Category Archives: Steak

A Night At Rockpool With Rene Redzepi

rene redzepi rockpool

Rene Rezdepi: the “world’s best chef”

The man to my left getting snapped talking to people looks tired, very tried but deep in concentration when he speaks. He’s smaller than I imagined and some around me are whispering how different he looks with his beard. He is wearing a jacket, a linen shirt untucked and exposing dark chest hair, jeans and sneakers. Rene Redzepi is the chef at the best restaurant in the world Noma, in Copenhagen.

rene redzepi rockpool

I count at least four newsreaders and there is the Masterchef alumni Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris there for good measure too. I see many of the editors of food magazines and newspapers-there are at least three tables of media there. Yet this is not just an industry event because 140 diners have paid $395 for the privilege of dining with and listening to the world’s best chef speak. They’re Qantas frequent flyers-Rockpool’s Neil Perry is a Qantas ambassador and this is the inaugural event for the launch of “epiQure” the new Qantas food and wine online community. Apart from being able to buy wine with free delivery and earn 3 points per dollar spent they also get access to events like this. Marco Pierre White was also rumoured to be coming although we are told that he wasn’t able to come.

rene redzepi rockpool

Neil Perry and Rene Redzepi

rene redzepi rockpool

Matt Preston is standing on the illuminated stage and a large spotlight casts on him and he introduces everyone to the proceedings of the night. The menu tonight is mostly made up of dishes served here at Rockpool Bar & Grill.

rene redzepi rockpool

Baby beetroot salad roasted, helly, raw with barrel aged feta dressing served with 2010 Penfolds Autumn Riesling and 2005 Penfolds Bin Aged Released Riesling

There is a flurry of efficient waitstaff and before we know it, we have our first course. This was such a pretty dish with beetroot done three ways with a creamy rich aged feta dressing. Simple but effective and the sweet beetroot contrasted well with the occasional burst of richness from the cheese.

rene redzepi rockpool

Blue fin tuna tartare, Moroccan eggplant, cumin mayonnaise and harissa served with 2010 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay and 2007 Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay

This dish was s surprise in that we usually see tuna tartare with Asian herbs and spices. This was most definitely Moroccan themed and worked beautifully the creamy textured tuna cubes were sublimely soft and sat on a bed of Moroccan spiced softer than soft eggplant. There was a small dollop of cumin mayonnaise and harissa to also bring home the Moroccan theme. This was a dish that stirred a lot of controversy for one guest who was angry about using blue fin tuna given that the restaurant is one that is conscious of sustainability issues. Neil gets up and explains that he uses sustainably farmed Southern Blue Fin tuna.

rene redzepi rockpool

rene redzepi rockpool

Rich and noble prawn congee, star anise scented peanuts, Chinese fried bread and chilli oil served with 2010 Penfolds Bin 23 Pinot Noir and 2008 Penfolds Cellar Release Tempranillo

Still standing on the stage, with a tea towel tucked in the back of his apron, Neil explains that the congee that we are about to eat is a “rich and noble congee”. Traditionally congee is made with leftover rice to stretch it out but this one isn’t and it would be closer to what the aristocracy would eat. The prawns are served whole and tail-less and are beautifully succulent and sit on a shallow layer of twice cooked rice porridge. The is crunch and chew value from the crunchy star anise scented peanuts and little cubes of Chinese fried bread and a drizzle of chilli oil comes to the fore right at the end deep in the throat and mouth.

rene redzepi rockpool

Rene Redzepi and Matt Preston

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Kingsleys Steak and Crab House, Woollomooloo

kingsleys steak crab house

Why is it every time I see the implements of torture for crab, the first thing I think of is that chilling movie Dead Ringers? Still it doesn’t stop me from ordering crab, just gives me momentary pause for thought. Liss and I are sitting at a waterfront table at Kingsleys Steak and Crab House, the very last restaurant on the wharf which sits halfway down. We’re handed a large, paper menu which resembles a New York steakhouse menu. On the left are the creatures of the sea and on the right are the four legged creatures complete with black and white sketches of a pig, fish and a lamb.

kingsleys steak crab house

Bread

kingsleys steak crab house

Alaskan King Crab Legs 200g $19.90

There was no doubt in both of our minds that we were going to try the Alaskan King Crab Legs. Everyone by now has heard of or watched “The Deadliest Catch” where for the short three week harvest season fishermen risk their lives fishing the Bering Sea in order to catch these Alaskan King Crabs. The bodies themselves are fairly empty and all of the meat is concentrated in the long thick legs. This was the first time we were both trying it. The legs are precracked and are easy to crack open due to the strategic cracking. It is served with a mayonnaise and the meat is sweet and moist and we both instantly regret not ordering the bigger size. If I were to describe the texture of the meat it is firm and I would guess that seafood extender is trying to emulate the texture.

kingsleys steak crab house

WA lobster and Qld King Prawns Salt and Pepper $44.90

The Western Australian lobster tail comes coated in a crunchy salt and pepper batter with three large Queensland king prawns. The king prawns still have their shells on and are best eaten shell and all or peeling them would make you lose all of the flavour on the batter. It’s not a typical light salt and pepper batter, it is much crunchier and a bit drier. The lobster tail is a tad tough and meaty and we prefer the prawns. They’re served with a nice garlic aioli.

kingsleys steak crab house

Burrata Mozzarella $21.90

This salad had three of my favourite ingredients: heirloom tomatoes, 25 year aged balsamic vinegar and burrata. If you’ve never heard of burrata, it’s a cheese well worth acquainting yourself with. It has a mozzarella type outer and inside it is filled with cream. Their burrata is from Queensland but if you are curious, Paesanella do an excellent one too. The burrata here sits like a shiny, plump bag of treasure at the bottom of a glass, glistening with olive oil and the syrupy aged balsamic. The maitre’d places it on top of the salad and pours the balsamic and oil around it to dress the salad. The fresh flavours of the tomatoes, the tiny basil leaves and the creamy burrata are heaven together.

kingsleys steak crab house

We turn around and see a couple of girls who have parked their boyfriends at the pub and are enjoying a Singapore Chilli mud crab (1-1.2kg $64.90). Not only are they wearing something to protect them but they are full length plastic aprons! “I don’t ever want this to end” one says and Liss and I ask if they have any crab left. Alas they have just sold their last one! Never mind, we say but our maitre’d asks if we would like more of the Alaskan crab legs. We look at each other, widen our eyes and nod eagerly.

kingsleys steak crab house

Wagyu Rib Eye 400g $56.90

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Smith’s on Bayswater, Kings Cross

smiths on bayswater

I’m a very dramatic person. I have to admit that I do love attention on the odd (ok every day) occasion and that I feel like the world is a stage. And that’s kind of how they serve the food here at Smith’s on Bayswater where the food is on stage, or at least a cut of it is. A butcher, a wine merchant and a restaurant Smith’s is owned by Kingsley Smith (of the Kingsley’s steakhouses) who has now branched out on his own.

smiths on bayswater

I’m slightly too young to remember it in its former incarnation as Bayswater Brassiere so I’m not sure how the inside  differs although I will say that it’s the greeniest, leafiest steakhouse I’ve come across with a wall of herbs, a tree with a thick twisted trunk growing through the ground, potted upside down herbs and foliage every which way you look. What is in keeping with a New York style grill, apart from the huge menus is the service which is friendly and deferential.

smiths on bayswater

Obviously being a steakhouse the focus is meat but there are a range of prices with mains starting as a low (for Sydney) price of $24. I’m almost tempted to try the Mandagery Creek venison sausage roll (oh how I love sausage rolls!) with spiced cherry ketchup for $16 or the Wagyu Reuben sandwich for $16 with Russian dressing or the cherry gazpacho but when we ask for a recommendation from the waiter he points straight to the Butcher’s Block. The star item is the grass fed sirloin from O ‘Connor, Gippsland in Victoria and is sold by the weight for $6.50 per 50 grams (minimum 150g).

smiths on bayswater

Le slab of beef: the star of the show

smiths on bayswater

“Well please follow me to meet the chef” our friendly waiter Carlo tells us. Stevan and I leave the table and front up at the marble station where the chef is waiting for us with a huge slab of sirloin. Kingsley explains that unlike grain fed beef which has white fat on it, the better grass fed beef has yellow fat on it to reflect the grass. I ask for a 150 gram steak but the first cut is of a 250 gram steak. They offer to reslice it but I don’t want it to go to waste (not that they would have thrown it out) and I take the 250 gram steak instead.

smiths on bayswater

Grass Fed Sirloin 250g $32.50

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Capital Grill, Circular Quay

capital grill, circular quay, review

“I’m such a wuss, I don’t want to leave the house, even for the promise of dinner. Must fly North for this Winter methinks!” I tweeted one night. I was being a drama queen but only a little bit. The weather had turned cold. It was 10 degrees in the morning and I would grudgingly open the windows to let fresh air in only to close them a few minutes afterwards. But the more I thought about it the more the lure of going out appealed to me. I was envisaging warm, Winter comfort food and since I’d left it too late for me to cook it for myself I ended up getting ready in record time imagining lovely warming roasts.

capital grill, circular quay, review

In the Macquarie Gateway building, the entrance is via Loftus Street in Circular Quay. There is the bar outside where patrons warmed by drinks and tapas congregate. I meet Mr NQN after work and we adjourn into the restaurant area. Capital Grill does a busy trade during lunch times but at night it is quieter. The menu looks full of Winter warmers and although I don’t tend to order chicken very much at restaurants the sound of bread sauce and gras jus and chestnuts is too hard to resist.

capital grill, circular quay, review

Amuse Bouche: pumpkin soup

We start with an amuse bouche that goes along with our thick cut fresh sourdough bread. It’s a spiced pumpkin soup with a distinct ginger and prawn flavour. It’s smooth and warming and nicely flavoured. Service is very smooth and friendly.

capital grill, circular quay, review

Carpaccio of Hiramasa kingfish, pomegranate, salmon roe, watermelon vinaigrette, baby herb salad $20

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Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sydney CBD

rockpool bar and grill room

I recall the first time I walked into Neil Perry’s Rockpool Bar & Grill about 6  months ago. You see my Inner Burmese (no road sense) had struck again and I promptly got lost and I meant to walk into Spice Temple. I felt like a child walking into an adult’s domain. Everything was incredibly tall and silver and sleek, like New York’s Chrysler Building. The pillars were sky high and reached to the higher than high roof. I in turn felt like little I was little more than 80cms tall and a child in high heels. Waiters in white jackets bustled about, men in suits lunched and I almost expected Don Draper to walk past me. I vowed to come back. One day. Maybe when I was grown up.

crockpool bar and grill

Fast forward to a few months later and I was lucky enough to be taken here by Winston and Sandra. Just a couple of weeks ago, it was newly minted by the SMH’s Good Food Guide as the Best New Restaurant. On the table are four books plus the large paper menus that are printed out each day. There’s the Red Wine menu, the White Wine menu and then there’s also a booklet that explains the differences between the types of meat.

Lastly there’s the cocktail menu with a page of “Rockpool Bar & Grill House Rules” which may be terrifying at first for a split second before you realise they’re meant in an amusing way. Things such as “Gentlemen, do not approach ladies, and if you’re lucky enough to have one approach you, endear her as you would your Mother”; “Don’t look fiercely at people, or talk loudly or  harshly, but cultivate a smiling countenance and a quiet, but firm tone of speech” and of course ” No hooting, no hollering”. And to add to the retro Mad Men vibe, service is old school deferential and unfailingly polite.

rockpool bar and grill rules

The House Rules

There is much indecision when faced with a menu like this. There are cold plates, hot plates, salads and then there’s the grill section. And who’s kidding whom? The grill section is where you want to plant yourself firmly. It is however an expensive patch of Real Estate with steaks heading up towards $110. This is why this particular restaurant is off limits on most corporate lunch lists. Neil Perry advises people to share steaks to try and taste the differences between them. The cynic among us would think this was to help repay the way for the reported $35 million fitout for both the Bar & Grill and Spice Temple. Yes in Perry’s world there’s no such thing as a GFC and I chuckle at the last House Rule “Remember, nothing is on the house, except for the roof” .

rockpool bar and grill bread

Bread and butter

The bread is a lovely crunchy sourdough baguette slice and the butter is sublimely creamy like a lovely French butter.

rockpool bar and grill setting down

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