Harvey Nicks butcher Ian Mortimore and one-time Fifth Floor café chef, David Massey.

Housed in what was a Café Rouge, the split-level space still feels very Rouge-ish with its downstairs bar, exposed brick walls, wooden floors, and awkwardly placed bare walnut tables and chairs. The bonus is a decked waterside terrace to the rear overlooking Ransome's Dock. The downside is unabated noise.

From the moment you walk in off the street, you are surrounded by meat. To your right is a well-stocked butcher's cabinet; to your left, a charcuterie counter. The walls are covered with pictures of hanging carcasses, and a series of evocative portraits of sheep, cattle and one seriously photogenic porker.

The menu divides into beef, pork, lamb, veal, poultry and game, with a token fish and vegetarian dish for those who still think they are in Café Rouge. Prices seem eminently reasonable given the beef is hung for four weeks for extra flavour, and even ticks the food miles box, having travelled about 60 miles from Highfield Farm in Sussex, owned by financial partner Simon Tindall.

There's even a kids' menu, which suggests the place is as much about families as beefy-cheeked carnivores. At the next table, ma and pa order steak, son orders lamb, daughter orders a burger and the table is heavy with ketchup and chips.

Dinner gets off to a flyer with the terrine of the day (£4.95), a gorgeous slab of freshly made, moist and almost spreadable ham hock terrine; all sweet, shreddy meat studded with lots of tiny capers. Dry-cured bacon with broad bean and pecorino salad (£6.50) consists of a thick, dryish slab of back bacon surrounded by a token garnish of double-peeled broad beans and no discernible pecorino. Am I the only one to prefer a broad bean salad with bacon, to a bacon salad with broad beans?

It is the first official week of business, so things are naturally chaotic. Staff members have the usual short-term memory loss, the computer terminal has the usual gremlins, wines are warm, etc. The global-roaming wine list, weighted towards meat-loving reds, has some off-the-beaten-track high-flyers, as well a juicy 2003 Allegrini La Grolla (£32.50) which is all pepper and cherries.

The 200g (8oz) grilled rib-eye steak (£11.50) and the 200g Butcher and Grill burger (£8.50) are both very minimalist and very good. The thin, juicy rib-eye is more medium rare than the ordered rare, but is full flavoured, tender and easy to cut, although a tree trunk would be easy to cut with these highly effective Trappeur steak knives. As for embellishments, there are two twigs of thyme, and that's it.

The burger looks pretty ordinary - just a burger on a bare bun, with some salad and a dill pickle - but the beef shows its age with real character. The exterior is crusty, the interior enjoyably crumbly, and the cooking medium rare, as ordered. "Stuff on the side", which includes bread and butter, onion gravy and béarnaise is listed as "free", but then I guess they are usually included in the price.

Then there are sides, for £2.50: from good, crisp, thickish chips that taste of potato and are served in a terracotta pot, to mash, new potatoes, green beans and grilled mushrooms.

Puds are summery - Eton Mess, summer pudding, raspberry cream tart - with cheese, pickles and chutney for those who prefer to keep drinking. A wedge of plum-and-orange cake with tarragon syrup (£5) is a perfectly nice, sticky domestic cake without any great depth of flavour, served with a caterer's splodge of whipped cream, spiked with a mint leaf.

With its happy-family prices, The Butcher & Grill is bound for glory, or, at least, commercial success. I wish more was made of the link between butcher and table, and I had hoped for a little more style on the plate, but they have one thing dead right, and that is the meat. When you are a butcher and a steak house, that's not a bad start.

The Butcher & Grill, 39-41 Parkgate Road, London SW11 tel: 020 7924 3999 Lunch served daily; dinner served Monday to Saturday. Around £80 for two including wine and service

14/20

Scores 1-9 stay home and cook 10-11 needs help 12 OK 13 pleasant enough 14 good 15 very good 16 capable of greatness 17 special, can't wait to go back 18 highly honourable 19 unique and memorable 20 as good as it gets

Second helpings: More restaurants where meat matters

Champany Inn Linlithgow, West Lothian, tel: 01506 834 532 This popular restaurant-with-rooms lying 20 minutes west of Edinburgh, is famous for its prime Aberdeenshire beef. The meat is hung for three weeks, and basted with a special secret sauce before grilling.

The Gaucho Grill, 2A St Mary's Street, Manchester, tel: 0161 833 4333 Northernmost outpost of the popular South American chain. Like the others in the group, it's all about aged, flash-grilled Argentine steaks seasoned with chimichurri oil.

Popeseye Steak House, 108 Blythe Road, London W14, tel: 020 7610 4578 All this Olympia favourite does is steak (rump, sirloin or fillet) served with good chips and salad. The only thing you get to choose is the size, from a slim 6oz to a sumo 30oz.