17 November 2008

Cheap Steaks - Where are they?

| Mick
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I post this on behalf of my girlfriend who hasn’t created a login yet….slack!

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Hello Riotacters

Please help. I’ve recently relocated to Canberra from Sydney and although I am enjoying all this fair city has to offer I have to say – WHERE’S THE STEAK?

There is steak to be had but it is extremely overpriced, we recently paid over $50 for two steaks and a salad bar at Ainslie Football Club. We paid for the salad bar because they would not serve it with salad and chips, only vegetables and chips and they charged us $3 EACH for
sauce.

I thought it was limited that club, but I find it appears to be a Canberra wide phenomenon and two steaks seem to cost at least $35 +. I come from the city of the $5 steak. Sure, a lot of the $5 steaks are sh!t but you can usually score a good one for under $10 (The Royal
Hotel in Darlington even serves an awesome Surf and Turf for $10)

So tell me, where can I get an decent steak for not too much $$?

Yes, there has been a steak post before (http://the-riotact.com/?p=5950) but it didn’t really give me many answers.

PS – I do not want to ‘cook it myself’. That’s what I pay someone else for.

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Les Lozenger12:51 pm 18 Nov 08

I love a steak but I’m not prepared to pay $20 for it at a Club.

The Ainslie Footy Club used to be great on the Wednesday ‘rump steak and schnitzel’ night. Unfortunately though, since they’ve changed catering, the menu has seriously gone downhill and the prices have risen. The waiting and bar staff are still great though.

In the old days (7 yrs ago) on Wednesday night you’d pay $7.50 for a rump steak and a small bowl of gravy with your choice of just chips, chips n veg, or just veg. Then for an extra $2.50 you could get the salad bar as a side serve. This included a medium sized flat plate, a large soup/ pasta bowl and a small desert bowl – all for you to serve as much as you liked on to each. Yes, 4 plates of food (3 of which you chose how much food to put on them) for just $10.

I’m aware that even 6-7 years ago such a deal was extraordinary. But since then I’ve seen the price go up and up until the price for the same quantity of food reached $17.50 (still vaguely reasonable for a club). Then the catering changed hands and the Wednesday night rump steak / schnitzel deal was axed.

Fortunately, the Gungahlin Lakes Club (brother/sister club to the Ainslie)still continues this tradition on Wednesday nights for the cost of $18 for the same amount of food listed above.

If you don’t mind booking 1 week ahead and can put up with being caught in an episode of “wheel of fortune” then it’s not a bad meal. You will have to carefully plan the timing of each word of your conversation to fall between the overbearing calls of the relentless raffle and badge draws.

It’s a club after all and to an extent, one should expect a certain amount of loud p.a system announcements whilst eating.

However, with the amount of cash they give away on an hourly basis you’d expect that the poker machines would be providing more than adequate means of subsidizing cheaper meal prices. Maybe my partner and I might try the Croatian Club if the Lakes Club meal prices rise again in the near future.

Apologies for the essay.

LL

My vote is the Deakin Croatia Club, referred to above, for the cheapest steak which is still a pretty good product. The chef is ex-Parliament House (before it was outsourced and all stuffed up). Second choice is the Hellenic – always consistently good, but above the OPs price point.

Never go near Hogs Breath – they’re cr*p.

That should be

********* Beef and Beer Week lasts until Saturday 22nd November. (Starts 17th )********

ACT Rugby Union Club.

http://www.actruc.com.au/index.php

To celebrate the launch of the Hereford Prime Char Grill, we invite you to Beef & Beer Week.

From Monday 22nd November, you can order a free Hereford Prime steak with any other steak purchased.*

Hereford Prime is MSA Graded beef sourced exclusively from selected farms and cooked to your specification. To complement these fantastic steaks you can enjoy the following enticing beer specials:

12pm – 2pm 2-for-1 Schooners of Coopers

3pm – 5pm $7 Jugs of Carlton

5pm – Close $5 Coronas & Grolsch

6pm – 9pm 2-for-1 Schooners of Coopers

All Week Limited Edition Coopers Vintage Ale

You really need Weatherspoons to open in Oz. Owned by a very smart Kiwi who provides cheap drinks and good cheap food. Damn, $50 for steak at the Ainslie footy club seems pretty high!!

Yeah, well how about Transylvanian mustard?

Dijon mustard? What are you, a wuss? How about Hot English? lol

Canberra Labor Club at Belconnen does $7.90 steaks on Mondays and Tuesday nights. The 7.90 gets you a steak and either (a) vegetables or (b) salad bar and fries.

Good condiments available as well, including dijon mustard (the only condiment worthy of a good steak).

ant: never been to QBN BWL but will go in order to toast the future citizens of Tralee, whoever they might be. 🙂

Queanbo Bowlo. Good schnitzls, great steaks. And they’re friendly. Note, queanbo bowlo is the one opposite the showgrounds.

Croatian Club Deakin – the best and cheapest steak in town.
You couldn’t cook it at home for the same low price.
And with a small complimentary wooden bowl containing iceburg lettuce, onion ring, cucumber, grated carrot and quarter of the tomato – you have got you five serves of veg sorted as well.

Now all you have to decide is which one of the select sauces you wish to place on your 400grams of yumminess

We used to have many a cheap steak venue in Canberra – the Workies in Civic was my fave, $5 on Thursdays with chips, vegies and pepper sauce… but those days are long gone.

These days I love the odd Charcoal visit, and once a month I go down to El Dorado’s in Dickson, early in the night on a weeknight (you get the best steak then), and pay the $30 for an excellent, tender and tasty 500g rump, cream potatoes, vegies and their totally yummy bacon and onion sauce in a boat on the side (keeps it warm for the duration). Mmmmmmmm…

Let’s also list the cheap schniddies, with prices. 🙂

imarty said :

Croatian Club Deakin does a good cheap big rump steak lunch times, not sure about other times, twas $7 last time I was there which was over 12 months ago. No-where the best steak you’ll ever have but still good value, order rare as it always comes out much more cooked than you request. Order blue if you like medium rare.
….
Hoggies know how to cook steak, it’s not necessarily the best quality but the way they cook it means it ends up pretty bloody good on the plate.

Croatian Club: haven’t been there yet, but all the Balkan peoples know their way around a piece of meat, so I wouldn’t be surprised (provided the chef is actually a Hrvat, not a ring-in!)

Hogs Breath: agree, I looked at the cut I was served and thought, “this is going to be sinewy and chewy” but was absolutely amazed at what they had done to it to make it so tender and tasty. Goes to show – a good cook can turn rocks into soup.

Third vote for the Kingo…just walk up and put it on the communal grill, and get to meet some of the locals…(make sure you’re clutching a schooner while cooking)….you’ll know your steak is ready when someone sez, “jees mate are you cookin’ that or cremating it”.

Only $5 steak in Canberra is either cooking it home or cooking it yourself on the communal grill at one of various pubs as previously mentioned

The Akuna Club used to do a cheap Steak + Chips & Gravy ($8 I think), but I’m not sure now that Woodstock has taken over their kitchen

Croatian Club Deakin does a good cheap big rump steak lunch times, not sure about other times, twas $7 last time I was there which was over 12 months ago. No-where the best steak you’ll ever have but still good value, order rare as it always comes out much more cooked than you request. Order blue if you like medium rare.

Charcoal and Kingsley’s are both serious steak venues. Charcoal having earnt their numerous awards and Kingsley certainly knows meat and his way around a cow but both are exxy.

Hoggies know how to cook steak, it’s not necessarily the best quality but the way they cook it means it ends up pretty bloody good on the plate.

Finally if you want to give it a go yourself MWF has some good points except you don’t need to buy fillet unless you want it seriously idiot proof. I often buy oyster blade (around $15/kg vs >$30/kg) and get similar tenderness with much better flavour. Just avoid the steaks with the thick line of connective tissue through the middle. Marinating also isn’t necessary unless you wish to impart particular flavours but a correct marinade will tenderise.

Gee she can’t be wife material if she can’t cook her man a steak!

hahaha..
*runs*

kean van choc7:53 pm 17 Nov 08

Hellenic Club in Woden for the best ‘club’ steak – not the cheapest though (maybe $15 to $20 depending on cut.

The clubs usually ruin a good steak. Have found Olims to be sensational – I’ve only been there on a standard night, so don’t know what their cheap night is like.

The pub on the corner in Dickson (I think it’s O’Neils advertised $6 steaks last Sunday).

It’s not exactly the cheapest, but the nicest steaks have to be in Hogs Breath Cafe (where ever you happen to find yourself). Unbelievably tender.

grunge_hippy7:34 pm 17 Nov 08

she said she doesnt want to cook it herself… that rules out the kingo. i too am of the belief if you’re going out for dinner, you dont want to cook it yourself!!!

southern cross club woden can sometimes do a good steak. reasonably priced.

I second Kingo pub…. great!

You could also try Civic Pub (actually in Braddon) – they do a $5 steak on Tue + Wed I think. Like the Kingo you do have to cook it yourself (over a char-grill).

Come to think of it Olims do a $7 (I think) steak on Wednesdays similar to Civic pub.

Good Luck! I’m looking for another cheap schnitty venue aside from Edgars (who also jacked their prices up to $13 recently!)

I went though a phase a few months ago where we were having steaks every week. I have been to Charcoal and Kingsley in Civic. Both are great for meat lovers but not cheap.

Hog’s Breath is a known quantity. I am a fan of the slow cooked steak but for that price, i’d just probably pop around to Charcoal and pay a bit more.

Duel income, no kids….rock on! 😛

Uni Pub in Civic had $5 steaks on Wednesdays last time I went

Thanks for suggestion. Can cook. Just don’t like to all the time.

I know you don’t want to cook, but for steak the way you like it you could give learning to cook a go.

Find a butcher. Buy only fillet steak. Marinate it with whatever you like. Let it rest out of the fridge for about 25 mins before you cook it. Oil the steak not the pan/grill. Turn once. Test it for done-ness by the feel of it: firm – well done, less firm – medium, spongy – medium rare, very spongy – rare. Easy peasy.

I was once in your situation when I lived in Newtown, Sydney. Got sick of vegetarian fare and wanted steak. We took a taxi to an inner west RSL and got served lumpy, sort of meaty, gristle and then we learned to cook.

buy a weber.

with the money you save having cheap and amazing steaks at home you can then afford to go only place for steak in canberra – the charcoal grill restaurant (anyone that suggests kingsleys as an alternative is delusional).

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