Just Opened: 24 York, Sydney

24 York is a brand new steak restaurant in Sydney's CBD that only has one thing on the menu: steak frites. Come along as we test out what it is like and how it compares to the famed Parisian steak restaurant Le Relais de l'Entrecôte!

It's a freezing cold Saturday night when Sophia and I visit 24 York, located well, at 24 York Street in Sydney's city. A sandwich board outside shows their single dish proposition: steak frites for $48 describing it as "One item cooked to perfection". 24 York is located where the Bavarian Beer Cafe previously was and is huge and airy. It seats 160 people with six person booth seating on one side and a horseshoe shaped bar in the centre. Sophia is waiting for me at the bar as she is early and our table is ready exactly at 6:30pm when we booked it. The team behind 24 York is Hunter St. Hospitality and heading up the kitchen is Rockpool executive chef Santiago Aristizaba.

I'm always intrigued by a place that only does one thing. Late last year we visited Le Relais de l'Entrecôte in Paris where they only serve steak frites and this is inspired by it except with some differences. Le Relais de l'Entrecôte serves unlimited steak, fries and green salad for €30 a person whereas 24 York serves a 220g steak with fries and a sauce for $48 and the green salad is an extra $8. Le Relais de l'Entrecôte is also known for their "green sauce" whereas 24 York has four sauces: peppercorn, chimichurri, umami butter and veal jus.

Also Le Relais de l'Entrecôte has tables that are so close together that the space between tables is a mere inch apart. They pull out the tables so that you can sit. Here the tables are better spaced out but it is much noisier that on this busy Saturday night I have to read Sophia's lips most of the time. At Le Relais de l'Entrecôte everyone was whispering because their neighbours were so close to them.

Service is very friendly and we start with a couple of non-alcoholic cocktails. The Drive Home Spritz has lychee, salted raspberry, chamomile and ginger beer but Sophia doesn't like ginger so she subs it with lemonade. I really enjoy the No-Groni with Lyre’s dry london spirit, Lyre’s apéritif rosso and Lyre’s Italian orange. There are also 5 wines available by the glass (from $13) or by the bottle (from $45) as well as beers and classic cocktails.

Sophia and I are polar opposites in food. She loves her steak well done whereas I'm a medium rare (or medium for wagyu) steak perso nand I'd rather choose something else than eat a well done steak. But here they only do steak two ways: medium or well done (Le Relais de l'Entrecôte offers steak done rare, medium or well done). The waiter assures me that the medium is more towards medium rare. We each choose a steak and a sauce. One sauce is included in the price and if you want extra sauce it's $4 per sauce.

There is something to be said about specialising in one thing only. The steaks arrive very quickly because that's all they serve. The steak is a 220g O'Connor Superior Grass Fed Scotch Fillet and it is nicely pink in the centre. The steak itself is well cooked and I really enjoy the herby punch of the chimichurri liberally spread across the steak (you can also order the sauces separately in a sauce boat). There's no gristle or chewy parts to the steak at all and it is luscious and tender. The beef tallow shoestring fries are excellent and come out piping hot and crisp although they need more of a sprinkling of salt.

Sophia's steak does look smaller than mine, perhaps it's the extra cooking and her well done steak has a little marker in it denoting that. She orders her steak with umami butter which is really quite mild in flavour. I think I was expecting a stronger umami saltiness to it but it doesn't add that much to the steak. Our waiter later tells us that the umami butter is made with white soy, confit garlic, lemon, pepper and koji paste.

Oh and that green salad? Although I see most people sharing a salad I could have had one to myself. It's very similar to the one at L'entrecote with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette dressing and goes well with the steak and fries.

There are two desserts on the menu here: a New York cheesecake or vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce. We go with the waitress's recommendation of the cheesecake although Sophia doesn't like cheesecake (the list of her food dislikes is longer than her list of likes haha). I'm glad that we got this and didn't get the vanilla ice cream because the ice cream is quite icy in texture. It's an individual round of cheesecake topped with two raspberries and a quenelle of vanilla ice cream. The cheesecake itself is divine with a sublimely smooth and creamy filling on top of a thin cookie base.

So tell me Dear Reader, what do you think of 24 York? Would you go? And what do you think of places that specialise in one item?

This meal was independently paid for.

24 York

24 York Street, Sydney, NSW

Tel: +61 (02) 8099 7067

Open 7 days 12noon til late Sun – Thurs last seating 9pm, Fri & Sat last seating 9:45pm