Today is a public holiday in Australia to celebrate the Queens birthday. It was a great excuse for the natives of Manly to let their hair down and enjoy an extended weekend. It was packed here last night and that can only be a good thing for the local economy, it was the busiest I have seen it since my arrival two weeks ago, so i decided i would walk a little further down the front for some food.
I stumbled across a steak and rib bar, the clue to the food is in the name, it seemed a good idea to settle for a piece of steak as it seldom offends my palate, so I ventured in. It was a little bit American in it's styling and most definitely in some of the portions on offer, the house giant at $84.00 would get you a herd of cattle and four sheep, with a sack of potato's on a single plate, on top of blocked coronary arteries and a pouch to rival Skippy no doubt, it would also get you listed in the restaurants "Hall of Fame" and a picture on the company website if you managed to eat it all, whether that picture was taken at your wake or on completion of the meal wasn't clear but either one would seemingly be possible looking at the size of the meal.
I resisted the urge to eat enough to last the rest of my visit and instead plumped for a much more sedate 400g Sirloin and some chips. The staff were very 'smiley smiley' and in your face which is something I know irks the hell out of most average Brit's but is the norm in such places with an American pedigree, so I just smiled and said "no thank you" every time i was asked or prodded for more "specials".
I ordered a glass of white and sat waiting my turn, the place was quite busy and there was a mountain of meat on the hot plate the likes of which would make you wonder if the Hereford cattle breed was about to be put on the endangered species list.
Anyway, I did my bit and ordered and waited. It took a little while and during this time i was frequently asked if "everything is OK with you here sir" which was a little bit annoying as it was obvious it wasn't, if it was I would be eating but being British I just smiled and sad "fine thanks".
It took a while but eventually my medium rare steak duly arrived. It looked very good on the outside and I hastily grabbed my knife and cut into it. I was somewhat disappointed very soon after by the copious amounts of blood on the dish, clearly it was medium rare 10mm in until it got to the centre 20 mm where it was distinctly rare in fact I was unsure if i should eat it or throw it a bale of hay.
People who know me will know that i don't do blood on a plate, the steak tasted very good so I just kept eating, albeit a little uncomfortably if i had to look down at my plate. I finished my meal with some trepidation as towards the fat area of the slice of beef it was still silvery in appearance and very tough to cut, a sure sign of it being far too undercooked for my taste.
I topped the meal off with another glass of wine and sat there for a few moments studying what other people were eating, it seems the lamb is also very popular but people were having a plate of ribs between two and sharing, trust me none of them would be going hungry as the portions were unbelievably large.
I sipped my wine until gone and went round to pay my bill, being a Brit i mentioned the steak was a little too rare for "medium rare" but it just went over the head of the poor Polish girl taking my payment, but at least i mentioned it. All in all it was a decent meal but very different to what I would be used to in the UK, I am not sure if such a place would find a niche market over with us, it was also quite expensive considering the pub 800 yards away is doing two pieces of sirloin for $10. I think I shall play my joker this evening and settle for my $10 surefire winner.
I stumbled across a steak and rib bar, the clue to the food is in the name, it seemed a good idea to settle for a piece of steak as it seldom offends my palate, so I ventured in. It was a little bit American in it's styling and most definitely in some of the portions on offer, the house giant at $84.00 would get you a herd of cattle and four sheep, with a sack of potato's on a single plate, on top of blocked coronary arteries and a pouch to rival Skippy no doubt, it would also get you listed in the restaurants "Hall of Fame" and a picture on the company website if you managed to eat it all, whether that picture was taken at your wake or on completion of the meal wasn't clear but either one would seemingly be possible looking at the size of the meal.
I resisted the urge to eat enough to last the rest of my visit and instead plumped for a much more sedate 400g Sirloin and some chips. The staff were very 'smiley smiley' and in your face which is something I know irks the hell out of most average Brit's but is the norm in such places with an American pedigree, so I just smiled and said "no thank you" every time i was asked or prodded for more "specials".
I ordered a glass of white and sat waiting my turn, the place was quite busy and there was a mountain of meat on the hot plate the likes of which would make you wonder if the Hereford cattle breed was about to be put on the endangered species list.
Anyway, I did my bit and ordered and waited. It took a little while and during this time i was frequently asked if "everything is OK with you here sir" which was a little bit annoying as it was obvious it wasn't, if it was I would be eating but being British I just smiled and sad "fine thanks".
It took a while but eventually my medium rare steak duly arrived. It looked very good on the outside and I hastily grabbed my knife and cut into it. I was somewhat disappointed very soon after by the copious amounts of blood on the dish, clearly it was medium rare 10mm in until it got to the centre 20 mm where it was distinctly rare in fact I was unsure if i should eat it or throw it a bale of hay.
People who know me will know that i don't do blood on a plate, the steak tasted very good so I just kept eating, albeit a little uncomfortably if i had to look down at my plate. I finished my meal with some trepidation as towards the fat area of the slice of beef it was still silvery in appearance and very tough to cut, a sure sign of it being far too undercooked for my taste.
I topped the meal off with another glass of wine and sat there for a few moments studying what other people were eating, it seems the lamb is also very popular but people were having a plate of ribs between two and sharing, trust me none of them would be going hungry as the portions were unbelievably large.
I sipped my wine until gone and went round to pay my bill, being a Brit i mentioned the steak was a little too rare for "medium rare" but it just went over the head of the poor Polish girl taking my payment, but at least i mentioned it. All in all it was a decent meal but very different to what I would be used to in the UK, I am not sure if such a place would find a niche market over with us, it was also quite expensive considering the pub 800 yards away is doing two pieces of sirloin for $10. I think I shall play my joker this evening and settle for my $10 surefire winner.
No comments:
Post a Comment