http://www.vintagedbarandgrill.com/
Byron recently bought a new car and to celebrate, we decided to go out for dinner somewhere nice in Brisbane. The plan made sense at the time because I was giving him a lift to Brisbane from Toowoomba to pick up the vehicle and we would be dining in town. He ended up going by himself during the week so it wrecked the purpose of the whole excursion but I'm hardly one to delete a food event simply because there's no reason behind it. Isn't eating nice food reason enough?
I chose Vintaged because it was conveniently located in the city (handy for me) and focuses on meats and proteins (good for him). I never even knew this restaurant existed despite walking past it maybe every time I'm in the city. This is because it's located on level 6 at the Hilton, accessible through the back of Wintergarden Shopping Mall on Elizabeth Street. I've walked past but never thought about what was above ground floor.
We arrived early, which worked out nicely because there's a comfy and expansive lounge bar area outside the front of the restaurant. We stopped here for a couple of drinks before entering to be seated. The restaurant is very sophisticated with dim lighting and a simple colour scheme.
Complimentary bread and butter
Complimentary bread and butter were brought out to start with. I was grateful for this because I was starving by then but all the same, I didn't think the bread was anything special. Byron wolfed down his piece and then proceeded to attack the remainder of mine.
Seared king prawns - with goat curd gnudi, nut brown butter, raisins and pinenuts
For an entree, we shared the seared king prawns. They were large and juicy and cooked just right. The raisins, pinenuts and goats curd was a strange combination but worked well both in terms of flavor and texture. It was an interesting compliment.
We decided quite early on that we were both going to be ordering steaks. We wanted to try the wagyu and the dry aged beef, which is a special at Vintaged, so we ended up getting one of each and sharing.
250g wagyu inside skirt
I've had wagyu many times before but I found this one to be stronger and more gamey in flavor than other steaks. It was recommended to be served medium rare and for me, it was too rare for this cut of steak because it wasn't tender enough to pull it off. The flesh was slightly chewy.
400g dry aged grain fed rib eye
We both preferred the dry aged rib eye. I hadn't ever tried dry-aged meat before so I wasn't sure what to expect but this tasted like my idea of what a wagyu should be. This cut of meat was much fattier but in turn, more tender and juicy. It was also cooked to medium rare and in this case, I had no issue with it. The steak was delicious! We liked the lemon and herbs for a bit of freshness and the potato stack was lovely but very rich.
Creamy mushroom sauce and hot english mustard
Each steak came with a condiment and we chose mushroom sauce and hot english mustard. The mustard was nice but not a great compliment to the steak. I prefer mustard with lamb. The mushroom sauce was very creamy and delicious though. It almost had a cheesy flavor that made it stand out against other mushroom sauces.
New season green beans with anchovy butter and sauteed mixed mushrooms
Our sides were the green beans and the mushrooms. The beans were bright and not overcooked, which is what I like. They were very buttery too, with a saltiness from the anchovies. We liked the mushrooms because they were cooked well with a charred quality to them but no hint of dryness or rubberiness.
The food at Vintaged Bar and Grill was good but I don't think it necessarily had outstanding steak. The atmosphere was very nice and I think this would be great for an elegant occasion or even an upmarket corporate function. I liked the dry aged steak best out of everything we tried.
No comments:
Post a Comment