BISTECCA — Restaurant in Sydney

Oh Bistecca...

Let's start with the positives. The beef fat candle was...cute, and really set the mood along with the dim lighting. Watching the t-bone get cut live in front of us was also an experience. The entrees and sides were honestly delicious. We ordered the fried pizza dough and bone marrow as well as potato gratin and beans with almonds. Yet these were the highlights of the night...what a shame.

Now, the steak... Offering only one main course is bold and adventurous. It has the opportunity to leave your customers craving a second serving and returning. That is, if you do it right. And you must. DO. IT. RIGHT. The seasoning was burnt, charred and bitter to the point where it over powered the flavour of the steak itself. However, from the moment I cut into the steak with my knife, I knew a stick of gum would be easier to process than this. It was beyond tough. Being a t-bone, I knew the tenderloin fillet would be far more palatable than the sirloin, yet we only had about 2 edible pieces of it (with the burnt seasoning still). My mind whilst I was eating went along the lines of: "I could make this better at home...I could have bought a T-bone from Coles for $30per kg instead of $180per kg...next time, I'll cook for us". Luckily, you provided the option of takeaway, so we managed to savour our $140 steak the next day, or next few days as it turns out...as I'm still trying to finish it writing this now.After the main course had been packed away, I was delightfully treated to a bowl of tiramisu, which again, was a better experience than the steak.

And we were not the only ones. We overheard other diners comment "this was one of the worst steaks I've ever had...not the best experience" to the point where I could see that our server understood the gist of what had happened. They didn't even bother asking for our opinions.

The service... Was...not as expected. We had a booking for 9:30pm and got seated approximately at 9:45pm. My girlfriend had notified ahead of time that I had nut and fish allergies (note: I can still have almonds) and yet the server did not double check unlike the table next to us. As we were finalising the bill, I asked the waiter about the beef candle as I wanted to know if it was made inhouse. This was when they revealed that it was seasoned with a bunch of stuff including duck fat and...anchovies...something I'm allergic to. Sure, there's probably so little of it to garner a reaction from myself, but what if it was someone with more serious allergies. Despite making a booking a notifying ahead of time, it seems like my girlfriends request was forgotten.

It seemed like this night was riddled with mistakes. Perhaps we were just unlucky. I can understand service to run behind schedule. I can understand a cut of steak to be slightly chewier than usual. I can understand simple slip-ups by wait staff. But I don't understand a resturant held to such high regard, such as Bistecca making these mistakes.

For a birthday celebration, my girlfriend had done everything she could have to make it special and she did. The disappointment lies with Bistecca.

At least we walked away with a humourous experience to tell our friends and warn them...

Signage for this Italian dining space is visible from Bridge street, yet you enter from the rear lane, down a staircase, where you find yourself in a dimly lit old worldly bar. The loveliest of waiters greets you to discuss your booking. We didn’t have one, but went on a whim, hoping to squeeze into a cancellation or something. We were in luck, 2 hours later a table would be available, so we grabbed that.

We went for a stroll and returned to the venue. You are seated in the front room for a drink (and you can also get snacks there) whilst they finalise your table.

Another door leads to a similarly themed room, the dining room, with a flaming hearth covered in T-bone steaks as the centrepiece.

Continental themed decor, geometric tiles and a bistro themed dining space, and visible cooking space. The staff are friendly and we find the whole experience a tad theatrical since you are whisked through the bar through doors into this space. They ask to take your phones so you enjoy the meal and conversation, but I keep mine (in case the babysitter needs me), and pull it out briefly for a quick snap, which isn’t allowed but we did anyway.

Before your main meal, you’re given some foccacia to dip in the table’s candle. The table candle is an edible beef-fat candle that melts as it is lit. Another of those theatrical additions to provide intrigue.

Bistecca is all about steak, the bistecca alla fiorentina, or T-bone. The meat is from the NSW Riverine region. It is cooked over flaming coals on the visible grill in the centre of the restaurant. The steak is is cooked rare (though not crazy rare, so it was manageable for the medium-well orderer that I typically am). The meat comes via weight order, and a minimum 300 g order per person (I mean some of the weight is bone). We order the minimum at a cost of around $90. The piece is presented to us by the waiter, before he chucks it on to cook (given that it is takes about 45 mins).

Order your sides so that your meat comes with a few accompaniments, as well as entrees to eat while you wait. Our favourite dish of the evening wasn’t even the steak, rather their gnocchi; ricotta dumplings with zucchini and a delicious tomato and cheesy sauce. We also opt for the bone marrow and both these dishes come out first.

With the meat, we have the broccolini, which was enough for us with the 600g steak. We watch the chefs finish cooking the steak, taking it off the grill and slicing it up on the butchers block and seasoning it with salt, olive oil and then delivered to the table. The meat is tender, rare and of high quality, to be expected from a place that is all about this dish.

We were too full so didn’t have dessert, but it’s there if you so please. There is a cocktail menu and extensive wine selection, so ask the Sommelier for tips.

A venue certainly to venue once for the food...

(Last visited May 9, 2023.) On the 2nd half of my honeymoon in Australia and when we were vacationing on Hayman Island, many of the people there were from Sydney and dropped so many amazing recommendations on us. Well, today we're checking out Bistecca... a steakhouse speakeasy of sorts! Here's how it went and why it was rated #45 of the top 101 steakhouses in the entire world...

Atmosphere/Appearance: Deep in downtown Sydney hidden in an alleyway in the entrance to this literal hidden gem. Lol. Once through the door and down the stairs you're taken to a very dark dimly lit, but very old-school looking tavern. It's a small room, but essentially a waiting room/cocktail lounge for you. Once it's your turn to head into the dining room the door open to the brightly lit room, your phones are locked away in a drawer which you have access to via a key and you're guided to your seat! I LOVED this experience because now you're forced to just live and be in the moment. The kitchen is wide open and you can see everything that's happening. The tables and chairs are scattered throughout the room and you just, BE. Like the good 'ol days before smart phones.

Service: I can't remember the name of our server, but he was excellent. We had no issues at all.

Food: The menu is extremely simple. You're here for steak. That's it. The steak is sold in 100g increments. So you order by weight. We ordered 900g and the steak was so incredible we both wish we could've gone to maybe 1.2kg. Lol. That's a LOT of steak still, but this does include the weight of the bone. The feature is a large, T-bone steak cut from Australian-grown Chianina cattle and grilled over charcoal. It's recommended to be cooked medium-rare. It seriously was Heavenly. I don't even remember what sides we got. That's how good this steak was. Lol.

Value: The steak is $19 AUD ($11.84 USD) per 100 grams (3.5 oz). The conversion can trip you up, so for example, the ORIGINAL steakhouse in NYC (Delmonico's) sells their 18 oz. T-Bone for $76.00 USD. The same size steak here would cost you around $65.00 and it's the #45 best steakhouse in the world. Delmonico's is not even on that list. Do what you wish with that information. Lol. The sides were appropriately priced.

In conclusion, I LOVED this place and so did my wife. We still think about Bistecca years after we've been there and it's 100% worth making some good reservations as far in advance as possible because this place is small and will...