Dry-aged beef

The cabinet in the window is the thing people stop at. Inside it, whole sirloins and fore ribs from the Vale hang on the bone at two degrees and eighty per cent humidity for thirty-five days, losing water and gaining flavour, while a crust forms that we trim away before the steak is cut. It is slower and dearer than wet-ageing in a bag, and it is why the steak tastes of something.

Thirty-five days is where we settled after trying twenty-one, twenty-eight and forty-five. Under four weeks the beef has not changed enough to justify the price; past five weeks the flavour gets louder than most people want at a Tuesday supper. The cabinet holds about twelve primals and we rotate them so there is always beef at thirty-five days. The trim and the crust go into the burgers, which is why the burgers are good.

Steaks are cut to order: say the thickness in centimetres or hold your fingers apart. A sirloin at three centimetres is about four hundred grams and the way we would cook it ourselves. The fore rib goes out by the bone for a Sunday, two bones feeding six, or as a côte de boeuf for two cut thick. Fillet we age less, because it does not need it. Ask and we will say how to cook any of it; a steak that has hung for five weeks wants a hot pan, a short time and a long rest.

What you get

• PGI Welsh Beef from three named farms
• Thirty-five days on the bone in the cabinet you can see from the street
• Sirloin, ribeye, rump and fillet cut to the thickness you say
• Rib of beef by the bone; côte de boeuf for two
• Cooking notes on the wrapper if you want them
• The trim goes into the burgers; the bones into stock

What it costs

Sirloin £32 a kilo, ribeye £34, rump £24, fillet £52, rib of beef on the bone £28.50. A côte de boeuf for two is usually about £28. All weighed in front of you. The counter list has every cut with its price per kilo; the order page prices a joint by weight before you ring.