The European
Melbourne, VIC
http://theeuropean.com.au/
The European has been on my list of places to eat as long as the list has been in existence. My 2nd last steak in Australia and my third last dining experience coupled with its stellar reputation and tenure had me expecting a great meal.
I forewent an entree (it would have been the foie gras) because we had been on a slight food crawl around the city beforehand.
For the main I chose their dry aged Porterhouse, which I ordered rare to ensure tenderness, one of my friends ordered the same medium rare, we also got a side of their roasted pumpkin.
They were the first of all the meals to come out, they hit the table incredibly charred with a delicious aroma coming off then. We cut it and it had a very tough cut, surprisingly it had a tender chew and almost melt in the mouth texture.
The flavour from the dry aging really stood out and married with the char perfectly but was light on beef, leaving a wonderful albeit fleeting taste in your mouth after each bite.
Lastly the cooking was on point, a colorful rare.
The steak at The European was great, however The European itself didn’t quite live up to the expectation I had in my mind, but after what would have to be 7 years, how could it.
How well it’s cooked – 8.9
Flavour – 8.0
Tenderness – 7.4
Overall – 8.1
