Sydneys Best Steak Restaurant and Steakhouse - Prime

Restaurants > Prime Restaurant

SYDNEY'S BEST STEAK RESTAURANT, GRILL ROOM AND STEAKHOUSE

SYDNEY'S MOST AWARDED STEAK RESTAURANT (1999 - 2011)

"Very cool room, the nation's best steak and utterly professional service"
Australian Gourmet Traveller 2007

Contents (please scroll down)

Prime Steak Restaurant History
Prime Menu
Prime Produce
1. Angus Hereford Yearlings
2. Black Angus
3. Wagyu
Styles of Beef
1. Dry Aged Beef
2. Grain Fed versus Grass Fed
Prime Steak Cuts
Chateaubriand - The Dish and Its History
Media Reviews
Prime Restaurant Awards
Prime Restaurant Opening Hours

1. Prime Steak Restaurant History

Prime steak restaurant was opened on 1 September 1999 in a heritage listed sandstone room within Sydney's premier historical building. With the timeless elegance of its New York style interior, attention to detail, the best available produce and unique cooking approach, Prime restaurant immediately became the leading Sydney and Australian steak restaurant, steakhouse and grillroom.

In its first year Prime steak restaurant was awarded as Sydney's best steak restaurant by Restaurant and Catering NSW. The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide also awarded Prime as best steak restaurant with One Hat and a highly recommend wine list.

Over the last 11 years that Prime restaurant has been in operation it has continued to receive awards and acknowledgments as Sydney's and Australia's best steak restaurant and steakhouse making it the most awarded steak restaurant.

Prime heritage as the most innovative steak restaurant is also noteworthy as it has always been at the forefront of changes in the restaurant industry being the first restaurant to offer dry-aged beef in 1999. Prime steak restaurant, grill room and steakhouse was also the first the first restaurant to offer Wagyu in 2002. In 2009 Prime was the first steak restaurant to offer "Graded" Grass Fed steaks as this was the only way Prime could offer a consistent grass fed product.

2. Prime Menu

The Prime menu apart from offering 18 different steaks is designed to cater for all patrons offering a variety of seafood, poultry and vegetarian options. With our exceptional staff and expert sommelier who are on hand to assist you with your food and wine selection, Prime is the ideal venue for the most discerning client and their guests be it for lunch, dinner or a private function.

For customers on a time limit the Prime menu highlights the steaks that are thinner in cut and can be cooked more quickly to offer you a 1 hour 3 course lunch or pre-theatre meal if required.

To start, why not try our Fresh Oysters, Wagyu Tartare, King Prawn Risotto or Seared Scallops.
Prime Restaurant offers the best quality steaks from Angus-Hereford Yearlings, fully matured, Black Angus, Full blood Wagyu and Wagyu - Holstein cross cattle with dry aged options. Unlike other exclusive restaurants at Prime your selection of steak is accompanied with vie ripened tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach or other items together with a variety of house made sauces and mustards to present you with a complete dish. In addition to our extensive steak menus we also recommend our Chargrilled Loin of Sashimi Tuna, Roasted Blue Eye Cod, Oven Roasted Riverina Lamb Loin, Cornfed Chicken and Oven Roasted Duck.

For dessert your options include, Lemon Meringue Pie, Chocolate Fondant, Bailey's Souffle with Honeycomb Ice Cream and Creme Caramel.
As our menu is subject to change, please select menu icon above for a copy of our current and complete menu.

3. Prime Produce

a) Angus Hereford Yearlings

Our Angus-Hereford Yearlings have been raised on grass for 9 months and then finished on a grain diet, to guarantee you a very consistent product. The meat is then carefully selected based on characteristics such as meat colour, marbling, pH balance and weight for maturity to ensure that you are offered an exceptional product.

The Sirloin, Rib Eye and T-Bone are then dry aged on the bone for 4 to 6 weeks, in temperature and humidity controlled cool rooms to break down the fibres in the meat, tenderize them and allow the natural meat flavours to intensify. The dry aging meat process is expensive as the meat loses between 20% to 25% of its weight apart from the additional costs and work associated with this dry aging process. We do not dry age our fillet as the tenderloin does not have any external protective tissue, and the dry aging process is too harsh for this cut of meat. Also the benefits of dry aging for this cut of meat is negligible.

b) Black Angus

Our premium Black Angus beef is fully matured and at 30-36 months offers a more intense beefy flavour than our Angus-Hereford Yearlings. Black Angus is generally more juicy as it has more marbling than our Angus-Hereford Yearlings.

Grass fed beef by its nature is extremely variable in its quality and varies from season to season unlike grain fed beef. It is also generally leaner and less marbled than grain fed beef and hence not as tender.

The grass fed beef selected for you is from O'Connor meats and is grown in near perfect conditions in the rich, lush pastures of the Gippsland Region of Victoria. Despite our Black Angus being raised in these pastures and near perfect conditions only 5% to 10% are regarded as premium quality when hand selected and subsequently presented for your enjoyment in Prime.

Our hand selected premium quality grass fed Black Angus has good marbling and offers you a balanced intense, deep and beefy flavour with a long clean after taste. By comparison our grain fed Black Angus is generally richer, more tender and provides a burst of flavour as the inherent juices are released.

c) Wagyu

Wagyu beef is generally regarded as the highest grade; and tastiest beef in the world. The marbling of Wagyu beef is the prime characteristic that contributes to its tenderness, juiciness and most importantly to its flavour.

The highest grade of Wagyu has a marbling score of 12. However, this is only available in Japan. While other breeds of cattle are not given a marbling score, it can be said for comparative reasons that other breeds of cattle such as Angus and Hereford have a maximum marbling score of 3.

In Australia, the Wagyu branded meat is predominately F1 crosses between Wagyu and Angus cattle. The Japanese preference however, is for F1 crosses to be between Wagyu and Holstein Cattle which is the F1 cattle we have chosen for your enjoyment in Prime. Outside Japan there is a very limited supply of Full Blood Wagyu and an even more limited supply of marble score 9+ Wagyu.

The 9+ Wagyu selected for Prime is the highest scored Wagyu product available outside Japan and has been sourced from David Blackmore, Australia's most awarded Wagyu producer. The David Blackmore 9+ Wagyu fillet and 9+ Wagyu Chateaubriand are sold exclusively to Prime Restaurant.

4. Styles of Beef

a) Dry Aged Beef

There are two ways to age beef "dry-aging" and "wet-aging".

At Prime we only dry age our beef. The dry aging process involves hanging the meat on the bone for 4 to 6 weeks in temperature and humidity controlled cool rooms a process which breaks down the fibres in the meat, tenderises them and allows the natural meat flavours to intensify. The flavours intensify as during this process beef loses 20% to 25% of it's weight which allows the flavours to become more concentrated. We believe this is the better method of aging beef as it produces a better result.

The wet aging process by contrast is the aging of meat in vacuum sealed plastic bags, we find this process inferior. With wet aging the meat retains its weight so the flavours do not intensify as much or develop the same concentration of flavours. Also as the meat is aging in its own juices it tends to develop an acidic taste.

At Prime we do not age our fillet as the tenderloin does not have any protective tissue and the dry aging process is too harsh for this cut of meat. Also the benefits of dry aging this cut of meat are nebligible.

b) Grain Fed versus Grass Fed

Grass or forage (plant leaves and stems) feeding results in fuller flavoured beef than grain feeding due to plants containing hight content of various odorous substances, and chlotophyll, which remen microbes in the digestive systems of cattle convert into chemicals called terpenes, relatives of the aroma compunds in many herbs and spices. Another important contributor to the beefiness in grass fed steaks and their stronger flavour is skatoke found in grass.

Grain Fed Cattle while not being as full flavoured, offer much greater consistency and tenderness.

While grass fed beef technically offers a healthier option than grain fed beef a balanced diet overcomes this specific imbalance. From a health perspective it is far worse to eat a steak that is charred or cooked over wood than a grain fed steak. It is for this reason that Prime steaks are caramalised on the outside and not charred, burnt or cooked over wood.

5. Prime Steak Cuts

Prime only offers premium cuts of beef from premium breed from Australia's best producers. As such, Prime does not offer any cheaper cuts pf meat such as spare ribs, shanks and skirt.

Fillet:

This is the tenderest cut of meat from cattle and is a portion cut from the tenderloin. It is exceptionally lean and tender as the cattle do not use this muscle. This cut is taken from the centre of the sirloin.

Rib Eye:

Is fattier, more marbled and juicier than other cuts of beef and exceotionally tender. The nugget of fat at the centre of the cut is an important part of its flavour. By leaving the bone on this cut of meat offers additional moisture and fat alongside the bone that will enhance the flavours as compared to the scotch fillet which is the same cut of meat without the bone. It is recommended that this cut of meat is served medium rare to medium as this will melt the fat in the meat to give it more flavour.

Sirloin:

Sirloin is less tender than the other cuts of meat but has greater tecture and while less tender juices are released when you bite this meat. This cut of meat is less tender because these muscles still do quite a bit of work.

Porter house - traditionally a large steak cut from t he sirloin

New York Steak - Cut from the eye of the sirloin.

Scotch:

The Scotch is a Rib Eye without the bone, as such it allows more even cooking than the Rib Eye.

Chateaubriand:

Thick centre cut from the tenderloin and is exceptionally lean and tender. See Fillet.

Cote de bouf:

This cut is the sirloin with the bone on. Similar to other steaks with the bone on the bone offers additional moisture and fat along the bone that will enhance the flavour of a sirloin steak.

It takes longer to cook a steak with the bone on.

T-Bone:

Cut from the end of the sirloin along the back of the animal. The T shaped bone contains two cuts of beef. First, the small side of the T contains meat from the tenderloin (fillet) while the large side contains meat from the sirloin.

The size of the bone is quite large so it offers more moisture and fat than the rib eye of cote de bouf as such this cut offers even more flavour.

Cooking will be uneven due to the bone and the nature of the cut and it is recommended to be cooked from medium rare to medium to melt the fat in the meat and give it more flavour.

6. Chateaubriand - The Dish and its History

Chateaubriand is a dish that is surrounded by love, romance and with it a rich and colourful history that lives on in Prime as a signature dish of the restaurant.

As a cut of meat the Chateaubriand is regarded by many as the king of cuts being the centre cut of the fillet (tenderloin). The fillet is the leanest and most tender cut of beef. The Chateaubriand is the pinnacle for many meat lovers and you imagine how good it is if our normal Prime fillet has been described by experts as:

"Beneath the lightest and crispest of crust, the meat here is so soft, so velvety it calls to mind a warm dark chocolate mousse"
Jon Casmis, SMH, Good Living 22 June 2002

The Chateaubriand, like many of the great love stories comes from France and takes its name from the French writer and politician Francois Rene Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848). His personal chef, Montmireil in about 1822 created this sumptuous dish as a late evening treat for him and his mistress Madame Angebetete de Recamier who was widely regarded as the most beautiful and desirable woman of her time. So captivating was her beauty that the recliner chair takes its name from her. Needless to say that Napoleon was just one of many men trying to court her and wow her away from Francois Chateaubriand!

As you would expect when this ultimate dining experience was created it was a meal to share between 2 people in love. In the spirit Francois Chateaubriand our dish comes only in one size, for two.

To compliment the dining experience as intended for Madam Reclaimer and Francois Chateaubriand Prime is located in a cavernous, sandstone-walled dining room with the interior adorned with curtained arches, dim lighting, spacious tables, leather seats, and over sized wine glasses to go with its oversized wine list comprising over 350 wines. Prime offers Chateaubriand from 2 different cattle; Angus-Hereford yearling, and Wagyu. The Wagyu Chateaubriand is offered with a Marble Score of +9 or +6.

In its truest meaning Chateaubriand is a recipe and not a cut of meat. It is seared on the outside and rare on the inside (at Prime we are happy to cook it to your requirements). At Prime our Chateaubriand are served with pommes boulangere, a fondue of eschalot, bone marrow and sauce bordelaise. If you are a meat lover and that doesn't make your mouth water, its only because you haven't tried it.

With the benefit of Madame Angebetete de Recamier, his many other mistresses, and his ultimate meal for two, Francois Chateaubriand has been attributed with the following quote:
"Original style is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none"

7. Media Reviews

"...very cool room, the nation's best steak and utterly professional service".
Australian Gourmet Traveller 2007, Australian Restaurant Guide

Located in the historic GPO Building this is a traditional steakhouse with all the modern dressings and trimmings. There's a lengthy menu to peruse at this fancy hot spot so take your time. You can't go past the Wagyu fillet because it's a carnivore's dream.
Lucy Lang, Three of the rest, CW, P. 35, August 13, 2007

With it's New York styled interior, and heritage listed sandstone, Prime is Sydney's premier grill room having being awarded (amongst many other awards) the best steak restaurant from 2001-2004 and the highest scored steak restaurant 2001-2006.
Scoop Traveller, Edition 1 2007 (December 2006 - June 2007)

Prime surprisingly, there are plenty of women laying into the Pinot at this basement steakhouse, long the domain of city banking types. Actually, if you want a perfect steak, there's no finer place for a meat-fest of the first order. Wagyu skirt steak, grain fed rib-eye, dry-aged Angus Hereford from Gympie, you name it and they've got it.
Andy Harris, Editorial director from Australian Gourmet Traveller, Sydney Retail Guide to where it's, Haute in the city, December, 2006

From the name to the vaulted, stone-heavy, leather chair-dotted basement digs to a meat-focused menu heavy on the technical detail and the mostly red wine list, Prime is a festival of blokedom (though 'festival' might be putting it too flamboyantly). Certainly, there are plenty of women laying into the Burgundy and debating the merits of the wagyu skirt steak (500-day grain-fed from Armidale, $68) and the rib-eye (10-day grain-fed, dry-aged Angus Hereford from Gympie, $41), but it's suits and male suits, which are clearly the quarry here, and beef and red wine are the bait. Perhaps the value in the $165 wagyu chateaubriand (for two) is more apparent to them; we think it's a bit of a gouge ditto the amuse-bouche-sized goat's cheese souffl entre but perhaps that's the price you pay for this very cool room, the nation's best steak and utterly professional service. It's a must for meat lovers, regardless.
Australian Gourmet Traveller, 2007 Australian Restaurant Guide

Regularly billed as the place to eat steak, prime has all the ritual grill room fittings boys own cellar location, dim lighting, a huge and exciting red wine list and a considerable Japanese clientele. They like the other regulars, come for serious steak: a choice of dry-aged Angus-Hereford ($41-$49) or medium marble Wagyu (marble score 6, $68-$75). There's a ritual simplicity about ordering, too. Your hunk of flesh comes with a choice of cuts, sauces (red wine jus, barnaise, mustards), a triangle of dryish potato gratin or a pond of mash. There are fairly standard chips and salad if you wish but best ignore the trimmings. It's all about the meat and it's worth hanging around for. Every steak is rested for about 25 minutes under a heat lamp (after char-grilling and a spell in the oven) to further relax the meat fibres, meaning every extravagant mouthful is pretty well what steak should be.
Joanna Savill, SMH Good Living, P. 6,October 6,2006

"If you're serious about beef, there's no finer place to indulge your carnivorous cravings as Prime, the stylish, subterranean grillroom at the GPO... Wagyu fans are also catered for, and wine aficionados enjoy the extensive list packed with premium vintages".
S. Schofield, Dining Secrets Sydney, January, 2006

"Deep in the bowels of the historic Sydney GPO building you will find Prime. The food is excellent, well-presented and reasonable value for money. There is a good selection of wines by the glass".
Franz Scheurer, Australian Gourmet Traveller, January, 2006

"The world's best steaks are marbled, finely veined with fat so they resemble the eponymous stone- only infinitely much softer... The steaks here, from the finest beef cattle in the country, are magnificent... Go the steak, match it with a ripper red from an exceptional wine list and you're in for a prime timle".
Anthea Loucas, Gourment Traveller 2006, Australian Restaurant Guide, January, 2006

"It has vaulted ceilings, chocolate-coloured booths and the red-blooded air of a gentlemen's club. The menu and wine list are almost a dare... A true carnivore's delight. Head here for some of the best steaks in Sydney".
Catherine Keenan, SMH Good Living, May, 2005

Beneath the lightest and crispest of crust, the meat here is so soft, so velvety it calls to mind a warm dark chocolate mousse.
Jon Casimis, SMHGood Living, June, 2002

Its like entering a man's club when you find this temple to beef. The sirloin we ordered came out rare, as requested, and cut like butter. It went perfectly with the leaf salad and potato gratin this isn't ordinary steak. Team it with a red from the bank vault-like cellar. This is a destination for serious steak lovers.
Australian Gourmet Traveller, Restaurant Guide, 2004

Prime is both fashionable and divine and is a seriously stylish steakhouse in the basement of Sydney's old central post office.
Jacqui Myburgh, Food and Home Entertaining, South Africa, September, 2000

Enter this cavernous, sandstone-walled dining room, with curtained arches and dim lighting, and you feel like you're in an exclusive steak-lovers club. It's all sophistication and style, from the big clothed tables to riedel glassware and the razor-sharp knives. There's nothing old-fashioned on a menu that specializes in big chunks of meat but also offers light, beautifully balanced entrees and more than a token fish dish.
SMH Good Food Guide, 2003

They are very serious about their steak at Prime. With its New York Style interior, leather seats and large tables surrounded by the original sandstone walls of the GPO building, it's a world class destination.
Sue Bennett, The Daily Telegraph, NSW Restaurant Guide, 2000 "...very cool room, the nation's best steak and utterly professional service".
Australian Gourmet Traveller 2007, Australian Restaurant Guide

Beneath the lightest and crispest of crust, the meat here is so soft, so velvety it calls to mind a warm dark chocolate mousse.
Jon Casimis, SMHGood Living, June, 2002

8. Prime Restaurant Awards

Restaurant and Catering Association Awards for Excellence

2009

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2008

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2007

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2006

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2004

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2003

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2002

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2001

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2000

Prime - Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant

2004

Finalist Best Wine List (Featuring over 350 different wines)

SMH Good Food Guide Awards

2004

Prime - Best Steak Restaurant

2003

Prime - Best Steak Restaurant

2002

Prime - Best Steak Restaurant

2001

Prime - Best Steak Restaurant

2004

One Hat

2003

One Hat

2002

One Hat

2001

One Hat

2010