Brisbane restaurants: Florentine Italian Grill and Wine Room review

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Get your beef on in the best possible way at this temple to Italy’s chianina cattle

Florentine Italian Grill and Wine Room, Newstead.

The largest breed of cattle on the planet is the chianina. It’s Italian.

The biggest of the males stretch to 2m to the wither and weigh more than 1½ tonnes.

They are heavier than a clydesdale — and my car. Just.

Initially bred as a draught animal, they are now almost exclusively raised for the meat that’s the primary ingredient in one of Tuscany’s most celebrated dishes, bistecca alla fiorentina.

Until yesterday, I’d never had the pleasure of tasting it.

In fact, the whole chianina/fiorentina thing had flown well below my radar.

Today, I’m a convert.

Victoria’s Gippsland is home to Isola Chianina, a breeder of these fabulous bovines: sustainably farmed, exclusively pasture fed, all the boxes ticked.

And Florentine’s — Gianni Greghini’s latest operation — specialises in bistecca fiorentina using Isola Chianina meat.

And boy, how good is that?

Bistecca Fiorentina, Florentine Italian Grill and Wine Room.

While I’m on the subject of good things, here’s a word on hospitality.

The kitchen closes at 3pm on a Saturday, and I know this isn’t going to work — I have commitments.

So I call to see if I can order over the phone, arrive at 2.30, and eat quickly.

The restaurant manager stays behind; the chef stays behind — until well after closing time.

I’m being a royal pain in the butt, yet they make me and my guests feel like kings. And we eat a lot of meat. Like kings.

It’s not all meat based — there are scallops and prawns, market fish, and a decent bunch of vegetarian dishes scattered amid the primal fare.

But, seriously, this is a beef restaurant.

Take, for example, a starter of stuffed olives with a side dish of aioli ($16).

Guess what stuffs them? Chianina beef, of course.

Or chianina tartare ($27, pictured below) with a tiny quail yolk in a half-shell, baby basil leaves, some artful dots of rocket extract and something white, and a couple of toasted wedges. It’s brilliant.

Chianina tartare ($27), Florentine Italian Grill and Wine Room.

Chef adds a bowl of chianina ragu, shaved parmesan and toasted ciabatta.

It beats the pants off the rest.

But the main event is, of course, the bistecca fiorentina.

We are offered two sizes — both grandiose — rib on the bone or a T-bone.

It’s $20 for 100 grams and we rack up just short of a kilo (yep, that’s a $200 steak).

It’s way too much, but it is just the sort of stuff that lifts my pulse rate.

The steak is done over charcoal, brushed and dusted with herbs, served with quarters of roasted potato … perfectly crunchy on the outside, fluffy in the middle.

It’s so simple, yet so delicious.

There are other steaks for those who, for some inexplicable reason, don’t want to try this special from Florence, Italy.

Florentine Italian Grill is the only restaurant in Queensland to provide Chianina beef cuts from the Chiana Valley in Italy.

But why fiddle with a winner?

Unless, of course, you are dining solo, or even at a table of two.

It takes three or more to tackle the fiorentina, but surely most of us can gather three friends for the simple pleasure of tackling this Tuscan classic.

SCORES OUT OF 10

Food: 8.5

Drinks: 8

Vibe: 7

Service: 8.5

FLORENTINE ITALIAN GRILL AND WINE ROOM

5 Kyabra Street, Newstead

Ph: 3180 4466