Steel Bar and Grill, Sydney CBD

A bit fancier than our usual mid-week dinner, we chose to visit Steel Bar and Grill this Wednesday for a catch up with some friends. We had high hopes as we were promised 'one of the best steaks' (hmm best steak Uncle G drools at the idea).

Eager to see each other (or just get out of work), our group arrives early and gets seated in the restaurant area. We had planned to grab a few happy hour drinks at the bar but we were offered to be seated so 'hey, what the heck! right?'. Just after we've been seated, we were told we could no longer have our happy hour drinks because we were now seated in the restaurant area. Fortunately the waiter picked up on our disappointment and gave us a round of drinks anyway. 

The restaurant ambience and decor worked for me, especially the camouflaged appearance of the bathroom doors. But what is with the mini television screens in the bathroom? It was good novelty and stood out, but its functional purpose perplexes me. Unfortunately I didn't snap too many photos of the surroundings, but there are plenty available on their website. We enjoyed that there was enough diners around us to build an atmosphere, yet quiet enough to hold a decent group conversation. 

We place our orders at around 7 pm and didn't get our food till 8 pm. We weren't sure what the hold up was but I must have been in an outstandingly happy mood for this not to have bothered me. 

Rangers Valley F1 Wagyu FLank BMS 7+ (250 g) $45

By the time our meals arrived we were famished. A few quick snaps and we were ready to tuck in! We broke our golden rule of 'never 'ordering the same thing'. So we all went for a steak - I just really wanted that steak - and not any steak, everyone except Uncle G went for the same steak. (He got the T-bone 'cause 250 g is far from satisfying for him). 

Our Rangers Valley F1 Wagyu FLank BMS 7+ was good; had a beautiful smoky, charred crust and lovely and juicy in the middle. My 'medium' was a little under, but it was a lovely piece of meat and I probably should have chosen medium rare anyway. It was a little chewy, but maybe that's because of the cut? (Not sure about this as I've only used flank for stir fries and its great for that).

[Top] Hand cut chips w herb salt $8.50. [Bottom] Roasted Mushrooms w garlic, baby onions, herb crumb $12

We got three sides to share, Roast mushrooms, Hand cut chips and Shoestring fries (hey, fried potato is a steak's best friend). The mushrooms were yum! Loved the salty, garlicy crunch of the herb crumbs. This went perfectly with the earthy mushrooms. Hand cut chips were average; satisfied the cravings and had a good crunch but somewhat too fat and not enough "deep fried surface area".

Chocolate feuilletine, chocolate dacquoise, Bavarian cream, hazelnut praline mousse, chocolate glaze, tempered chocolate $15

Yoghurt panna cotta: ewe's milk, strawberries, meringue, pistachio ice cream $15

My friend was crazy about the 'sauce filled donut ball dessert' pictured on the restaurant's website. Unfortunately, as we found out on the night, that was from 5 menus ago. Uncle G and I chose the chocolate dessert. YUM! A little like an opera cake but with a higher mousse ratio. Even Uncle G (who isn't a fan of chocolate mousse) could lick the plate of that one. 

The Yoghurt panna cotta was also delicious, less rich and decadent but had a nice balance of sweetness and tang; I could eat 2 of these (that's saying a lot because I'm usually quite adverse to sheep/goat milk products).

Overall it was a fantastic night. I wouldn't say it was the best steak I've ever had (Dinner by Heston in London still wins that one for us). The entertainment card definitely made this a worthwhile visit. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants take a friend to a decent establishment to talk and have a nice meal. At this price it would probably not be my first choice (esp without an Ent book). 

Finally, thanks for checking out my first post. Sorry for the poor quality and quantity of photos, I will work on that.