Walter’s Steakhouse: Pot Of Gold
Walter’s Steakhouse
I’ll be frank: I’m a fan of modern dining. I like the “new casual” experience offered by the best of the Australian east coast such as Poly, Embla and Agnes. The traditional big fine dining experience can seem a bit dated these days. Also, it has come to be seen as the domain of conservative businessmen looking to blow their expense accounts. Think lots of red meat and big, bone dry Australian reds. Guffawing, backslapping, poor jokes. Menus that offer ‘something for everyone’ but nothing particularly special. These places of choice are mostly steakhouses.
So it was with a degree of trepidation that I approached an evening at Walter’s Steakhouse. Walter’s is a classic steakhouse, but not in the Australian steakhouse tradition (read: big soulless establishments devoid of style and personality). Rather, Walter’s is a classic New York style steakhouse. Opulence, style and a touch of class is the theme, and Walter’s delivers. There’s a bar at the entrance which is so comfortable you could easily lose an hour or two there, and the main dining hall pitches back to late 1800s and early 1900s New York. This is all achieved without appearing overly kitsch or archaic.
I delved into Walter’s with a few bonafide meat lovers: these lads and ladies can BBQ with the best and love nothing more than delivering a delicious plate of meat gently cooked on coals or a spit. One of them is particularly lively, and for the purposes of this review we’ll call him Cliff. Cliff is a man of contrasts, and is equally at home in his flannel on an outback property or living it up at a Michelin star restaurant. The Walter’s staff soon discover this man of contrasts when he orders an opening cocktail to be followed by a chaser of XXXX Gold. “Pot of gold thanks!” says Cliff cheerily as the Walter’s staff do their best not to take the bait. They don’t skip a beat – the cocktail and pot of gold arrive simultaneously without even an eyebrow raised.
That seems to make the theme of the night: whatever gets thrown at them, the Walter’s staff are courteous and friendly and don’t miss a beat. The service at Walter’s was faultless without being stiff. The advice on wine matches was delivered in a refreshingly friendly fashion and was very suitable, considering the deep and interesting wine list. The cocktails are simple but elegant. Wine wise, we started with aromatic whites to match the entrees and then opted for a mix of French reds alongside some Yarra Valley reds that stood up to the meat and rich flavours throughout the meal.
You probably want to know about the steak? OK. Walter’s unusually offer only three kinds of steak on their menu. This might seem odd compared to other steakhouses, but it’s actually quite clever as it guarantees consistency and means the chefs will get the cooking right every time, rather than having to adjust for a myriad of cuts and producers. It also assists with supply chain issues.
The specialty porterhouse is the one to opt for – it requires minimum two people, so make plans to meet your vegan friends at a different time.
It’s a really good steak. The steak is carved at your table, as well as being basted in clarified butter, which is butter rendered down to a milk fat solid, thereby having the water content removed (roughly 13-17% of butter is water). Butter basting of steak is a great way to introduce flavour and speed up the all-important Maillard reaction (as the butter browns through heating and caramelisation), which gives the outside of a steak browning and flavour. From tasting Walter’s use of clarified butter, it is an altogether richer experience and I’ve since been using clarified butter at home to baste steaks.
The other two steaks are a 300g New York strip steak and 200g eye fillet (older pubs and hotels would patronisingly refer to this as a lady’s steak). As this isn’t 1980s Queensland any more, the 200g eye fillet is acceptable for anyone. You do you.
For a steakhouse, the Walter’s menu delivers in other unexpected areas. In fact it’s these dishes that star: a clever bone marrow entree, where the bone marrow is served alongside malt onion jam, mustard and toast. The crab cakes with Old Bay Spice mayonnaise are a revelation; likewise the dried aged beef tartare with a cured egg yolk. The oysters? As good as any of the top specialist seafood places.
The sides further really reinforce the whole experience, Creamed spinach, a forgotten classic, is pure gold. The chopped salad is a meal itself, combining macadamia nuts, salami, provolone, pepperoncini, onion, tomato and oregano dressing. What could be a melange of ingredients is a dish in harmony. Equally compelling is the Dutch Potato.
Returning to the key thematic for the night, service. When our steak arrives, it’s carved and basted at the table, and Cliff examines the cuts on my plate like a gold prospector. “That’s over!” he exclaims. And right he was, the steak was touch over, but as soon as Walter’s staff saw one piece of meat that wasn’t cooked to order, they calmly removed the steak from the table, apologised and were back in a few minutes with a new steak that was perfectly cooked. No arguments, no debates, no attempts to hide it, this was handled professionally and perfectly. The steak was magnificent.
There is much more than steak though! Whilst not getting the accolades it deserves, there resides on the menu a simple Barnsley lamb chop, which is coated in an absolutely amazing rosemary jus. A complete plate licker, that one.
With all of this rich food, there was no room for dessert, and some may find this departure from my usual practice as a dereliction of duty. My apologies. I will return to Walter’s, the key lime pie is on my list!
At the conclusion of the meal, Cliff is stoked, he’s had a great meal AND a pot of gold. Whether we go to the casino or Saville Row is a flip of the coin from here. A certain bet is Walter’s. I was pleasantly surprised with everything and had a really enjoyable meal. Located right at the lower end of the CBD near the Botanic Gardens, it definitely is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
