Steak Haus – new neighbourhood gem

Don’t you love finding a great new and affordable local?

After finishing a meeting my colleagues and I headed out for a quick dinner in the Potts Point / Kings Cross environs. I had previously heard about the very newly opened (a few days prior) Steak Haus and was keen to give it a try. Situated around the corner from the Coke sign in the premises that formerly housed Blanco, the interior screams chic with the obligatory communal table, low lighting and friendly wait staff. In a word, stylish. One thing I didn’t like was the soundtrack – maybe it is just me but the Gypsy Kings (I think?) on repeat was just a tad too much – and too loud. Also, as the night wore on it was harder and harder to hear with the buzz from other tables. That aside, the concept is great, the food good and the whole very budget friendly.

The Steak Haus offers a three course set menu with a few options for $30. Kind of like the $5 pub steak, but oh so much better.

The one size fits all entrée was a classic bistro style green salad taken to the next level with a herby mustard dressing and fresh crunchy walnuts and buttery croutons offering toothsome crunch.

Mains came with frites – shoestring fries to the non-Francophiles – and lots of them. They were good too. Protein choices were steak or tuna plus a vegetarian option. Our table sampled the steak and tuna. The thinly cut steaks (again a generous serve) appeared sporting char grill marks, and all were cooked as ordered, as was the tuna.

Accompanying the protein and frites was a selection of four sauces served DIY style in the middle of the table. My pick was the Chimmie Churrie (sic), although I would have enjoyed the Le Paris (with café de paris butter style flavours) a little more if it hadn’t separated. Chilli and mushroom sauces made up the quartet.

L to R le Paris, mushroom, chimmie churrie (sic) and chilli

The wine list was also approachable – with a concise selection of good local and international (France, Italy, New Zealand and Argentinian) offerings. We enjoyed a couple of bottles of 2009 Merricks Creek Pinot Noir which seemed to suit both the meat and fish eaters.

There were four desserts in the set menu and like good sports, we decided to have one of each. The usual suspects appeared – panna cotta, macaron, profiterole and brulee, however all were sweetly satisfying, especially the profiterole adorned with crisp caramel and the vivid pink macaron with creamy white chocolate filling. Apparently all house-made.

For a restaurant that has only been open for a couple of weeks, they are certainly getting a lot right. It’s one you could go back to time and again, as long as the noise didn’t put you off.

Steak Haus is at 5-9a Roslyn Avenue, Potts Point.  Telephone 02 8065 1812.  As yet there is no website.