Five Minutes With Jason Jones: Entrecote’s Owner on a Decade of Restaurant Romanticism and Elite Steak Frites

When Jason Jones first opened Entrecote, he gave it 12 months at most. Initially designed as a pop-up on Domain Road, the Hot Listed French restaurant then enjoyed a solid pre-Covid run in South Yarra before moving to its current Prahran location in 2021.

Despite tenuous beginnings, Entrecote is now the glam flagship of Jones’s mini hospo empire – built, he says, on a “sense of imagination and escapism” that marries a theatrical fit-out with elegant white table-cloth dining and the sounds of live jazz piano.

And of course there’s the signature steak frites dish that’s been there right from the start. (A whole chapter of the book, Entrecote: Depuis 2015, is dedicated to cooking the ideal medium-rare steak and perfecting its accompanying sauce.)

Broadsheet caught up with the restaurateur to talk about milestones, romance and meat.

Tell us about the initial vision for Entrecote.

When I was 30, I went and lived in Paris by myself for three months. It was my first time there, and everyone told me to go to this restaurant called Entrecote. So I went by myself on the first night I was there. What stood out was it was a restaurant that did one dish and did it beautifully. And not only were tourists there, but I saw a lot of locals as well. So that’s what really got me interested in the “one dish” concept. When we opened Entrecote it was just going to be a pop-up for 12 months, but it ended up being incredibly popular. And for the first six months, that’s all we did: oysters if you wanted an entrée, then steak frites for main course. After a while we realised that a lot of regulars sort of dwindled off because, you know, you can only have steak frites so many times. So we ended up morphing into a French brasserie. But the signature dish is still steak frites with the green sauce.

Was there an early milestone where you thought, “Yep we’re going to make it”?

When we launched in 2015 we had no bookings – it was walk-ins only. And we were going through a tonne of porterhouse a week. And I thought, “Yeah, this has got legs.” The first couple of butchers we used, they just couldn’t keep up with the demand – because we’re only using one cut, and the rest of the cow has to go somewhere else. So, yeah, we’re going through 1000 kilos a week. And that was when I thought, “Good God, this is the most insane business I’ve ever owned.”

Has the signature steak frites dish changed over time or stayed the same?

We’re constantly trying to present something that’s consistent every time – I always say it’s the McDonald’s way! We started off doing porterhouse for the first seven years. It’s only when we moved to Entrecote Prahran that we started using the middle cut of the rump, which is the rostbif. We’ve worked with Anthony Puharich, from Vic’s Meat and Victor Churchill, and we’ve created this particular steak now – and the way it’s hung causes the muscles to fall differently. So it’s a very consistent, tender cut of beef.

The idea is to do one thing and then perfect it. I’m not saying we perfect it every time, but we do sauce tastings every week – I used to do them every night, and our chefs still do. Because everything changes: the cows, the meat, the sauce is a living item as well.

The flavour of tarragon changes. We go from a French tarragon, which is more of an aniseed flavour, to using a bit of dried tarragon so the aniseed doesn’t get too strong. Or maybe our anchovy supplier runs out of the ones we typically use and the next batch is much saltier, so we have to reduce the amount. It’s constantly evolving, constantly tasted – and that’s one of the things we pride ourselves on.

Is there a moment from the past decade that encapsulates what Entrecote is all about?

I always say Entrecote has this extraordinary hum. It’s a bit like an orchestra performance: you’ll hear the whole orchestra tune their instruments at the start so they get to that beautiful note where everyone needs to be for the orchestra to work properly. And that’s the feeling I get when I walk into Entrecote. It’s a hum. There’s the hum of Happy Birthday being sung. There’s the hum of the piano playing. There’s the hum of chinking glasses. There’s the hum of conversation. Even when it’s just lots of two pax, it’s still lovely.

You’re a self-confessed hospitality romantic. How does that influence Entrecote?

I see a restaurant as so many things more than just the food and wine it serves. There’s so much to be said for the atmosphere, the interiors, the way we market our venue, the way we look out for our incredibly loyal staff … And I’m loving this resurgence of romanticism right now, of going out and getting dressed up. You know, white linen for the lips. Beautiful tapered candles, beautiful live music, beautiful art, beautiful silverware, beautiful crockery. Beautiful produce done beautifully.

Talk us through Entrecote’s sumptuous fit-out and some of the special pieces you picked out with your husband, interior designer Brahman Perera.

The wall panelling in the dining room comes from an old chateau, and I bought that around 16 years ago. I had absolutely nowhere for it – it’s like 16 metres of wall panelling plus a magnificent fireplace in the middle. But as soon as we walked into what is the new Entrecote – and it was a very rundown, evacuated Japanese restaurant – we just knew that panelling was going exactly where it is. The fireplace was going exactly where it is. And that’s really the centrepiece we built the rest of the building around. We’ve got a chandelier in the bar which is made out of tin, and it’s made to look like wheatsheafs, and I got that at an auction. It’s an old chandelier out of a Chanel boutique on the Champs-Elysees and that’s one of my favourite pieces as well. A lot of stuff’s been brought back in hand luggage from Paris. And yeah, it’s a real combination of things I’ve collected. I’m a massive hoarder of stuff.

Broadsheet Access will hold an exclusive readers’ lunch at Entrecote on May 1 to celebrate the launch of the new publication. Tickets are now sold out, but log in or join Access today to learn more about one-off culinary events like this one.