Tuesday, June 2, 2009

That will be 100 bucks thank you very much...

My sister came to town on the weekend with her designer packaged husband. Now she is an excellent cook and used to own a little inner-city cafe-deli thing in the land of bridges and opera houses. Nowadays she is pretty much a full-time Mum though and an excursion to Melbourne without the kids is an opportunity to have some fun and there is usually a hell of a lot of eating and drinking involved...

They arrived on Friday and hubbie had to go off to some conference dinner or something so Sis met up with Sweet Thang for drinks and then I joined them later for dinner after my own work related drinkies.

So I was slightly sloshed by the time I arrived at the evening's dinner venue which was Fifteen. However that didn't matter because they were even more inebriated. So sitting down with a ravenous hunger we looked at the menu and ordered a range of things including the Steak Florentine (pictured).

Now this is one of those dishes that you see in cooking magazines, television shows and restaurant menus and never really order, but which has been on my mind quite a lot. It should be a huge thick T-bone steak that is covered with an anchovy based paste and then grilled to perfection and is usually served for two people. Apparently the place to order it here in Melbourne is Grossi Florentino Restaurant where it is the house speciality.

At Fifteen it came out and looked pretty impressive (better then the photo makes it look actually) and tasted great, but the price tag was pretty enormous as well. I can only claim that if I had of been thinking straight I wouldn't have ordered a steak that cost 97 dollars in a million years...

Which is probably how long it will take to pay off my credit card after this oppulent weekend.

6 comments:

  1. Jesus! 97 bucks for a steak. You could probably fly to Lantanaland and have a steak for that much mate.

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  2. I think I must of blown a fair swag of my Rudd money on that meal...

    Here is what the menu says:

    Beef 'alla Fiorentina' served with crispy potatoes roasted in duck fat, lemon zest and sage, grilled spanish onion, confit double smoked bacon, dressed rocket and fresh lemon (for 2)

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  3. Hmm. I like the sound of that steak. I'll have to browse around for a few recipes; might make a nice surprise for Natalie. As for potatoes in duck fat, though... like I'm gonna get duck fat out here in Arse End, Nowhere!

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  4. Man. For $100 I'd want Jamie Oliver to blow me.

    But I am SO trying to make it. I might try it in a restaurant first. The Fat Florentine looks good. Might have to check it out.

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  5. Just doing my bit to keep the economy pottering along Abe...

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