In a country, that prides itself with one of the best beef in the world, Australia certainly does not disappoint. In my latest foodie visit, I decided to give Fibber McGee’s in Leederville a try. This Irish pub has operated for more than a decade with its very own farm (according to its website). All cows are butchered and dry-aged in house, meaning diners should only expect the best.
Using the entertainment book, my sister and I both ordered the humungous dry-aged rib eye with a side vegetables and fried goodies which include tempura onion rings and chips! Believe it or not, the discount is a buy 1 free one which made our steaks only $25 dollars each. It was such a steal!
Generous Dry Aged Rib Eye which came weighing in at 500grams. While I thoroughly enjoyed the delicious sides which includes the vegetables, tempura onion rings and chips (can’t fault with store bought ones), I had a question about the steak. What constitutes a good dry aged steak? For me, two important requirement, first is the robustness of the flavour thanks to the higher concentration of blood and reduced moisture. Dry aging lets the beef naturally reduce its moisture (water content) through evaporation. The next important thing is the increase in tenderness due to the deterioration of chewy muscles intertwining the meat layers as the meats due to natural enzymes digesting them. So how does Fibber McGee’s stack up against my two requirement.
My sister and I had our steaks cooked to two style, one was medium rare and the other medium. My medium steak felt slightly overdone as all it had in the middle was a very pale pink colour. I was hoping to see a little darker shade of pink but it still works fine for me. In terms of tenderness, the steak was spot on. Cooking large slices of steak is usually impossible to get even cooking but this was perfectly executed. However, my major complain is that the flavour of the beef felt lacking in richness. I am not sure what Rockpool does to their steaks but theirs carry a certain flavour and taste to their beef which makes it even more tempting to eat! Sister’s beef on the other hand, was deliciously red on the inside and for me, this is the maximum cooking that dry aged steaks should be prepared to. Medium Rare. But then again, like my steak, I believe the richness the steak flavour still felt lacking.
At the end of the night, we barely finished half of our meal as sis decided to add a side of mash which was velvety smooth and yummy. With so much leftovers, it would be a waste to throw it away such good meat although sceptics even questioned among themselves why would we even bring steaks back when they were pretty “positive” that it was going to get thrown away. So to those disbelievers, a steak can be used for more than one purpose. In this case, the steak was still absolutely tender when I did a quick pan fry to make my steak sandwich! :P!
Last but not the least, I found the service here pretty slow although there were so few of us. On the positive side, at leas the waiters were keen to serve!
Fibber McGee’s to me is a pretty damn good steakhouse that charges decent money for quality steak. With such places around, is there even a need for places like Hog Breath? I doubt it. If you have a budget and want a bite of luxury, Fibber McGee’s definitely is definitely the place to be. In fact, 3 people can easily share two serves. However, if you are an extremely picky eater who wants nothing but the best, the steaks at Rockpool still holds a place dear to my heart. Its steaks are tip top with no expenses spared in making it absolutely the best. The catch? $60-120 dollars for a piece with no sides.
WenY
