The Best Steak Restaurants in Sydney
Australia raises some of the best beef in the world. Victorian farmer David Blackmore brought Wagyu here in 1989 and now counts Thomas Keller (French Laundry, USA) and a number of other high-profile international chefs as customers. Then there’s South Australia’s Mayura Station, Tasmania’s Cape Grim, Victoria’s O'Connor Beef and many other world-class cattle farms employing ethical, sustainable practices.
With so much top-tier beef in our own backyard, it’s no surprise Australia flaunts some of the best steak restaurants in the world. Better still, a bunch of them are right here in Sydney. At these top spots, you can usually choose your preferred breed, feed (grain or grass), cut, ageing time, condiments and, of course, how you’d like it cooked (no more than medium, please).
Restaurant
Margaret
Neil Perry’s Double Bay beauty is currently ranked second on the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants list. The woodfired grill offering here includes a 220-gram hunk of Coppertree Farms Friesian fillet with red curry butter and grilled shallots, and a 700-gram David Blackmore Wagyu sirloin with chimichurri.
Restaurant
The Gidley
The Gidley’s world-renowned steak menu is all about Riverine Black Angus beef. Choose rib eye or sirloin on the bone, a boneless chop, or a 220-gram portion of spinalis. Your cut arrives cooked to perfection after a dance with some ironbark and charcoal.
Restaurant
20 Chapel
At this pop-up from Rockpool’s former culinary directory, expect every imaginable cut of Blackmore Wagyu cooked over woodfire. Plus, veggies from one of Sydney’s most revered organic farms.
Restaurant
Rockpool Bar & Grill
While it would be remiss to ignore the excellent seafood and poultry at Rockpool, its Blackmore Wagyu and Cape Grim steaks (all dry-aged in-house) are grilled to something approaching perfection. They’re enhanced by the menu of classic sides, and a tome-like wine list to rival any in the country.
Restaurant
S’more
The whopping 900-gram Wagyu rib eye is a signature at this small but mighty neighbourhood bistro. If you’re not pushing the boat all the way out, more keenly priced options – perhaps the 300-gram Kidman flat iron steak – are always available.
Restaurant
The Grill at The International
With a name like The Grill, there are no surprises on the menu here. Australia’s best farms (Westholme Wagyu, O’Connor, Stone Axe and friends) are presented and accounted for. Steaks are served simply with cafe de Paris, bearnaise, bordelaise or peppercorn sauces.
Restaurant
Bistecca
Beyond a short list of sides, there's really only one thing on the menu at this Tuscan steakhouse: premium T-bones, sold by weight. They're cooked over a mixture of ironbark and charcoal, then served medium-rare.
Restaurant
Alfie’s
Order a Riverine sirloin steak (aged and butchered in-house) and it’ll be on your table in 15 minutes at The Gidley team’s fast and fun steakhouse.
Restaurant
Grill Americano Sydney
A sprawling Venetian grill with enough beef and marble to sink a ship. Polished service and a lengthy menu of surf, turf and hand-made pasta add sizzle to the city’s steakhouse scene.
Restaurant
Porteño
Argentina loves beef like no other country on earth – just ask Porteño’s Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate. They’re showcasing the country’s best farms via a fire-powered parrilla and an impressive in-house ageing program.
Restaurant
The Sanderson
Love steak and tableside theatrics? Right this way. Whether you choose a 200-gram Black Opal flank or a one-kilo Westholme T-bone, every cut here comes with a velvety French onion sauce, house olive oil blend and mustard service.
Restaurant
Kingsleys
A long-lunch favourite internationally recognised as one of Sydney's best steak restaurants. It also flaunts an iconic location on the Finger Wharf to go with that premium surf and turf.
Restaurant
Firedoor
Lennox Hastie’s fire-powered fine diner serves a daily five-course menu to which you can add a dry-aged steak, cooked over flames. Keep an eye out for Firedoor’s annual steak night series, showcasing the best producers from around the country.
Restaurant
Clam Bar
Three house cuts (flat iron, rib eye, NY strip) keep things simple at the Pellegrino 2000 team’s New York-inspired grill. But the reserve steak menu is where the tough choices lie.
Restaurant
Eleven Barrack
The former first Bank of Australia is now a flashy steak and seafood grill taking cues from the grand dining rooms of New York and Paris. Around six cuts fired over the Marrone grill are served with red wine jus and mustards.
Restaurant
Black Bar & Grill
The fiery open kitchen is all part of the show at Black Bar and Grill. Wagyu champion David Blackmore is well represented, and there’s even a Wagyu tasting menu on hand for the serious carnivores.
Restaurant
Woodcut
Each of the four kitchens at Crown’s elemental fine diner harnesses a different element: smoke, steam, ice and fire. In the fire department, a wood grill takes good care of steaks by O’Connor, Rangers Valley and more.
Restaurant
Eastside Bar & Grill
O’Connor and Mayura Station tomahawks get the parrilla treatment at this modern steakhouse. But when size doesn’t matter, go for the tenderloin or brisket. Book on Wednesday nights for unlimited steak and sides for two hours.
Restaurant
Bopp and Tone
Riverine Angus sirloins, Westholme Wagyu T-bones and more get their smoky char from Bopp and Tone’s 900-kilogram wood grill.
Restaurant
Poetica
Thanks to a glowing custom hearth, Poetica’s steaks are some of the best on the lower north shore. And this 180-seat spot has range – expect anything from a 30-day dry-aged Jack’s Creek sirloin to a Ranger’s Valley tomahawk. Save room for those beef-fat flambadou oysters.
Restaurant
Morrison’s Oyster Bar & Grill
This heritage corner site has lived many lives – but its most recent one is arguably its best. Come for freshly shucked oysters from the cabinet, premium Australian steaks and a focus on local and French wine varieties.
Restaurant
The Cut Bar & Grill
The signature at this moody steakhouse is a 12-hour slow-cooked black Angus prime rib from South Australia, cut and served tableside in hunks of 300 or 400 grams with a simple combo of red wine sauce and horseradish cream.
Restaurant
Macelleria Newtown
Momofuku’s David Chang visited this butcher-diner in season two of the Netflix series, Ugly Delicious. You can, too. Head to the counter, pick your cut, tell the staff how you want it cooked, then pile on the sides.
Bar
The Oaks Hotel
Aside from the grand old oak tree, the tomahawk steak is old dame’s most enduring feature. It’s a hefty, ostentatious things you could easily split between three people – but the excellent in-house butcher and grill deals out plenty of smaller cuts, too.
Restaurant
Yappari Steak
Direct from Japan, this steakhouse lets you choose from three affordable cuts of meat, then watch as it’s slapped on a super-hot stone to cook at your table.
More Options
Chophouse, Sydney
Matt Moran’s New York-inspired steakhouse butchers its cuts to order before firing them on a custom Montague broiler. Top grade beef is wrangled from a rotating cast of Aussie producers, though Moran Family Farms naturally does most of the heavy lifting.
6head, The Rocks
From the caviar service to the steaks, it’s all about the finer things at this lavish waterside steakhouse. Expect a range of cuts from O’Connor Beef and Mayura Station Wagyu, served in a sleek dining room at the 180-year-old Campbell’s Stores.
