Sydney's Top Ten Steaks

10 Lansdowne Hotel

$5 steak
If there's a cheaper steak in Sydney, we'll eat our hats. You may have to buy a drink to get the deal, but you're in the pub anyway and even so you're getting away with dinner and drinks for under a tenner a head. And to drink? A schooner of beer, $4.20.
Chippendale

9Shakespeare Hotel

T-bone, $10
The infamous Shakey, as popular with local soaks as it is with scraggly-haired journos and pony-tailed hipsters, is famed for its $10 meals and the shiner out of these is the T-bone steak with mushroom sauce, chips and salad. No, it's not a 200-day aged piece of rare breed cow or 9 score wagyu, it's simply a nicely cooked piece of meat.
And to drink? A schooner of beer, $4.50.
Surry Hills

8 La Grillade

350g Scotch fillet, $48
The scotch is one of the tastiest and juiciest cuts of beef due to its flavoursome knot of fat and chef Jason McDonald does it proud with pasture-fed Angus/Hereford from Riverina in southeastern NSW. Classic trimmings are alive and well here: green beans in garlic butter and mash or chips as well as your choice of Béarnaise, pepper or mushroom sauce.
And to drink? Vasse Felix Cabernet $14 per glass.
Crows Nest

7 Mad Cow

200g minute of fillet steak & Diane sauce, $35
A minute steak of black Angus is perfect for a dinner that busts neither pants nor wallet seams while their yabba dabba doo rib eye for two is enough to have you in a delicious meat coma.
And to drink? Yves Cuilleron Syrah Les Candives from the Rhone Valley, $16 per glass.
Sydney

6 La Brasserie

Onglet, $28
The onglet is one of the most interesting cuts of beef and one rarely seen in Sydney restaurants. Plus, there's only one per beast - it's the piece of meat that hangs just under the diaphragm so it has a slightly offal-y flavour. This one comes from a black Angus served with caramelised shallots and a side of green beans.
And to drink? Mon Redon, Cotes du Rhône Grenache, Cinsault, Shiraz Rhône, $10 per glass.
Darlinghurst

5 Tabou

250g sirloin with café de Paris butter, $30
Venerable steak institution and local Surry Hills favourite Tabou does French bistro classics better than most in the sweetest little room. The sirloin with café de Paris is an oldie but a goody - especially with the mountain of French fries on the side. Want to go all out on the fat? Order a side of bone marrow to spread over your steak. Cardiolicious!
And to drink? Maxime Graillot croaze-her-mitage, $14 per glass.
Surry Hills

4 Burlington Bar & Dining

1kg rib eye for two, $75
Chef Matt Kemp is a genius with a hunk of dry-aged Aberdeen Angus. The meat has an amazing feel in mouth with a really obscenely flavoursome fat coverage. A kilo is more than enough between two; you could easily share it between four and still each have a fair whack of meat.
And to drink? Laurent Miguel Shiraz Viognier $8 per glass.
Crows Nest

3 Prime

550g chateaubriand for two, $115
If you're out to impress at Prime - the restaurant where every piece of meat is treated like bovine royalty - you can't go past the chateaubriand: a large piece of fillet steak, traditionally served between two. Here, just to up the ante, head chef Iwao Yamanishi serves the yearling Hereford/ Angus cross (marble score 6) with bone marrow and Bordelaise sauce. It's fantastic. And to drink? Anaperenna cabernet/sauvignon/shiraz, from Barossa winemaker Ben Glaetzer at $25 per glass.
Sydney

2Icebergs

500g rib eye $54
Icebergs - bar and restaurant darling to Sydney glitterati - specialises in beautifully aged protein. You've got the opportunity to spend big here (they've a great selection of both wagyu and regular moo) with some of their cuts like the 800g wagyu rib eye for two, but for our dollar we like the 150-day grain fed Angus/Hereford rib eye with hot English mustard, a squeeze of lemon (yes, lemon) and a side order of pea and feta salad.
And to drink? Klonakilla hilltop shiraz, $13 per glass.
Bondi Beach

1 Bistro Moncur

Minute steak, $35
This Woollahra stalwart goes through 600 steaks a week and chef/owner Damien Pignolet can tell you where every single one comes from. The aged Angus minute steak may be a simple proposition compared with the hunks of meat for two that have become so incredibly fashionable but it's a well-maintained classic. It's no bookings so for a shot at a table, turn up early or be prepared to wait in the bar.
And to drink? Charles Melton 'Father in Law' shiraz, $10.50 per glass.
Woollahra

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