This month's American GQ, with a dishevelled Christian Bale glaring out from the cover, includes an attempt to discover the best 25 pizzas in the United States, a wonderfully subjective, vainglorious endeavour that will flood the GQ post box with irate pizza fans defending the honour of beloved Italian eateries across the country.

Few culinary debates elicit the passion of pizza, and just who makes the best.

For the record, Great Lake in Chicago gets GQ's top spot; locally, the blue cheese and fig pizza at Bardelli's in Kenilworth, and Diva's wine-soaked aubergine classic, would be my points of departure.

And taking on South Africa's pizzerias can now begin in earnest, as my latest gourmet mission has come to an end: Finding the best piece of meat in Cape Town.

Spiritual home of the carnivore

Many, many bloodied steaks down, and I have found the spiritual home of the Cape Town carnivore.

HQ's sirloin remains excellent, the range and quality of steaks at Hussar Grill are impressive (although I still boycott the place on principle after the warthog rib scandal), and Boo Radley's does a surprisingly good fillet, the only problem being that you require the Hubble Telescope to find it on your plate.

Standing out above them all, though, is the restaurant that, given its name, simply has to produce meat as art: Carne, sister restaurant to the outstanding 95 Keerom.

95 Keerom continues to do Italian spectacularly, under the guiding hand of chef patron Giorgio Nava; across the road, at Carne, he's showing that he's equally comfortable with large chunks of flesh.

The hanger steak

It's flesh he has complete responsibility for as the beef he uses comes from his farm in the Karoo, brought in fresh and ready to go. And it's because of that, that he's able to offer a unique cut of meat that I hadn't discovered before, but have quickly developed something of a fetish for: The hanger steak.

I've been to Carne twice now, and the first time American actor John Stamos (using the Seth Pereira pseudonym he adopts on his regular visits to South Africa), Caprice owner David Raad, international horse trainer Jono Snaith, and a fat guy called Donovan (presumably Stamos's security), made for a high profile quartet amongst a packed house.

Second time round the place was just as full, testament to the popularity of Giorgio's new endeavour. And multiple tables had run rule over the tray of carnivorous delights presented by attendant staff, weighed up the options, and gone for Carne's signature.

The hanger steak hails from the part of the cow that hangs below the head like a sagging chin; each cow gives up just four to six hundred grams, making it a rarity that's usually kept as a delicacy by the butcher.

Proximity to the kidneys gives it a rich, gamier flavour, and makes for a bold, decadent steak that disappears all too quickly. It might be a little much for the more delicate palate. I reckon it's just perfect.

What else is good?

I've had the hanger both times I was there. Were I to have a crack at something else, though, it would have to be the wildebeest.

The bearded, sad-sack Eeyore of a beast is criminally underutilised, an entrecote of the same at Buitenverwachting a few years ago remaining a standout dish in my culinary recollection.

First time at Carne, I had dinner with a model named Sorrel who used to work for me at Golf Punk (but is now treading the catwalks of London, sadly). She tentatively swapped her model standard diet of lettuce leaves and cocaine for a piece of wildebeest, and after a sliver of a taste, devoured the rest in minutes.

There are various sweetmeats on offer, an array of exotic cuts, and touches of originality everywhere — the kudu tartare is exceptional, intense mouthfuls of raw venison, and the Carpaccio is uniformly excellent (although you'll get even better across the road at 95 Keerom).

There's also the best service I've had in South Africa in a while, thorough, attentive, but not hovering incessantly around the table. Throw in a solid wine list, and what has to be Cape Town's biggest nostril-blasting cheese board, and Giorgio’s second venture has worked out splendidly — although to be honest, he probably would have had me on the hanger steak alone.

Review unannounced and paid for in full. Two courses, decent bottle of wine, and a couple of cocktails from the cracking little bar upstairs, R580 with tip. Carne, 70 Keerom Street; phone +27 21 424 3460 to book.