Where to find Melbourne’s tastiest steaks
If you’ve got a craving for a hearty steak, we’re here to help. From pub fare to fancy fine dining, our seasoned food writers have “steaked” out their top picks to satisfy your tastebuds. Get ready to dig in.
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If you’ve got a craving for a hearty steak, we’re here to help.
Our seasoned food writers have “steaked” out their top picks to satisfy your tastebuds.
From pub fare to fancy fine dining, all these juicy slabs of meat have come from places on our Delicious.100 - a list of the top 100 restaurants across Victoria.
How many of these meat-focused Melbourne meals have you tried? Get ready to dig in.
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FITZROY TOWN HALL HOTEL
Having both trained in Europe, Chefs Sean Donovan and Anna Quayle know their way around a sauce and their béarnaise is the best in town.
Perfectly paired with a half dozen name-checked steaks that range from a 200g bavette through to a 1.4kg Cote de Boeuf that come off the red gum-fired wood barbecue, along with properly chunky fat chips, you have a plate of perfection at the Fitzroy Town Hall Hotel, which straddles the pub-restaurant divide with class.
FITZROY TOWN HALL HOTEL
166 Johnston St, Fitzroy
9416 5055
Go to dish: 500g Grass Fed Black Angus Rib Eye with Radicchio, Blue Cheese, Beetroot & Hazelnut Salad
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Sean Donovan and Anna Quayle
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Daily noon-late
Instagram: @fitzroytownhallhotel
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
ROCKPOOL
It’s all about steak at Rockpool, you might think, and you’d be right.
The slabs of beef hanging in cabinets on the way in, and the giant bull depicted on the menu, signal meaty intentions at Rockpool Bar & Grill.
Pair flawlessly cooked dry-aged Blackmore wagyu blade with ‘mac and cheese’ or grass-fed Cape Grim T-bone with the cracking potato and cabbage gratin and you will be in heaven. Especially if you’ve ordered a fine bottle of red from Rockpool’s estimable cellar.
ROCKPOOL BAR & GRILL
Crown Entertainment Complex
8 Whiteman St, Southbank
8648 1900
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Zac Nicholson
Price: $$$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Sun-Fri 12-3pm; dinner daily 6-11pm
Instagram: @rockpooldininggroup
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
FRENCH SALOON
Modern French food minus the fuss and formality is the order of the day here, with gutsy flavours and generous serves.
The main star here is the steak frites, a cracking rendition teaming hand-cut chips with Cape Grim beef enriched with a luxe Roquefort butter.
FRENCH SALOON
46 Hardware Lane, City
9600 2142
Cuisine: French
Chefs: Ian Curley and Todd Moses
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner Mon-Fri
Instagram: @frenchsaloon
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
Wine list: Rissel Keightley
PALERMO
Opening late last year, Palermo is the fourth South American restaurant from the team
behind San Telmo and Pastuso (a new 250-seat sibling, Asado, adds similar Argentinian
swagger to Southbank).
Firing up the parrilla grill and stoking the asado is Ollie Gould (ex-Stokehouse) who is dramatically roasting meats on the open fire while serving up a menu that treads the familiar meat-and-malbec path honed at San Telmo over the past seven-odd years.
PALERMO
401 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
9002 1600
Chef: Ollie Gould
Price: $$
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Bookings: Yes
Instagram: @palermomelbourne
Licensed: Yes
BYO: No
S eparate bar: No, but yes to drinks only
Wine list: Ben Robinson
CAPE
Young chef Josh Pelham in the kitchen, putting experience gained at London’s two-Michelin-starred The Square and time heading Scott Pickett’s flagship ESP to good use.
Brilliant rosemary-salted fat chips are a must next to respectfully treated name-checked steaks from the grill, which the local-leaning, Peninsula-championing wine list matches with class.
With its focus on Victorian produce and Peninsula wine, this restaurant on the (golf) green is gold.
RACV Cape Schanck Resort
Trent Jones Drive, Cape Schanck
03 5950 8038
MATILDA 159
Scott Pickett is playing with fire. Taking over the ground and basement levels of the new United Places luxury boutique hotel, Matilda is the chef’s flame-, smoke- and coal-powered take on contemporary Australian dining.
Everything on the menu has been tickled with smoke and touched by flame, and highlights are many.
Name-checked steaks, including a wattleseed-crusted wagyu bavette, are treated with equal skill and respect.
A warm wonderland of flickering flames, Matilda is hot stuff. Thank you for smoking.
Matilda 159
159 Domain Rd, South Yarra
9089 6668
Chefs: Scott Pickett and Tim Young
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @matilda159domain
Licensed: Yes
BYO: No
Separate bar: Yes
Wine list: Clint Fox
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