First Look: Rockpool’s 7 Alfred Has One Main (and 350 Bookings for Opening Day)

Steak frites are quietly taking over Melbourne. Once the domain of pub specials and bougie date-night menus, the French bistro staple is re-emerging across the city in stylishly casual formats, like the viral $25 steak frites night at Her Bar and the recent launch of No Biggie , a steak frites pop-up running out of Operator Diner. But the Rockpool Bar & Grill team is taking things a step further with 7 Alfred, a CBD bistro dedicated entirely to the dish.

The restaurant follows the opening of Sydney sibling 24 York in June. Both are inspired by the steak frites institution L’Entrecôte de Paris , which has been exclusively serving steak frites since 1959. The Melbourne 168-seater occupies the former Cut Steakhouse , which also served as a Rockpool event space and racked up more than 350 bookings for opening day on Wednesday October 22.

The only main is a 220-gram O’Connor MB2+ scotch fillet. Before opening 24 York, Hunter St Hospitality’s senior management sampled 12 steaks from suppliers across the country before landing on the Gippsland producer as the “best steak for the price point”, says the group’s culinary director Santiago Aristizabal. “We wanted something that was big on flavour, not too fatty [and] still very tender. I think this one just hit the spot.”

Each steak comes with skin-on fries prepped in beef tallow, and a choice of four sauces: veal jus, a creamy green peppercorn sauce; a play on cafe de Paris made with a kombu base; and a herby South American-style chimichurri made with thyme, parsley, oregano, red wine vinegar and garlic. Mustard is on the house, and you can order extra sauce for $4 and a green leaf salad for $8.

The steaks are seasoned simply with vegetable oil and Murray River salt before going onto a sizzling grill with a ceramic plate at the bottom. It takes an hour or so for the device, which Aristizabal likens to a pizza oven, to reach the right temperature, but once heated, it retains enough heat to produce a superb char and crust on each cut.

Pair the steak frites with six vinos, mostly from Hunter St Hospitality’s Chateau Chanmé label, or familiar cocktails like Negronis and Old Fashioneds, plus two non-alcoholic options. “You don’t have to think too much. We follow that same thinking [throughout the menu], sort of really easy choosing,” Aristizabal says.

For dessert, there are two options. A nostalgic New York-style cheesecake with a crust of crushed digestive biscuits, butter and sugar, topped with a house-made cream cheese mix accompanied by a scoop of Gelista Gelati vanilla bean ice-cream, or the ice-cream on its own with a drizzle of chocolate syrup.

7 Alfred
7 Alfred Place, Melbourne
(03) 8648 1999

Hours:
Sun to Wed midday–midnight (Last seating at 9pm)
Thu to Sat midday–midnight (Last seating at 9.45pm)

7alfred.com.au