Review: The Star casino’s $240 Kiwami wagyu steak

THIS glistening, 400g hunk of meaty goodness is the preferred protein of Hong Kong billionaires and Saudi princes – and you definitely won’t find it at your local butcher. But is it really better than your average steak? Des Houghton tucks in to find out.

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THIS week I went to a swanky new Gold Coast restaurant on top of the high-rollers’ rooms at The Star casino to taste-test a $240 steak.

The glistening, 400g hunk of Queensland-made Kiwami wagyu was testosterone on a plate.

Des Houghton tucks in to the $240 steak at Nineteen at The Star. Picture: Nigel Hallett

It packed a flavour wallop like Maroons’ forward Coen Hess before dancing across the palate the way the Broncos’ Jimmy “The Jet” Roberts might lead the opposition on a merry dance to the try line.

Kiwami is a Japanese work for “exclusive”. It’s so exclusive, in fact, that you cannot buy it in any butcher shop in Queensland, and perhaps you never will.

Kiwami wagyu has a marble score of 12 and is usually only available to highrollers in Asia and the Middle East.

It comes from Stockyard beef company, which pioneered grain-fed beef exports to Japan, igniting Australia’s billion-dollar grain-fed chilled beef export industry.

Stockyard offers several varieties of beef, but it sells Kiwami exclusively to Asia and the Middle East and it is the preferred protein of Hong Kong billionaires and Saudi princes.

The Kiwami wagyu on the grill at Nineteen. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Restaurant Nineteen on the 19th floor of the new ­Darling at The Star has the beef exclusively in this country, although Stockyard’s chief executive Lachie Hart told me it may one day be offered to other high-end eateries in Sydney and Melbourne.

Kiwami wagyu has a marble score of 12 and comes from purebred animals.

The Kiwami wagyu is nothing short of “Queensland on a plate”, Des Houghton writes. Picture: Nigel Hallett

It has a deeply satisfying flavour and, despite the initial visceral whack, it is juicy and has a lovely texture, leading to a more polite flavour profile that lingers like an old red wine.

It was like tasting the essence of Queensland.

Mr Hart said Kiwami displayed the fifth taste sensation, umami, that came with a strict feeding regimen that included wheat and barley and a secret ingredient.

The prized animals are fattened for 400 days at the family Kerwee feedlot at Jondaryan on the Darling Downs.

Head Chef Kelvin Andrews mans the grill at Nineteen. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Stockyard has just won the beef industry’s grand slam, picking up trophies for the best branded beef at royal shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne last year.

Nineteen chief Simon Gloftis said he was astonished at the popularity of the steak, usually offered as a main course for two. He said it was ordered widely by seven tables of high-rollers who arrived on Saturday night.

The stylish interior Nineteen at The Star. Picture: Nigel Hallett

They also feasted on Beluga caviar ($900 for 50g), washed down of course with a 2007 vintage Bollinger Blanc de Noir ($2870).

Gloftis runs the restaurant with Gold Coast entrepreneurs Billy and Jackie Cross. It has commanding views of the ocean and the hinterland.