Wednesday 16 May 2012

Splash Out On Steak In Brisbane

Stone Restaurant and bar, Brisbane, Australia


So it's a Saturday night in Brisbane and Ruqayya and I both have the evening off together for the first time in a long time. But it's raining..
Not just spitting, drizzle or any of those nice rains we're used to from the UK, I mean serious Australian rain. And it's trying to dampen our spirits in the most literal way possible.
The rain aside we had a great day together and wanted to overcome the rain and follow through with our original plans for the evening and go out for a meal together in a nice restaurant.
You will hear us write about the pros of vegetarianism and the importance of frugality, but once in a while, when it's cold and wet and when you're trying to lift the morale of the whole team - only a steak dinner will suffice.

Raising The Steaks


Not just a crappy chain restaurant where they incinerate the cow and douse it in cheap, sweet sickly sauces. A nice place with properly raised beast and a careful attention to detail when it comes to preparing the dishes. This is exactly what we found in Stone Restaurant. Located under the Mantra hotel on Brisbane's South Bank, the first impressions were that of a hotel lobby, fairly clinical and clean, not as cosy as we had hoped for. As we were led to our table however we soon forgot about the rest of the hotel surroundings and we had our own corner spot with flickering faux-candle light and an attentive and friendly waitress. Her lack of experience not bothering us one bit and the menu simple and easy to navigate.

Stone is at the higher end of what we usually pay for eating out, but we felt that the weather outside and the food inside warranted spending that little bit extra to make the day extra special.

Rib Eye For Detail


The menu at Stone is split into tapas style starters or entrĂ©es, a few main dishes and then the steaks. The steaks included two sides and a sauce in the price, which we found it to be good value compared to other restaurants of a similar ilk in the city. The menu describes how the beef was fed and how long it has been aged before preparation for your plate.
To start we shared the bread and a tapas plate with a glass of sparkling wine each. We then both had a steak accompanied by a bottle of red.

Starters: Olive and rosemary cob with dips $13.00, Salt and Pepper Calamari $8.00
Mains: Eye Fillet (200g) with Paris Mash, Cherry Tomato, Basil and Feta with Red Wine Sauce $36.00,
Rib Eye (250g) with Paris Mash, Grilled Mushrooms and Pepper Sauce $33.00
Wine: Glass of Thomas Mitchell Pinot Noir Chardonnay (2) $8.00, Bottle of Thomas Mitchell Cabernet Merlot $29.00

Total: $135.00, or $67.50 a head.

Best Steak Ever?


I felt like this was one of the best steak dinners of my life, a pretty big proposal not one made lightly. We both felt thoroughly satisfied with our magnificent meals. And it was well worth spending a bit more than usual to come away happy and fulfilled and not caring whether it was pouring down or not.

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