22 March 2010

The Beaufort Street Steakhouse

It's exciting times on the Beaufort Street Strip, with 2 new meat-based establishments having opened in the last couple of weeks - Grill'd and the Beaufort Street Steakhouse. It was a tough call deciding which one to patronise first, but the Beaufort Street Steakhouse won on the basis that there was no unnecessary apostrophe in its name.

With Stinky being happily minded by Mother of Booto (father of Booto was around, but was busy reliving his incredible conversation with a Sikh chef down at the North Perth Bowling Club) the bloggers put on their glad rags, polished their thongs and headed off to the Beaufort Street Steakhouse. The BSS occupies the space which Alt Heidelberg left vacant some years back - some you may recall the taunting sign on the door about Alt Heidelberg closing for renovations and checking the local rag for announcements on the reopening date. The Brains read each local paper (all 3 of them) every week for 3 years in anticipation of that announcement, which sadly never came.


But that's by the by.

Parking at BSS proved to be an issue. Not because it was difficult, but because The Deliberator insisted on directing us down tiny Northbridge streets so that we ended up parking in a dark alley facing the wrong way, then yelling at Booto for driving down tiny Northbridge streets so and parking in a dark alley facing the wrong way. The dressing down continued until we walked in the door, but calm was restored as we entered our cozy and quite fabulous surroundings. The BSS has the most sensational wallpaper (stylised white bull heads on a red background, tessellated to make flower-like shapes), beautiful booths (upholstered in red velvet) and the best steak knives we had ever clapped eyes on. A discussion about how easy it might be to kill someone with those steak knives quickly erupted.

We bagsed a booth and were soon presented with an amuse bouche, which to everyone's delight was an incredible dollop of steak tartare, delicately decorated with wafer thin slices of cornichons, mini-capers and tiny pieces of red onion. It was fabulous - had it been on the menu we all would have ordered it again as an entrée. It wasn't, so we ordered:

1. charcuterie plate, made up of house made duck liver parfait, terrine, chorizo, mustard and thin strips of prosciutto;

2. natural oysters

3. garlic chilli prawns

4. garlic bread

We were covering all bases. Every item was great, from the delicious oily chilli sauce that the prawns were swimming in, to the generous amount of garlic on the garlic bread to the smooth and creamy parfait. We enjoyed our entrée with 2 bottles of Tim Adams Riesling and a conversation about lung oysters.

We were keen to move onto red wine before our steaks arrived and went with the owner's suggestion of a Bellarmine Shiraz, at a very reasonable $35 (or thereabouts). It turned out to be a great suggestion, and Bellarmine Shiraz is now a firm group favourite.

With the red wine poured, we had to make a decision about the steaks, which was a nightmare - The Deliberator wanted to have the 750g rib-eye which was designed for 2 people for himself, plus he wanted to add 2 sauces, 3 mustards and an additional serve of chips. We managed to talk him out of the 750 gram big boy into a 600 gram rump, but he still ordered that to come with chips, as well as an additional serve of chips for the table. The Sponge ordered the same, Booto had the ladylike 220 gram eye fillet and the Brains chose the 300 gram sirloin. Despite having a choice of garlic mash, hand cut chips or jacket potato with crème freche and chives, we all opted for chips, and between us, we were able to get every type of sauce and mustard available on our table.

When the Deliberator and the Sponge's enormous meals arrived, the waitress (whose poor little wrists were bending at an unnatural angle due to the weight of those bastard steaks) accidentally dropped a couple of the monstrous the hand cut chips on the floor. While she rushed back to the kitchen to replace them, the Sponge's survival instincts kicked in as he bent over, picked up the chips from the floor and went to eat them. Thankfully, Booto was in mothering mode and managed to wack them out of his hand before they went into his mouth.

Everyone was extremely happy with their steaks. The Deliberator and The Sponge's steak took up the whole of their plates which pleased them both no end. The sauces were all amazing - a choice of mushroom, Diane, béarnaise, port and thyme and pepper - the chef makes them from scratch on the premises and you can taste the home made goodness. The hand cut chips were enormous slabs of potato, stacked on the plate like a game of jenga. Despite their crispy deliciousness, no one touched the extra chips for the table that The Deliberator insisted we order - they were a complete waste of time as the individual servings were more than generous. We also had a rocket and parmesan salad which did get eaten, but that was probably better left unsaid.

Dessert does not feature in our review.

So, with stomaches filled to the brim with cow and spuds, fuzzy heads from too much booze and a general warm glow from having had such a great experience, we left and spent the rest of the evening prank calling each other in the car (and then later on The Deliberator and The Brains' couch). And we are pleased to report that even in your 30s, the Wing the Wong number joke does not get tired.

In summary:


Service: Very friendly and attentive. There are plenty of wait staff to go around. As the restaurant has only just opened there is a hint of nervousness and a little lack of confidence, but this will surely pass.


Food: Exactly what you want from a steak house - perfectly cooked steak, great selection of sauces and sides, giant serves and even some interesting starters.Ambience: Cosy, groovy with a hint of Spain.


Highlight: The steaks, stupid. Oh, and the steak knives.


Lowlight: We were surprised to see there was no t-bone on the menu, and we were also slightly put-out that the waitress did not stop to explain what exactly was what on our charcuterie board. Pretty minor lowlights though.


Rating: 4.5 bleeding cows out of 5.


Will we be back: Certainly. As far as we can tell, it's the only decent steakhouse in town. It's exactly what the Beaufort Street strip and Perth in general needs.


Details: The Beaufort Street Steakhouse is located at 283 Beaufort Street, Perth, next door to Source. The restaurant is fully licensed and you can call them on 9228 2008. We paid about 85 bucks a head for entrees, a whole beast and most of their wine.



Beaufort Street Steakhouse on Urbanspoon

27 comments:

Ross said...

We saw it yesterday, and have to say it looked great from the outside. Glad you liked it!

Brad said...

Interesting guys. I had a friend who went along soon after it opened and they weren't impressed. The steaks had no description as to where they came from, how they were aged etc etc.

Has this changed? If so, I might have to give it a go.

As far as good steakhouses go, Rockpool Bar & Grill is slated to open sometime next year at Burswood. If it's half as good as the meal and overall experience we had at the Melbourne version, it will put most of the restaurants we have over here to shame.

Beaufort Street Bloggers said...

Interesting point Brad. Your friend is right, there were no detailed descriptions on the menu about the steak. This is something the BSS could consider adding.

Not sure if we would let that put you off though.

Brad said...

True, a good steak is a good steak, but if they're serious about their meat I think offering this info is needed before being taken seriously as a steakhouse.

I'm certainly no expert on steak, but even an amateur like me can appreciate the difference between dry-aged, wet-aged, or not-aged at all. Looking forward to see how they evolve though.

As far as good steak in Perth, you should check out the Adelphi at the Parmelia Hilton. Steak is good, beers on tap are great, but the sides are adequate only.

Anonymous said...

I picked up a menu above the steaks it says "all our steaks are ‘certified australian angus beef’, msa rated, free range and aged for a minimum of 4 weeks." will try it soon

Beaufort Street Bloggers said...

Thanks Anonymous, you're quite right, The Brains had forgotten about that (but everyone else remembered). Brad's problem is considered solved.

We encourage you all to visit.

1o2p3e4r5 said...

Excellent! I live with a carnivore who almost never goes to restaurants, but I might be able to drag him out to this one! Thanks!

Unknown said...

went last week too.

really enjoyed it. complementary canape was a great touch and wallpaper and general aesthetics really add to a sophisticated touch. the old german still sneaks through though.

only distraction was the owner, whom i presume is the same 'nugget' listed on the menu, lurking behind the bar and eyeballing all the punters.

agree with all comments re the description of the steaks, but for my money (which it was), they rested their steaks in a way few places in perth do. the true point of difference for me.

Anonymous said...

I ate there last night and really enjoyed the service and the meal... buttery melting delicious fillet for me. BUT I have to agree with the commenter above.. the owner is not doing his business any favours with his lurking. He was there last night, kept randomly appearing to chat to one of his friends and then disappearing. I thought he should have been meeting and interacting with all of his customers, not just his friends it seems a little wrong to me. Definitely the wrong sort of vibe from him. But the rest was great, decor, steaks, sides, service and wine...

Anonymous said...

Had a really great steak there Tuesday night the best I have eaten anywhere. Patner had the chicken which she loved. Really cool ambience. Did speak to the owner was very cool and helpful, maybe the so called eyeballing is attentiveness taken the wrong way or he just had a bad day? I used to work in the industry and it is hard to be observant and interactive when people are dinning. With us he was great, and the food and service were amazing, Nugget? Great job on the whole venture it's just what the strip needed, and for a new restaurant just openned with all the teething problems involved, well done. We'll be back.

Matt at Abstract Gourmet said...

Might want to watch the anonymous comments coming in here guys. Sounds highly suspect to me.

I ate here a while back and wasn't impressed with anything. The menu was as described above, devoid of any information relating to the meat, the knives feel more like clubs than something you should be eating with, and the owner was lurching about the place with his sunglasses on his head single handedly ignoring us and also putting us off our food.

The steak wasn't amazing. It was fatty and tasteless and if I had to describe the mash potatoes I'd be conjuring up imagery of Sellys Spakfilla.

I think you've been super generous here with a 4.5 / 5 but I really need to go back again to see how things are.

As for steaks I'd go to Hippo Creek in Hillary's, The Old Swan Brewery's Tomahawk Steak (both not without their issues) or cross your fingers and pray that the Neil Perry's Rockpool rumours coming to Burswood are true, and find your salvation there.

Johnno said...

Just ate here last night. The steak was one of the nicest I've had and the sauces availale are all fabulous. The staff were all attentive without being overpowering and were quick to respond to requests. I agree with some of the other comments here that this is the type of place Beaufort Street has been lacking for far too long. I will definitely be returning.

Chuck Kail said...

i cut 1/8th of fat from my steak whilst there..was expecting alot, was a bit underwealmed..will be giving it another go though, may have just been an off night

*Blue Ox Steakhouse in Kalamunda was the second best fillet steak i have had...right behind Victoria Station's

Jo Serwey said...

Wow, sounds really good! I think I will go there and try this weekend :) hopefully it's not busy! Do u think I should make a booking though?

Northern musings said...

Have you guys stopped eating? Or are you finally feeling a credit crunch from the copious bottles of wine that have been drunk... Nah, you guys are lawyers and such and are the last to be affected....

Unknown said...

Hi BSB'ers. Visited Beaufort St Steakhouse (18/05/10) after reading your review. Very happy with the service and food. Fillet steaks were lovely, although I would like it if they offered the option of a 'larger' fillet than the 220g. There is a T-bone on the menu now, along with a huge (650g?) rib eye which I'm going to try next time. Highlights (besides the meat) were the fried/buttered mushrooms (side) and the espresso creme brulee which was gorgeous. Prices were OK for Perth, but still a little over priced when comparing to rest of Oz. We'll be back.

Liv Bambola said...

Interesting reading all the comments. We visited last night, got there soon after it opened I'm sure, as we were the only ones in there.
The menu now has descriptions about where the meat comes from and how long it's been aged.
The staff were friendly but professional, I couldn't see anyone 'lurking' as other people noted.
I'm no steak expert but it tasted good enough that we'd go back again.
It was nice to enjoy what's usually a pub meal in a bit more of a fine dining type atmosphere.

dancilhoney said...

I work at a company close by and have turned most of my co-workers to this amazing spot who all love it ALMOST as much as I do.

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SnoopDoug said...

This place has gone. Walked by last night to see an empty building.

Anonymous said...

Sad to see that the place is gone.

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Tag My Pals said...

Too bad it's closed now! Any other similar places near it?

Anonymous said...

I am also looking for a siliar place. This was a great restaurant and I have know of people who have loads of great dinning experiences.
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Anonymous said...

Thanks Anonymous, you're quite right, The Brains had forgotten about that (but everyone else remembered). Brad's problem is considered solved.

You are right. I will love to visit some time.

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Anonymous said...

The natural oysters are perhaps the best food I have tasted in a while.

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childrens place coupons said...

Is that place still available? sad if not

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