Chophouse - not just a Carnivore's Delight!

Remind you of anything? Stepping into Chophouse is like stepping inside a giant beast.

 

Since my time in Argentina, my passion for great steak has grown.  Life's too short for bad steak, and definitely way too short for bad steak cooked badly.  Luckily, there are a number of kitchens cooking great steak extremely well - Rockpool Bar & Grill is the benchmark most referenced.  Today, i discovered Chophouse and it was like being back in Buenos Aires where the steaks are unashamedly meaty, and the servings unapologetically generous.

This is a kitchen which has not only embraced the NY chophouse style but which also offers bar food (pork scratching $8, tallegio risotto balls); asian influenced fish (coconut king prawns with green papaya); chopped salads (the crisp pork belly and sea scallop chopped salad with cabbage, pea shoots is apparently heaven and just $22).


But today is a celebration of meat - courtesy of my having won an invite to a Meat Handling Workshop with Head Chef Eric Tan and the master of the ($65k kitchen-gadget-to-die-for) broiler (aka George as in "Forman";) ) Stu. But more about the magic of broiling later!  


So, after a much needed coffee, we head upstairs to the spacious private dining room.  It's sensual, dark, hide-clad walls - the perfect place to linger, lounge, devour and digest.

Our meat journey begins - from the 1.6 kg Tomahawk (full rib on the bone sourced from the Riverine District) through to dry aged Delmonico (striploin on the bone)m and the amazing Castricum Brothers Double Lamb chops (free range and tender stretched from Dandenong)....  

And so, having caressed the meat, we move into the kitchen.

This is Eric (right) with George aka the Broiler (left) - this is the secret to the lusciousness of Chophouse's meat.  By broiling the meat, the magic is contained within the meat, and the texture transformed.  This is hot, hot, hot, and proof of the meat mastery at work.  And the proof is most certainly in the eating.  We did a comparative tasting - cooking the same piece of meat in george, on the grill, in the pan, and the standout winner by a country mile and then some was most definitely the meat which had been broiled.

Succulent, tasty, savoury, specialness.

But that's not all! We were also lucky enough to be indulged with the wonderfully porky pork from Tasmania's Esk Pastoral Farm - these lucky porkers live next door to a cheese factory so are fed on the left over whey.  That creates an extra creamy porkiness which is beautifully offset by the hazelnut and sage crumb and granny smith apple sauce.

 
There are some fine looking sides which i also can't wait to taste - cauliflower gratin, baby spinach with labna and lemon confit vinaigrette.  The spring menu is to be launched in a couple of weeks, and, given the commitment of Chef Eric and his team to sustainability, there are sure to be changes. But what a wonderful challenge to have - and the wine list looks bloody good too!


And, on a final note, the central light display pays tribute to making the most of each beast from nose to tail.

Eric and team have regular seasonal degustations and it's worth becoming a member of their database to access the insider knowledge, menu updates and the rest.  visit chophouse.com.au and embrace your inner meateater (or poultry eater, or fish eater, or vegetable eater - no really, despite the meat focus, Eric is determined to play with the best of non-meat world too)