Niku Ou Japanese barbecue serves ultimate steak sandwich for $99
How much could you pay for the ultimate steak sandwich? New CBD barbecue restaurant is serving rare Japanese wagyu in once-in-a-lifetime sandwich form — for $99, writes Dan Stock.
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How much would you pay for the ultimate steak sandwich?
Of course, this is no ordinary sandwich. And it comes from no ordinary cow.
Having run South Yarra’s popular wagyu Ya for the past five years, Roy Yu and Emily Wu opened a sister restaurant on Bourke St at the end of last year. Specialising in Japanese barbecue and wagyu beef, the opening of their second restaurant coincided with the loosening of Australian import restrictions meaning that, for the first time in almost 20 years, Japanese full blood wagyu is back on the menu.
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While Australian wagyu comes with a marbling score from 1 to 9+, Japanese beef is graded according the amount of meat (a letter grade A to C) and quality — which includes texture, colour and marbling — is graded 1 to 5. A5 is thus the wood-panelled Bentley, the Rolex Daytona, the 1956 Grange — it is the best-of-the-best, the most expensive, exquisite, steak in the world.
At Niku Ou they serve both 9+ wagyu from David Blackmore (the best-of-the-best producer who pioneered wagyu production here) and A5 Hida (a breed of wagyu), across a large menu that, while not all beef, forces a vegetarian’s fast day.
Barbecue is the main attraction for what seems to be an exclusively Japanese audience, with tables with a built-in grill that’s filled to order glowing coals, the smoke from the embers and searing meats ingeniously sucked away. Large windows bring the Bourke St bustle into the handsome restaurant but it’s no staid affair — especially once the table of salarymen hit their third round of Suntory on tap ($10), or get stuck into the extensive list of sake.
Before you call for coals there’s a raft of things from the sea and the pretty sashimi platter served on ice is a fine place to start, with nicely sliced salmon, ruby tuna discs and luscious hamachi, or Japanese yellowtail ($30, 12 pce).
Niku sushi — meat sushi — sees slices of beef either seared or raw draped over fingers of rice and topped with varying levels of luxury, from uni and caviar ($19) to truffle and foie gras ($26), though this feels more an exercise in excess than the best way to wagyu.
Bolder crumbed crunchy fun is to be had with the scotch egg ($19), a terrific version where still gooey yolk comes cuddled within a nicely spiced mince, whisper-thin slivers of fried chilli atop adding heat among squiggles of tontaksu sauce and kewpie mayo.
But all roads lead to the barbecue and the menu offers myriad choices of cuts and marble score, ranging from Blackmore’s ox tongue ($29) and M7 tri tip ($26 per 100g) to 200g of M10+ sirloin for $110. That A5 Hida tenderloin is $1 per gram, with $65 buying you 100g of oyster blade.
Staff — plentiful, friendly and who work the room well with eyes across all sections — are happy to both guide into a varied selection of cuts to compare and contrast and do some time on the grill, if you want.
Given the amount of creamy fat that comes feathered through, each slice needs but a minute on the glowing coals before it’s warm, smoky and glistening. I found the 9+ tri tip nicely textural, the oyster blade more subtle and silkier, while the karubi (belly) is expectedly rich and decadent but with a sweetness that plays perfectly with the charry smokiness as the fat continues to melt.
A little goes a very long way — 50g of each costs $59 all up and is more than enough for one. There are sauces (chilli miso, sesame, sweet soy) offered for the dipping, but the rich, beefy meat is pleasure enough on its own.
The A5 Hida also comes in tartare form, a sublime way to sample this most decadent of meats. Mix through a sticky yolk and top on buttery crisps and savour meat that disappears in a whisper ($39).
And that steak sandwich?
There’s a $25 version served at lunchtime, where minced wagyu is crumbed into a katsu puck and creates the best-ever hamburger patty you’ll likely ever taste, but for the real-deal you’ll need to ask for the Hida Katsu. Made with 100—120g of steak that comes in a herbed crumb, it’s served between buttered toast with a touch of fruity tomato sauce.
Like biting into marshmallow made of down, the steak is unimaginably soft but retains just a hint of satisfying chew. Providing but a few precious mouthfuls that dance along a tightrope of sweet meaty buttery pleasure, such is its visceral dreaminess it’s remarkably filling. It puts both the tender and a tickle into tenderloin.
How much does this ultimate sandwich cost? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime $99. It is also unforgettable.
Niku Ou
108 Bourke St, city
Ph: 9654 7178
Open: Lunch from 11.30am; dinner from 5.30pm daily
Go to dish: Hida katsu
Score: 14/20
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