Steakhouse

Pacinos Italian Family Restaurant

Linguini Marinara

(a selection of fresh seafood, butter, white wine, garlic, parsley)

Generous amount of tasty seafood, al dente pasta, a little bit salt heavy for me.

★★★☆☆

Rosemary Potato Pizza

(mozzarella, bocconcini, potato, rosemary, garlic, caramelised onion)

I was pleasantly surprised with how good this pizza was. Yes the toppings were good, but the stand out was in fact the pizza base: not too thick, not too thin, not too oily, not too dry, perfectly crispy and very tasty.

★★★★☆

Overall:

A terrific family restaurant that offers great service and enjoyable food. Note that parmas are $10 here on Monday nights. Bargain!

Pacinos Italian Family Restaurant

300 Epsom Rd, Flemington, VIC

(03) 9376 4888

http://pacinos.net.au/

Squires Loft Albert Park

300g Scotch with creamy garlic sauce and chips

★★☆☆☆

200g eye fillet with Danish blue cheese sauce and a baked potato

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

It’s been years since I last ate at a Squires Loft and couldn’t recall what the steaks were like. And that’s the thing, the steaks here were satisfactory, making them unmemorable to me. Squires Loft wouldn’t be the first place I would think of when I get a steak craving, but I also wouldn’t have any opposition coming here (if I happened to be in the area that is).

Squires Loft Albert Park

St Kilda Road Towers, 1 Queens Rd, Melbourne, VIC

(03) 9863 7700

Home

Breslin Bar & Grill

3 Southbank Boulevard, Southbank 9686 2110

Pork Ribs (half rack)

Fantastic melt in your mouth ribs covered in a sweet sticky sauce

=★★★

Wagyu Beef Burger with Twice cooked thick cut chips

(wagyu beef, Swiss cheese, caramelised onion, truffle mayonnaise, tomato, baby cos lettuce)

= ★★

Chorizo Croquettes

= ★★

Overall:

A friend of mine mentioned how great the ribs are at Breslin Bar & Grill and thankfully I was not disappointed. The ribs here are slow cooked for 16 hours and are then char grilled over a wood fire. A must try for those who are a fan of ribs. Ambience was great and the service was prompt.

Hurricane’s Grill

130 Roscoe St, Bondi Beach NSW 9130 7101

Steak and Ribs Combo with chips

200g free range sirloin with half a rack of pork ribs

Pork Ribs (Half) served with a baked potato

Overall:

One of the worst steaks I’ve ever had (flavourless, tough, rubbery) and some of the best ribs I’ve ever had (tender fall off the bone meat that had been generously marinated in a delicious gluten-free secret recipe basting sauce). Be prepared for some messy eating when it comes to the ribs, but don’t let that deter you from coming here as the staff will offer you the option of having a bib (which they even tie around your neck for you). The service was quick, the atmosphere family friendly, a place certainly worth visiting for the ribs.

Zagar’s Charcoal Grill

9 Royton St, Burwood East 9884 4067

Homemade beef sausages

Continental potato salad and coleslaw

Scotch fillet steak

Eye fillet steak

Thoughts:

Beef sausages – a blend of eye fillet, scotch fillet and porterhouse trimmings. Succulent mouthwatering sausages that will put any other beef sausage that you’ve ever had in your life to shame = Excellent

Potato salad and coleslaw – creamy potato salad, crunchy tangy coleslaw, both are satisfying accompaniments to the main courses on offer = Good

Scotch fillet – tender, well-marbled, full of flavour. I just couldn’t get enough! = Excellent

Eye fillet – top quality piece of steak that was tender and had a well balanced flavour = Good

Overall:

What a fantastic surprise this place turned out to be! The meat they have on offer is simply delicious! An authentic Mallee Root charcoal grill is used here to give all of their meat a wonderful wood smoked flavour. The menu is small and simple, but the food that they serve up is marvellous. The atmosphere is cosy and the service is great (our waitress was prompt, really friendly and gave us helpful recommendations as to what to order). The only downside to this restaurant are the limited opening hours: Wednesday to Friday 7pm until late.

San Telmo

14 Meyers Place, Melbourne 9650 5525

Beef, egg and olive Empanada

Humita (Polenta, corn and basil chips) with chipotle mayonnaise

Ceviche – Peruvian style lemon cured white fish with chilli, sweet potato and onion

Mejilla de Cerdo: Braised Berkshire pork jowl ‘cheek’ with crackling

Bife de lomo: Riverina black angus eye fillet (150 day grain fed)

Hinojo: Fennel, chicory and orange salad with malbec vinaigrette

Flan: Dulce de leche crème caramel with salted peanut praline

Thoughts:

Beef, egg and olive Empanada – really good Traditional Argentine fried pastry. Note that the portion size is tiny so you may not want to share this and have one all to yourself = Good

Humita – Dense chips that have a interesting flavour, great chipotle mayonnaise = Good

Ceviche – fresh raw fish that had a sharp and spicy taste = Good

Mejilla de Cerdo – marvellous melt-in-your pork (as most of it was fat) with super crunchy crackling = Good

Bife de lomo – a tender, juicy cut of beef that had a nice smokey flavour to it = Good

Hinojo – we originally did not want to get a salad but became persuaded by our waiter who insisted that we needed something to accompany our steak. It was an okay salad, light and citrusy = Not bad

Flan – Heavenly! Rich crème caramel, crunchy salted peanut praline with a huge dollop of caramelised dulce de leche = Excellent

Overall:

A bustling place that serves exciting Argentine food that is designed for sharing. Be sure to try one of their steaks so that you can experience the unique smokey flavour that comes from their authentic parrilla (Argentine charcoal grill). The decor here was definitely bovine inspired: cowhide and leather everywhere! Service was quite good, with our waiter being highly knowledgeable of all the dishes on offer.