Although Bistecca and The Gidley โ two of Sydneyโs definitive steakhouses โ are dimly lit, stylish and appropriately grand, upon review, Liquid & Larderโs latest bovine-focused offering Alfieโs is as casual as they come.
A loud, piercing blend of 90s and contemporary hip-hop pours from the ceiling, the light-filled brutalist space is plain and underdressed, with few notable details aside from a butchery window and a visible meat aging room, and the menu has just one main.
Yes โ one main.
Liquid & Larder has taken a simple, highly efficient approach for Alfieโs. Youโve got a $38, 220-gram sirloin taken from the groupโs staple order, Riverine Black Angus, and then a healthy list of accoutrements like fries served with gravy, bubble & squeak, and a cheesy potato gratin. Aside from a tight list of desserts โ get the treacle tart, trust me โ thereโs no other food on the menu.
Itโs a risk. If the sirloin isnโt up to scratch then Alfieโs is a failure. Thankfully, Liquid & Larder have very little to worry about as they trail the โdo one thing and do it wellโ dictum.
The pitch is that a medium-rare sirloin will arrive at your table in 15 minutes. Thatโs the unique selling point for Alfieโs so, on my visit, I took review of the time between ordering and delivery. 14 minutes was the result.
Instead of opening a premium eatery and offering a quick prix fixe menu for busy office workers in the area, Alfieโs is an entire show that lives and dies in an hour. Clearly, itโs for the corporate crowd who canโt afford to take another long lunch but donโt want to compromise on quality.
And while itโs more affordable, donโt mistake sirloin for compromise.
Liquid & Larder take steak very seriously. Look for the bathrooms and youโll pass an on-site ageing room where whole sections of beef sourced from Haverick Meats sit on a shelf, wet ageing for a month before the carcasses are broken down at the on-site butchery. T-bone goes to The Gidley. Rib-eye goes to Bistecca. The sirloin stays at Alfieโs.
Consistency is the result of such commitment. When youโre opening a restaurant on the same street as Hubert, Rockpool and Chophouse, and just mere streets from the great Bentley Bar & Restaurant, you need to have a product thatโs going to satisfy each and every time.
Once the steak arrives, it does so on a plate that looks as if it was custom-designed for partitioned TV dinners of the meat-and-three-veg variety. Thereโs a space carved out specially for the steak, like a culinary jigsaw puzzle with the main piece already slotted into place. The rest of the plate is completely bare, leaving room for all the shared sides.
Because the meat is wet-aged, the sirloin has a more intense, robust flavour. But the sides can be hit or miss. Those fire-roasted baby carrots are tough and flavourless, the potato gratin could stand to be a bit softer, and the curry sauce that comes with the hot chips is a bit too watery. Yet, most of whatโs on the table pairs well with the steak. The risoni of blistered tomatoes, peas, asparagus, and green tomato is garden-fresh and delicious, as is the flavourful cucumber salad.
The speedy European steakhouses of East London serve as inspiration for Alfieโs and Liquid & Larder is clearly the team to pull something like this off for Sydney. Iโm not sure how they landed on the location but it works perfectly. Here is an approachable steakhouse sitting directly opposite one of Sydneyโs most premium meat meccas (Chophouse). Not only that but Hubert, Bentley and Rockpool are, as mentioned above, all in very close proximity.
And Alfieโs stands tall amidst these culinary powerhouses. Itโs somewhere Iโd gladly return to, given the attractive price point plus the fact that you know exactly what youโre doing to get, and how long it will take you to get it.
I doubt weโll see more places like this open up around Sydney but Alfieโs is a very good start for a city that isnโt used to these kinds of one-note restaurants.
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