Everyone craves a perfectly cooked steak that your knife slices through like butter and any restaurant worth its salt can stake their reputation on delivering just that on the plate.
Here are six venues where steak rules the house and there’s no beef about how you want it cooked:
Steak Night Every Tuesday
Brisbane foodies looking for a beer and burger fix head down Doherty Street in Brendale to discover vibrant brewhouse and grill, Tannins Brew. Head into an industrial-style vibe of polished concrete, recycled timber tables, black painted brick walls and statement lights dripping with greenery to sample a unique selection of seasonal and experimental brews, locally-made spirits and wine.
Drop in on Tuesdays for Steak Night and slice your knife into rump steak cooked your way, served with chips and housemade gravy for just $20; while burger lovers wrap their hands around 12-hour smoked brisket, American cheese, pickles, slaw, house BBQ sauce and chipotle mustard, washed down with a cold beer.
Every Cut of Steak on the Plate
Located in the centre of Sydney’s CBD in the Occidental Hotel, the Fairmont restaurant on York Street is the ideal location for client meetings, long power lunches or an after-work celebration. Find white-clothed tables, sparkling glassware and plush carpeting as you enjoy a pre-meal cocktail or wine and peruse a Modern Australian menu showcasing every cut of meat from Wagyu rump to New York sirloin.
Perhaps start with grilled scallops, edamame, asparagus, cauliflower purée and caviar, moving onto meaty mains of prime eye fillet, red wine jus and sides of creamy Desirée mashed potato and Brussels sprouts with bacon and burnt butter; satisfy your sweet tooth with a dessert of apple crumble and peanut butter ice cream.
Steak Frites $35 Special
Those passing through the Dandenong Ranges find cosy neighbourhood restaurant Cognoscenti Food & Wine on Burwood Highway in Belgrave. Just 50 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD, this stylish dining destination is well worth the trip, with a rustic ambience of recycled timber floors, potted greenery and shelves stocked with wine selections.
Join the action on Thursdays for the steak frites special and devour a juicy char-grilled flank steak served with red wine and shallot jus, a side of frites and a glass of Chateau L’Eglise Bordeaux Rouge for only $35; or choose beef short rib with shiitake and celeriac purée, charred greens and green peppercorn sauce.
Gastro Pub-style Fare to Share
A local hotspot for families and friends to share a meal, Firehouse Grill nestles in the heart of Mortdale on Pitt Street. This spacious venue offers a warm and welcoming vibe with rich, dark timbers and walls the colour of flames, while outside provides alfresco dining under gas heaters and a buzz of conversation.
Mediterranean and Mod Oz fare served in gastro pub style, ensures a plate for every taste, with tasty starters like harissa-spiced lamb ribs and smoked labneh, while steak lovers salivate over surf and turf – Black Angus rump, topped with pan-fried creamy garlic prawns – with sides of creamy mashed potato and seasonal steamed vegetables, or chips and an iceberg garden salad.
Ice-cold Beer and Pub Grub
Head to historic Tanswells Commercial Hotel on Ford Street in Beechworth to refuel and recharge after a day exploring what the Victorian High Country region has to offer. Serving ice-cold beer and pub grub with flair, this watering hotel has been a landmark since the 1870s with its double-storey brick building, fretwork-rimmed verandah and covered alfresco area.
Photo credit: Don Tadixz.
Join the lively buzz of conversation over a beer and snack on barbeque prawns with basil, garlic and chilli, or lamb cutlets; then chow down on beef striploin with café de Paris butter, chips and a green salad; or try a wild venison schnitzel with apple and cabbage slaw and parsley sauce.
Succulent Stone-grilled Steak
Those seeking succulent stone-grilled meat options head to Yappari Steak Mt Gravatt on Kessels Road. Take time out to refuel and recharge from retail therapy at Westfield Mt Gravatt at this stylish steakhouse where orange banquette seating, neon signage and cosy tables await those seeking to slice their knife into perfectly cooked meat.
Perhaps order crab and cream croquettes to get the party started before devouring a signature lava-grilled oyster blade steak, with rice, salad and soup; or gyu katsu – breaded and deep-fried beef cutlets – with sides of garlic butter rice, salad and soup. Burger lovers opt for a hamburger steak, with chips and salad; while vegetarians are catered for with a plant-based burger steak plate.
