Is $48 good value? The verdict on Melbourne’s steak frites-only restaurant, 7 Alfred

F: Emma! There’s a sign out the front of a restaurant in the city advertising steak frites for $48. I have so many questions. First, when do you ever see a restaurant spruik its prices anywhere other than its menu?

E: KFC?

F: Second, what’s the restaurant trying to communicate here? Value? Is $48 for a steak good value in 2026? I’ve been mulling that last question for three weeks. I’m no closer to a conclusion.

E: $48 is not a small amount of money. But steak has skyrocketed in price in the past five years. What used to be restaurant prices are now pub prices. Restaurants crossed into luxury resort pricing. And now we’re here, with signs hailing $48 steak and chips. Sorry – steak frites.

F: Surely steak frites is just a rebrand – it’s literally beef and potatoes. At what point did it stop being the Australian dinner of no fixed esteem and become a dish? I know, I know: France, etc. But it’s everywhere right now! Why?

E: Obviously we had to investigate. Open since October, 7 Alfred is owned by the same group as Rockpool Bar & Grill and responsible for this sign you saw. The whole menu – four dishes, one of which is a side salad – and the entire drinks list fit on a double-sided piece of A5 card. There aren’t even oysters! They’ve immediately shaved off 15 minutes of chatting while you pretend to look at the menu.

‘7 Alfred is a saintly place for a business lunch. I saw a lot of men in Hilfiger polos and gilets.’

F: On one visit, we ordered around 12.15pm. The steaks hit the table at 12.23pm.

E: That’s an eight-minute turnaround!

F: Nuts! I waited 60 minutes for a burger the other day. Eight minutes for a main is unheard of. Eight minutes is a takeaway coffee at peak hour. Eight minutes is “Pull into the bay and the McNuggets will be with you shortly”.

E: How do they do it?

F: Thin steaks and a three-step technique: grill, rest, grill again. That said, my steak wasn’t that hot on either visit. Nice piece of meat, though: scotch fillet, 220 grams, from Gippsland producer O’Connor. It’s offered medium or well-done, which does feel oddly restrictive at a steakhouse.

E: They’re going for efficiency, right? Money is made by getting you in and out, fast. Thankfully my steak was more medium-rare, an even rosy colour.

F: How’d you find the room? I love the harlequin tiles, I love the burgundy flourishes. I’m a sucker for the confected French drama of it all. But it does feel confected; a little like an events space, which is what it was before this.

E: Absolutely. Most of the round tables are marble-look laminate and about four centimetres thick. The room felt pretty chilly, at both lunch and dinner. Noise levels are decent, though, given all those hard surfaces. And there’s plenty of staff around.

F: Fave sauce?

E: The mysteriously named umami butter. During fact-checking, they said it’s bolstered by chives, parsley and kombu – basically, fresh, salty business to lift the beefy business. Because even the chips are cooked in beef tallow. Yours?

F: Peppercorn: creamy, peppercorns everywhere, full of grunt. Loved the mustard service − what’s it called when you swoosh the mustard across the lip of the plate with the back of a teaspoon? Anyway…

So, that’s that on the $48 steak and chips and sauce. Salad is $8 and could be shared between three.

E: Are we happy? Dressing was a tad sweet. The shiraz is a house brand; maybe stick to beer. The cheesecake was perfectly acceptable. Fries are hot, crisp, evenly golden – no complaints. Would I like a bit more spunk from the staff, the room to feel less “pop-up”? Definitely. But this isn’t an experience to be savoured. It’s functional.

F: It’s nothing if not functional. But you know what else is functional? The pub.

E: Can you get a good pub steak for under $50 these days?

F: They’re getting rarer, haw haw. But you know what else you get at the pub? The pub! The footy, the pool table, the meat raffle, the conviviality. That’s all built into the price, and you’re not getting that here.

E: If you’re going for lunch with your colleagues in the client success team, you might not actually want the pool table and the enormous menu crammed with ways to overspend on the corporate card. 7 Alfred is a saintly place for a business lunch. I saw a lot of men in Hilfiger polos and gilets there.

F: Maybe it’s good for date night? Though, if you’re in and out in an hour, I guess you’re barely getting to know your date.

E: So it’s really a spot for people on their 400th date, or their first. A tight, 45-minute date.

F: In conclusion, I still have no idea how to measure the value here – and maybe that’s the point. Value is, of course, subjective. The price is there for all to see, and $48, plus salad, plus drinks, plus dessert, equals a bill that will mean vastly different things to different diners. Emma?

E: I think there’s a price for convenience and being relieved from any decision-making. And, right now, that price is $48.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.