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Food & Wine
The best steak restaurants in Melbourne
Nicola Dowse
September 13, 2022
Whether you’re hungry for a rib-eye, porterhouse, T-bone, or a slice of Japanese Wagyu – there’s no shortage of Melbourne restaurants ready to sate your carnivorous appetite.
There’s nothing like sinking your teeth into a juicy, tender steak. As the chefs at RACV Cape Schanck can attest, there’s a definite art to cooking the perfect steak at home.
But sometimes, you need professional for porterhouse perfection.
Even with vegetarianism and plant-based meat on the rise, dedicated steakhouses and barbecues continue to thrive across Melbourne, providing locals and tourist the opportunity to taste tender, premium cuts.
Be they cooked American barbecue-style, over a parrilla, or served with frites and peppercorn sauce, there’s no shortage of places to get a great T-bone, Scotch fillet or rib-eye (cooked medium-rare, at most please).
Plan your journey to any of these mouth-watering restaurants with the arevo app.
Where to find the best steaks in Melbourne
Meatmaiden
Basement, 195 Little Collins St, Melbourne, 3000
Meatmaiden is Melbourne’s answer to the classic American steakhouse; think smoky steaks, brisket and rich sides like lobster mac and cheese.
Beef is sourced from local producers (such as O’Connor in Gippsland) and cooked over the restaurant’s custom-built grill and wood-fired smoker. Cheaper than a flight to the US, Meatmaiden is all about a good time for all – even vegetarian diners.
Botswana Butchery
66 Flinders Ln, Melbourne, 3000
Meat of every variety is the name of the game at Botswana Butchery, a New Zealand import that first jumped the pond to Sydney before arriving on Flinders Lane in autumn of 2022.
The menu features a respectable number of steak options, most of which source from Victoria. Sauces incur an additional cost, but offer plenty of options (including salsa verde, Café de Paris butter, Béarnaise, and red wine and bone marrow). You can even turn your steak into a surf and turf by adding on split prawns, half shell scallops, or a half lobster.
Rockpool Bar & Grill
Crown Casino, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank, 3006
Steaks are serious business at fine diner Rockpool. Providence is important across the menu, but nowhere more than with restaurant’s beef, which is sourced exclusively from Blackmore’s Wagyu, Cape Grim and CopperTree farms.
Beef is dry-aged to improve flavour then butchered daily in-house before cooking to perfection on the ironbark-fuelled grill. Steaks come with a mustard and barbecue sauce condiment service, with more sauces available to order. Pair your steak with sides like potatoes sauteed in Wagyu fat, or wood-fire grilled beetroot with goat’s curd.
Enjoy a classic American steakhouse experience without having to travel overseas at Meatmaiden
There are plenty of Victorian-sourced steak and sauce options at Botswana Butchery
As one of Melbourne top fine diners, Rockpool Bar & Grill knows how to expertly cook a steak
Enjoy your steak cooked over a charcoal-fired parrilla at Argentinian restaurant Palermo
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France-Soir
11 Toorak Rd, South Yarra, 3141
Don’t be put off by the cosiness of France-Soir – this is a Melbourne dining institution that’s been around since 1986 serving steak the French way.
Here, the steaks are sourced from the O’Connor family beef farm in Gippsland and served with either Béarnaise, Normande, pepper or Bordelaise sauce. If you’re looking for that true Parisian brasserie experience order your steak entrecôte to have it served with frites and salad.
It’s well worth saving room for a crème brûlée or profiteroles au chocolat as well.
Fitzroy Town Hall Hotel
166 Johnston St, Fitzroy, 3065
Steak and chips are a pub classic, and the Fitzroy Town Hall Hotel offers some of the best. Under the stewardship of Sean Donovan, the more than 150-year-old venue has been turned into a true gastropub without becoming overly pretentious.
The premium Victorian beef steaks come ‘steak frites’ style, cooked over a wood-fire barbecue and served with French fries and a mustard and cabbage remoulade, plus your choice of Béarnaise or pepper sauce. Head in on Wednesdays to take advantage of the pub’s steak specials.
Palermo
401 Little Bourke St, Melbourne, 3000
Direct from Buenos Aires comes Palermo, an Argentinian-style steakhouse complete with a roaring asado fire pit (Melbourne’s first).
Dishes are designed to share at Palermo, including the selection of steaks which come cooked over the traditional charcoal parrilla (Argentinian barbecue). Be sure to order a few sides to accompany the meat, such as the papas (fried potatoes) and calabaza (grilled pumpkin with ajo blanco).
A Hereford Beefstouw
22 Duckboard Pl, Melbourne, 3000
If you like steak and you like wine, there’s a good chance you’ll love A Hereford Beefstouw. The Danish-born restaurant chain has several venues across Denmark, Greenland, and of course Australia (Melbourne and Adelaide).
There is an extensive steak menu covering all bases (grain fed, grass fed, dry-aged) and complemented by a wine list spanning the globe (with a focus on the Piemonte and Burgundy regions of France). Don’t miss the opportunity to try one of the ‘extreme beef’ steak options, such as the 1.5kg tomahawk steak that is carved at the table.
South Yarra restaurant France-Soir has been serving steak the French way since 1986
A Hereford Beefstouw is a Danish restaurant chain specialising in good steak and wine
Chancery Lane is an upscale French brasserie with a modern twist
Armadale butcher Victor Churchill also serves perfectly cooked steaks at its 12-seater horseshoe bar
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Victor Churchill
953 High St, Armadale, 3143
Premium butcher Victor Churchill isn’t just somewhere you can buy top of the range steaks – you can eat them cooked to perfection here as well.
While the menu can vary by season, one of the best examples of the venue’s steak mastery is the Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a three-fingers-thick Rangers Valley Angus Beef steak dry-aged for an astounding 270 days and served on the bone with red wine jus, mustard trio and Café de Paris butter.
The Railway Club Hotel
107 Raglan St, Port Melbourne, 3207
Welcome to Melbourne’s first steak pub. The Railway Club Hotel has dedicated itself to the art of steak for more than 40 years, with guests able to choose their cut from the display cabinet before watching the experts cook it right in front of them (thanks to the open kitchen).
Steaks are dry-aged and sourced from the likes of Cape Grim and Robbins Island Wagyu. Each steak is served with hand-cut chips but opting for one of the hotel’s many sauces and butters will incur an extra charge.
Chancery Lane
430 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000
Located right next door to the unmissable laneway bar Sojourn, Chancery Lane is Scott Pickett’s upscale brasserie offering with a few modern touches.
If you don’t mind sharing, you can’t go past the hefty 950g Cape Grim rib-eye, designed explicitly for two diners. There’s options for those who’d rather keep their steak all to themselves as well – order a side of pomme frites with aioli to truly feel like you’ve travelled to Europe.
Butchers Diner
10 Bourke St, Melbourne, 3000
Don’t expect airs and graces at Butchers Diner, an all-day (noon to midnight) casual venue that really knows its way around a steak.
Peek behind the counters to spot the Gippsland beef dry aging before ordering the butchers cut steak (it changes daily), which comes grilled over charcoal and served with chips. Or opt for a 180g rump steak sandwich or one of the other many carnivorous options (including Berkshire pork tongue skewers).
