Steer Bar and Grill
Disclosure: We dined with Thanh, who is friends with the staff at Steer. The Chef put together a tasting menu for us. So – special treatment alert. However, we did pay for our meal.
This post is for all the beef lovers out there.
Steer opened just over a year ago, starting off as a steakhouse with a Brazilian influence. Since then, it has evolved into a New York steakhouse, obviously still with a focus on beef. Just after Christmas, Alastair and I had dinner there with Thanh, Michele, April and her hubby. With all our stomachs stretched from Chrissy, we were ready to eat ourselves some meat!
And we were certainly at the right place. At Steer, they are so serious about their meat that a large wooden board is brought out to each table, showcasing the cuts available.
But before we got into the steaks, we started with a selection of appetisers.
The first of the appetisers we had were fried zucchini flowers with buffalo ricotta and basil sauce. Starting off with a bang – this was my favourite appetiser of the night. The flowers were in a very light and crispy batter and were so crunchy.
Then there were scallops served on top of confit pork, parsley, samphire and Worcestershire veloute. They were a touch too salty, which was a shame because scallops AND pork… ohmy…
I also really enjoyed the slow cooked octopus with smokey rosemary and confit tomato. The itty bitty octopus pieces were nicely tender.
The crisp calamari with roast corn and jalapeno aioli was another favourite of mine – the calamari had a touch of cumin in the batter and when we dug further into the dish, we found some tomatoey pork belly. Win.
But wait, there’s more. The salmon gravlax with crème fraiche and rye crisps was served warm, with the fish being very soft and creamy.
Also served warm was a duck egg with Iberico de Bellota, almond, sofrito.
The egg must’ve been slow cooked, because it was all deliciously gooey inside.
Then we moved on to mains – which was (of course) steak.
The steak menu is large and kind of overwhelming. Fortunately, Chef sent out four steaks for us to try so we didn’t have to make a decision.
First we had two waygu steaks. One was the David Blackmore waygu hanger – this has a beef marbling score of 9+ (ie really fricken high) and a flavour intensity of 8. This is grain fed.
We also had a Moondarra full blood tajima waygu oyster blade – this cow is pasture (grass) fed and has a marbling score of 5 and flavour intensity of 9.
The hanger steak was incredibly tender – very rich, and melt in the mouth, and almost creamy.
The oyster blade was also tender, though not as much as the hanger steak. It definitely had a slightly stronger flavour.
If I had to choose between the two, I preferred the oyster blade. It still had a great texture but had more flavour.
(And just an aside – we didn’t refer back to the menu to see the marbling and flavour intensity scores when eating the steaks. It was interesting that we could definitely pick the differences between the two wagyus.)
We then had two rib eyes – one was a grass fed Rangers Valley rib eye with a beef marbling score of 4 and flavour intensity score of 6.
The other rib eye was a grass fed rib eye, with beef marbling score of 2 and flavour intensity score of 4.
And for the rib eyes, the grain fed steak was more tender while the grass fed had a beefier flavour. After comparing the two, again I preferred flavour over texture. I guess I like my steak to taste like steak. 🙂
The steaks came with a mini salad, bone marrow, and a choice of mustard/sauces. Though, to be honest, the meat didn’t really need any sauce because they were so juicy on their own.
In addition to steak, we also had several sides. If you go to Steer, you MUST order the onion rings. NO – order TWO SERVES of the onion rings. Just LOOK AT THEM. Aren’t they the most awesome onion rings you’ve ever seen?? And not only did they look good, they were great – so crispy!
Sadly we didn’t do justice to the other sides because of all the food already. There was a very tasty salad – witlof and warm peas covered in gorgonzola dressing that we just nibbled at. (Hiss to the peas.) There was also a pot of very smooth and creamy mashed potoatoes, and a plate of beans and peas (hiss).
We were almost ready to go into a food coma after all that. Fortunately, we had a decent rest after the mains, and then there were a few desserts to share. My favourite was the passionfruit tartlet with sorbet, curd and jelly, though the mace and vanilla panna cotta with strawberry was also very good.
But then again, I haven’t met a baked New York cheesecake that I didn’t like. We also all swooned over the Reece’s peanut butter cup. I love chocolate and peanut butter together.
Maybe I spoke too soon and the passionfruit tartlet wasn’t my fave. It’s a bit like picking your favourite child – they were all good in their own way!
And finally, because apparently four desserts wasn’t enough, the sugar heads on the table asked for the Bombe Alaska with coconut. Okay, I can definitely say this wasn’t my favourite child. At the table, liqueur was poured over the Bombe Alaska and set alight, and we found it too alcoholic for the meringue and cake.
We finished our rather epic feast with some little white chocolate and coconut squares.
For a place named Steer, I was expecting the steaks to be good, but what happily surprised me was the quality of the other food. The appetisers were fantastic and so was the quality of the sides. And the steak, oh yes… the steak… If you like steak, you’re missing out if you don’t pay Steer a visit. Prices are on the higher side, but it’s definitely worth it for the occasional meat up.
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist…)
For more on Steer, check out these blogs:
And for posts from when Steer’s menu had a Brazilian influence:
View Off the spork in a larger map
Steer Bar & Grill
637 Chapel Street
South Yarra
Phone: 03 9040 1188
Web: steerbarandgrill.com.au
Celeste @ Berrytravels
February 7, 2012 @ 11:08 pm
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I love Steer.
I want to go back there and live happily ever after.
Agnes
February 8, 2012 @ 9:46 pm
Sorry, what was that? Don’t really understand you, but I get the feeling that you quite like Steer. 😉
leaf (the indolent cook)
February 7, 2012 @ 11:34 pm
Steer is really close to where I am, I remember when they were doing the Brazilian thing. Wonder why they changed – but looks like it’s working out well for them, the food looks excellent!
Agnes
February 8, 2012 @ 9:47 pm
I think it changed because the chefs changed. The food is good – you should definitely visit if it’s close to where you live 🙂
Fatbooo
February 7, 2012 @ 11:36 pm
Steer was the very first restaurant that sent me a blogger’s meal invite (early last year, I was overseas then). Strange that this place has never ever been on my wish list despite all the publicity. But like your VDM lunch post, the delectable steaks you’ve blogged about has convinced me to go. Looks wonderful!
And lol @ “- special treatment alert.” 😀 I like how you write everything out so calmly and transparently.
Agnes
February 8, 2012 @ 9:50 pm
Hah thanks Bryan. I am a big believer in being transparent – I have nothing to hide. 🙂
And!! I see you went to VDM today. Can’t wait to see what you ate 😀
Ashley Ng
February 8, 2012 @ 10:48 am
Oh my god! ONION RINGS. OMG. ONION RINGS.
And everything else looks totally awesome too…but ONION RINGS. Need to go!
Agnes
February 8, 2012 @ 9:53 pm
YAY I’m so glad someone else is as excited about the onion rings as me! 😀
msihua
February 8, 2012 @ 9:05 pm
HAHAHAHA at Celeste’s comment!
Hmmpphh whatever to beef 😛 I’ll have my own lamb and chicken party 😛
Agnes
February 8, 2012 @ 9:55 pm
Awww well you can’t go to all parties, Ms Social Butterfly. :p
Winston
February 8, 2012 @ 9:54 pm
OMG, Agnes… I seriously felt a sharp pang in my stomach while reading this post. I couldn’t get this place out of my head after reading April’s review on it last year. After reading both your reviews, I have full faith that I will most certainly have an enjoyable meal there in the future. Deeeeeefinitely suggesting this place for any upcoming special occasion! Now, if only that special occasion “aka excuse”, would come any sooner! ;ppp
Agnes
February 8, 2012 @ 10:15 pm
Oh I have the perfect special occasion for you – it’s nearly mid-Feb. That’s worth celebrating, you better get down there! Hehee. :p In all seriousness, I have faith that you’ll have a great meal there too!
Hannah
February 8, 2012 @ 10:53 pm
Yeah yeah yeah steak yadda yadda. OMG CHEESECAKE AND CHOCOLATE AND PEANUT BUTTER AND PEAS AND SAMPHIRE OH YES.
April
February 10, 2012 @ 1:11 pm
Your photos are so good! I didn’t take very good photos that night.
The fantastic steak is obviously the reason for going there, but those onion rings come a close second!
Cara @ Gourmet Chick
February 10, 2012 @ 11:04 pm
The place looks a bit cheesy but I have to admit the steaks look pretty good. As for the onion rings… swoon.
Thanh
February 23, 2012 @ 10:14 pm
That was an amazing meal. So so full. Oh the memories. It was definitely at great meAt up.