‘The place is rammed’: Good Food’s verdict on Sydney’s first steak and fries restaurant

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A new restaurant hasn’t captured the hearts and wallets of CBD workers like this one since Jamie’s Italian.

Callan Boys

Criticism doesn’t get more subjective than when writing about restaurants. One dud waiter can ruin your night; the signature dish you were hankering to try could be sold out. The risk that my beaut lunch is your kitchen nightmare is ever present. 24 York, however, is the most consistent new restaurant in Sydney and I’ve never been more confident writing a recommendation. I can all but guarantee that your steak will be identical to mine and your mate’s and the one on the table opposite – because it’s the only main course available.

In late July, Hunter St. Hospitality (the group that runs Rockpool Bar & Grill) opened 24 York at a 200-seat site formerly home to a Bavarian Beerhaus. It’s a handsome space of black tiles, white bricks, whiter tablecloths and racing-green Corinthian columns. An island bar feels engineered for eating oysters and drinking martinis, except you can’t do the former.

The steak-only thing isn’t a new idea and the restaurant cites Parisian bistro Le Relais de l’Entrecôte – where steak frites has been the solo act for more than 65 years – as an inspiration. A few blocks over, on Bligh Street, Alfie’s menu is, essentially, one sirloin and many sides, but 24 York strips the concept back further: steak frites, a green salad, New York cheesecake, ice-cream. That’s it. The place is also invariably rammed.

On a recent Thursday at 6.30pm, there was a 15-minute wait for a seat. A CBD restaurant hasn’t captured the hearts and wallets of average-income workers like this since Jamie’s Italian started plating salami on planks. But, hey, the steak is good. The service is fine. There’s Reschs and Guinness on tap. I’m into it.

Chef Santi Aristizabal uses a scotch fillet cut from O’Connor Beef based in Gippsland. It’s 220 grams and $48 with fries and a choice of sauce, and the butter-forward taste and mouthfeel leave the vast majority of similarly priced pub steaks in the city for dead. You can only have it grilled to medium or well done, and with such tight control over the production line, I was back at the Herald’s North Sydney office within 40 minutes of sitting down to lunch three weeks ago (the metro helped, too).

The frites? Skin-on, greaseless and fried in tallow for beefy, savoury deliciousness. Across the four choices of sauce, I’m most into the dark and sticky veal jus, plus an extra boat of peppercorn sauce for the fries. The chimichurri is wholly respectable if you want something more herby, while “umami butter” is on hand for flavour dialled up to the maximum level. I’ve had green salads with crisper leaves, but the dressing is balanced and it’s a competitive $8. The $12 cheesecake is right where it should be, two notches above hospital-grade Sara Lee and one rung below the desserts of the Rockpool mothership.

If you want a gin martini, it will be cold but made with Bombay Sapphire, which I’ve always found to smell like ethanol and a librarian’s perfume. The Old Fashioned is a better cocktail choice. For wine, house reds are $13 a glass; see the full bottle list for something more serious.

A few years ago, Beyond Burger-style meat substitutes were saturating Western markets; now, the US Secretary of Health is all about the “carnivore diet” and Sydney’s most popular new restaurant trades almost exclusively in steak. Vegetarians have the right to be perturbed, but at least 24 York is executed by a group and chef who seem to want to show their steaks – and customers – some respect. The plant-based pendulum will swing again. Maybe the next 200-seat concept restaurant will only serve falafel and hummus.