Best Steak In Melbourne
It’s difficult not to be won over by Australia’s cultural capital and its highly acclaimed eating scene, whether you live there or are just visiting, especially after discovering the finest steak restaurants in Melbourne.
The recent years have seen steak more out of fashion. The chefs and consumers are becoming more accepting of vegetables than they have ever been before; despite all this, there are many establishments in Melbourne where you can have a great grilled steak. At the most exclusive establishments, you may usually choose your favorite breed, feed (grain or grass), cut, maturing time, sauces, and, of course, how you want it prepared.
In This Article
Whatever method you choose to cook your steak, the quality of this staple meal is entirely reliant on the animal from which it is sourced. Fortunately, Australia is known for producing some of the best beef on the planet. Since introducing Wagyu to Australia in 1989, Victorian farmer David Blackmore has gained a loyal following: chefs like Thomas Keller (French Laundry, USA) and a slew of other high-profile international chefs.
Additionally, Mayura Station in South Australia (another pure-bred Wagyu operation), Cape Grim in Tasmania, and O’Connor Beef in Victoria, among other world-class cow farms that practice ethical and sustainable farming, are also worth a visit.
There’s nothing more luxurious on a menu than a good old-fashioned steak. To assist you in your quest for the finest steak in Melbourne, here are the top steak restaurants and steakhouses in Victoria.
France Soir
Since its inception in 1986, France Soir has been packed every night. It’s the kind of restaurant where regulars return week after week and new customers are almost sure to become regulars.
France Soir should be one of the first places that spring to mind when looking for a delicious Melbourne steak. This South Yarra favorite is Melbourne’s meat lovers’ burly senior statesman – reliable, robust, and a master of the game.
It’s difficult to recreate the character and mood here. Everything attracts the eye; a family may be toasting a birthday with oysters and champagne, while waiters expertly move between tables, shouting orders to the bar, of course, in French.
The kitchen, hidden behind swinging doors at the other end of the restaurant, serves traditional French fare such as steak tartare, magret de canard (duck breast for those unfamiliar with French), and crème brûlée or crêpes suzette for dessert.
The cuisine is complemented by one of the city’s most comprehensive French wine selections. Owner Jean-Paul Prunetti built a cellar with 2,100 wines, mainly from France, but all well paired with French cuisine.
From the $22 snails served floating in garlic butter to the $26 calamari with chorizo and jalapenos, there’s much to munch on at this crowded French classic. But you’ve come for the grill, and South East Gippsland shines with pasture-fed beef from the O’Connor family. A $53 600g rib eye and a $42 330g porterhouse are excellent options.
Address: 11 Toorak Road South Yara
Phone: (03) 9866 8569
Website: france-soir.com.au
La Luna Bistro
You may be visiting La Luna to pick up some of Melbourne’s finest little gods, but you’d be negligent if you didn’t return for dinner. Adrian Richardson’s Carlton restaurant is well-known for serving some of Melbourne’s best steaks, as well as other delicacies such as a $21 bullboar sausage with potato ailoi and a $32 pappardelle scialatielli pasta with a pig & veal ragout, among others.
The grill will always be the main attraction of this establishment. Grass-fed beef is utilized throughout the restaurant and is dry-aged for 80 days. The trademark $48 280g butcher’s cut, which is served simply with chimichurri and spinach, and the $80 500g rib eye with green beans and traditional Cafe de Paris butter are two of the finest ways to sample the beef.
You shouldn’t bring your vegetarian friends here. Still, if you are an omnivore, the relaxed décor of bare wood, linen napkins, and artwork that depicts the different slices of meat instills a sense of ease and anticipation for the charcuterie experience that lies ahead. Richardson’s enthusiasm is backed up with service expertise, and the wait staff moves swiftly and effectively in the often packed space. The mentality of La Luna seems to be one of relaxed quality, and this does not appear to be changing.
Address: 320 Rathdowne St, Carlton North, VIC 3054
Phone: (03) 9349 4888.
Website: lalunabistro.com.au
L'Hôtel Gitan
L’Hôtel Gitan is owned and operated by Jacques Reymond, his wife Kathy, and three children. It is a more casual and accessible alternative to what Reymond is usually known for.
The cuisine at Bistro Gitan is a little more French in flavor than the meals at Bistro Gitan. Croquettes, prosciutto, boudin noir, and boudin blanc are among the nibble-sized foods on the set menu, including more substantial dishes such as steak tartare, duck magret, and Niçoise salad, among others.
There’s plenty of Australian talent on the wine list in the shape of sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, and shiraz, but most of the list is devoted to imports and light, savory types such as pinot noir, grenache, and mencia, among others.
Whether you’re in the bistro, which is ready for reservations, on the barstools upfront, which can accommodate walk-ins, or outdoors on the wood banquettes, the attentive staff is never far away.
The kitchen is separated from the rest of the house by an elaborately tiled main bar and strong brass bulkheads that separate the dining area from the kitchen are also present.
The top four beers on tap are Carlton Draught and Custard & Co. Cider, and they are all available on draught. This is what Reymond imagines a bar to be like. It’s more about encouraging the “pop-in, pop-out” approach while maintaining a certain amount of flare where it matters.
Address: 32, Commercial Road, Prahran, VIC
Phone: (03) 9999 0990
Website: lhotelgitan.com.au
Rockpool Bar & Grill
A fantastic way to spend an elegant evening is to visit Neil Perry’s Melbourne extension of the Rockpool brand, a part of the Urban Purveyor Group since 2016. Many diners create a lively atmosphere, with groups ranging from casino visitors to bright young things preparing for a big night out on the town.
It is a vast experience in the most excellent possible way, from the wine cabinets that stretch from floor to ceiling to the massive flavors of the grill. The meat locker is one of the first things you notice after past the attentive oyster shucker. Large sides of beef are on display, and a mean-looking slicer gleams.
The ‘four raw flavors of the sea,’ a trademark dish that debuted with the restaurant, is still a mouth-watering quartet: kingfish dressed in a smoked oyster; ocean trout with mild harissa; tuna a flash of ginger and coriander; and scampi ceviche. Aside from the underseasoned tuna, it’s a powerful statement about the beauty of top ingredients handled with little fuss.
Linguini, slithery strands of hand-cut silk in noodle shape, with sweet breakouts of spanner crab and an Asian-accented splash of chili-spiked prawn oil, are on the menu. And thick nubs of scampi tail snuggled within a creamy bed of silky polenta, with pine mushrooms and sage adding a seasonal touch. Comforting yet thrilling all at the same time.
There are red meat choices among the 10’main dishes’ (the menu totals 34 things before you get to the dry-aged, grass-fed steaks – though the corned Wagyu silverside with onion soubise and pearl barley did make a compelling case). But a Rockpool steak is almost unavoidable, and if you’re going that route, it’s only suitable to sample the 17 side dishes, which range from crisp onion rings the size of tiny Frisbees to the caramelized potato-and-cabbage gratin. You’ll be in a food coma, but it’ll be a pleasant one.
Railway Club Hotel
When it comes to getting a good deal on a steak, all of Melbourne’s finest pubs are pretty reliable. A very different story is told at The Railway Club Hotel, which is frequently referred to as the original steak pub of Melbourne.
A maroon carpet, white paper-on-cloth covered tables, and 1970s house brick walls adorned with framed netball heroes, jockey colors, and Don Bradman driving for the boundary define the dining room’s aesthetic in Railway Club Hotel. Even on a Tuesday, it’s crowded, with families mingling with groups of businesspeople. The beer and Barossa shiraz flow like a torrent, delivered three to a hand by talkative waiters in ill-fitting blacks.
Regularly, you’ll find a few odd items on the menu, ones that you wouldn’t often connect with a traditional pub lunch, but that is very delicious. On the other hand, Steak is constantly on the menu at this establishment, and it is typically derived from one of three distinct breeds of cattle. It is recommended that you get a Robbins Island full-blood wagyu MBS7-8+, which may be served as a porterhouse or rump in three different sizes, according to your taste and needs. The bar is maintained beautifully and doesn’t seem depressing at all.
Address: 8 Whiteman Street, Crown Complex Southbank, VIC
Phone:(03) 8648 1900
Website:crownmelbourne.com.au
Steer Dining Room
With Japanese and South-East-Asian elements, Steer is a contemporary New York-style steakhouse. There are 18 different Angus and Wagyu grass- and grain-fed steaks to choose from on the menu. Besides, Steer Dining Room also has a great wine selection and tasty mixed drinks concocted from the bar. Wonderfully relaxed, clean, roomy, and delicious.
Steak tartare is a standout on the main menu. It’s made using full-blood wagyu eye round steak from Jack’s Creek, an Australian premium beef farm that has won the World’s Best Steak title for the last two years in a row.
The lean and flavorful beef is mixed with a relish of chili, garlic, ginger, and spring onions and then topped with crispy enoki mushrooms and micro coriander for a delicious presentation served with rice crackers are prepared in-house. The customers select this as one of the most popular ways to begin their dining experience with us, which is understandable given its popularity.
Here the popular variant of sour drinks is ‘Fizz.’ One of the mixologists has developed a Cherry variant that has the fizziness of racy acidity with a bit of kick to it.
Shaken briskly with Heering Cherry liqueurs, the Cape Grim 666 Tasmanian Vodka is served with a generous sprinkling of lemon juice, a bracing splash of soda water, and a delicate flip of an egg white. Concocted with toasted marshmallows, this is a delicious and energetic beverage to lighten your mood.
Address: 15 Claremont Street, South Yarra VIC 3141
Phone: (03) 9827 1891
Website: steerdiningroom.com.au
Angus & Bon
The new Prahran steakhouse/gastropub has some substantial meat on the menu. Former Rockpool sous chef Declan Carroll cooks these steaks on a wood-fired grill, and they’re perfectly browned, with a whiff of wood smoke penetrating the delicate flesh. The 28-month-old grass-fed rib eye from O’Connors Gippsland is served cut off the bone, remaining on the dish and begs to be picked up and gnawed. This item has also been dry for at least 30 days, which gives the fat that wonderful bacon-like flavor makes congestive heart failure seem worthwhile.
The cuisine is centered on a handcrafted woodfired grill. O’Connor’s grass-fed beef is matured for 30 to 50 days, as is David Blackmore’s 9+ score dried-aged Wagyu. Pork belly, lamb, shellfish, and vegetables are also spiced up. Classic sauces for the various kinds of beef include peppercorn, Café de Paris butter, and a modern twist on béarnaise.
The traditionally designed restaurant emphasizes its steak selections, with five central options ideal for meat lovers. The kitchen, like France Soir, gets its premium beef from the O’Connor family in South East Gippsland. Another clear winner is the $90 300g Westholme wagyu porterhouse MBS6+, a purchase that can never go wrong.
While repairing the old woodwork, the additional wood put over has been stained to match. Sash windows and brass railings are all unique to the structure. Two major eating rooms are divided by a bar. Walk-ins are allowed in the lounge bar at the front. The rear of the eatery has tan-leather clam-shaped booths.
Address: 168, Greville St Prahran, Melbourne 3181
Phone: (03) 9533 9593
Website: angusandbon.co.au
French Saloon
The food at French Saloon, located above Kirk’s Wine Bar, will not give you a clichéd So-French-So-Chic vibe. With a curved redwood ceiling, a tall zinc bar, and a beautiful small terrace with umbrella-covered tables, it is the epitome of subtle beauty. When you go inside, you get the impression that the restaurant was serving oysters at the beginning of existentialist thought, either raw with a small bottle of Tabasco or punchily flecked with bottarga and horseradish. There’s also a 20th-century approach to sound baffling that may create the sense that a tiny revolution is brewing underneath the slowly spinning fans, which isn’t entirely accurate.
Ian Curley, executive chef-turned-partner, and head chef Todd Moses (formerly of Golden Fields and Supernormal) oversee a cuisine that may best be characterized as “free-range French.” Certain dishes, such as duck with cherries and wilted radicchio, might almost pass for French, but it would be fairer to associate French Saloon with the current generation of wine-driven restaurants such as Marion rather than Melbourne’s France-Soirs.
Many beverages are available, ranging from Old World to New World, from big brands to boutiques. And a vibrant collection of aperitifs begs to be savored on the final nights of summer.
Begin with anchovy toasts with melting strips of lardo (the menu calls it guanciale, but we can assure you it’s 100 percent great pig fat) over a bright red pepper smoosh. There’s caviar (from Siberian sturgeon or Yarra Valley salmon and a sweet-leaning kingfish Crudo slathered in confit yolk and topped with a gravlax-style sauce (mustard, red wine vinegar, and dill mellowed by crème fraîche).
Raw veal and oyster cream are combined in a dish that blends Vitello tonnato and tartare; the coarsely chopped meat is salted and fried capers and saltbush leaves are added for a little additional flavour. A fragrant wodge of pan-fried blood pudding is cut through with apple remoulade and beautifully transparent blanched beetroot, and authentic sweets are accompanied by gelato from Gelateria Primavera.
Address: Upstairs 380-384 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
Phone: 03 96002142
Website: frenchsaloon.com
Entrecote
There are plenty of options when it comes to Parisian-styled steakhouses in Melbourne, but if you stick to the finest, you’ll be able to avoid the stress of having to choose. Entrecôte is one of those restaurants, another South Yarra institution that is a lock for the title of finest Melbourne steak.
Frites de steak. Steak with fries Steak and chips, whatever you choose to call it, it’s a timeless classic with universal appeal that defies season, fashion, and location. The menu at JEntrecôte is straightforward: grilled, grass-fed Black Angus Porterhouse with house sauce, vinaigrette-laced green salad, and endless fries. He’s duplicated the idea in CBD since it works so effectively.
To begin an opulent evening here, start with the $159 caviar service of Polanco Sturgeon, Oscietra Grand Reserve, before proceeding on to either the $79 two dish or $94 three-course meal options, which are all available. Choose from a vast menu, which includes the signature steak Frites, which is a pasture-fed Cape Grim Angus porterhouse paired with fries and a house-made herb butter sauce, at either location.
Address: 133 Domain Road South Yarra 3141
Phone:(03) 9804 5468
Website:entrecote.com.au
The Mitre Tavern
Come here for a variety of superb steaks and luxury bottles of Barossa shiraz. The dry-aged porterhouse is our favorite group, with crisp ends with a lovely sear and a delicious port wine jus. The chandelier in the old-fashioned dining room above one of Melbourne’s oldest pubs, as well as the affogato for dessert, will transport you back to the heady days of the 1980s.
The heritage-listed pub (established in 1868) has a long and fascinating history going back to 1837. It is believed to be haunted by the ghost of Connie Waugh, who lived here in the early 1900s as Sir Rupert Clarke’s mistress. Ms. Waugh is considered to have hanged herself when Sir Rupert returned to his wife, and she still wanders these ancient streets longing for her lost love to return. Many a bottle of Grange had gone down the gullets of Melbourne’s corporate elite during the heady days when every business lunch was fully deductible.
If you want to pretend the 1987 stock market crash never happened, here is the place to go. Every night, silver-haired suits in suits swill Stella and Heineken as though the Commies are on their way. Upstairs, waiters in long aprons deliver superb slices with bottles of shiraz as bold as the Australian Open.
Mitre Tavern is a bustling bar hidden under all the good-old-boy bum-slapping. The staff is pleasant, and the beer lines are spotless. They currently have a rotating craft tap that features local beers such as Hawker’s pilsner. The steaks are grilled to perfection upstairs, and the wine list is extensive. Is that a barrel-aged bourbon old-fashioned you’re sipping behind the bar? It’s tootin’ time. The first year of In terms of flavor and balance, it outperforms 99 percent of all drinks now available in Melbourne establishments.
When you’re feeling like the Wolf of Wall Street, put on your pinstripes and go to the Mitre. It’ll make you feel like a million bucks.
Address: 5 Bank Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: 03 9670 5644
Website: mitretavern.com.au
The Final Words
Melbourne offers a slew of restaurants that take you to a world where food is only the beginning when it comes to steak. Beyond the ordinary, the cuisine is complemented by a graceful world of immersive design and art for exceptional evenings of gustatory brilliance and contemplation. If you enjoy steak, you should try it in Melbourne.
