New Brisbane

Following a wonderful meal at the Morrison Hotel’s Fiasco the other week, I was keen to try out some of the other restaurants my friends had mentioned were in the Woolloongabba area, particularly those of the steak-offering nature. And, when a friend from Perth was in town and wanted to catch up for a meal, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to check out the Norman Hotel in Woolloongabba, reported to be another of Brisbane’s best steakhouses. Seeing “bacon sauce” when I looked at their menu, I knew there was no other option.

The Norman Hotel
102 Ipswich Rd
Woolloongabba, QLD 4102
P: (07) 3391 5022
W: www.normanhotel.com.au

Mon-Sat noon-2.30pm
Mon-Thu 5.30pm-9pm, Fri 5.30pm-9.30pm
Sun noon-3pm, 5pm-9pm

As myself, my friend from Perth and one of my partners in crime, Joel, met outside of The Norman’s grand rear entrance, I realised that both of them were avoiding red meat at the moment and so I would be the only one steaking it up. Fortunately, as well as a range of beautiful and glorious steaks to discover, and despite labelling itself as Brisbane’s worst vegetarian restaurant, The Norman does have a pretty reasonable selection of non-steak food for people that are wimps. For vegetarians, there’s even several fish options, as well as a spinach & ricotta ravioli, however the only salad on the menu does appear to have meat in it.

When I called ahead to book a table, I was told just to show up and a hostess would seat us, and as we walk into the restaurant we are immediately presented with a counter to order our meal. Deciding it’s counter-service and not noticing the little tiny sign that says “please get a table number before ordering”, we jump in line, where my friends are teased by some of the mouth-watering cuts in the display window. When we get to the front of the line, the girl at the counter sends a hostess off to prepare a table for us and takes our orders. Conveniently, this means we each pay for our meal as we order it and don’t have to worry about pesky bill-splitting later in the night - the math is always harder after a few drinks.

Meals ordered and wireless buzzer in hand, we are escorted to our pleasant outdoor table by the friendly hostess and moments later a drinks waiter appears to organise our refreshments. Quickly and efficiently our drinks are delivered to us and I was delighted that he re-appeared every time our drinks neared bottom, ensuring that we didn’t run the risk of getting parched. After all, it just wouldn’t do for a fine steak dinner to be ruined for lack of throat-wetting refreshment.

The buzzer buzzes and first up is our garlic pizza bread, a great appetiser to share amongst 3 hungry males and it’s soon polished off, with the empty plate being removed shortly after. After a reasonable wait, which gave us time to sip our drinks and chat while we devoured the garlic pizza, the buzzer announced that our mains were ready and I sent my two companions off to get my food. Yeah, I’m bossy like that.

A bit surprised at not seeing wagyu beef on the menu, I had asked the girl for the “best steak on offer” and so I wound up with an Angus Cross large eye fillet from somewhere in Victoria. The steak arrived, with a side of garden salad, an Idaho potato (with bacon sauce!!) and a hermetically sealed bread roll. Okay, so after the Caesar salad and garlic bread that arrived with Morrison’s steak, the garden salad and sealed bread roll weren’t quite as awesome, but they tasted fine and I had no real complaints. The Idaho potato was pretty cool, as you don’t see them in Australian too often, though I was a little bit disappointed with the bacon sauce - I don’t know what I was expecting, but definitely something more impressive.

As for the steak, well that was delicious. Thick and juicy and cooked to perfection, this was truly a great steak and I could quite easily see myself coming back to the Norman to try out some of the other cuts that were on offer. The side of mushroom sauce wasn’t all that great, but with the steak as delicious as it was, it really didn’t need any sauce - except for maybe the herb butter served at the Morrison.

Despite having a great meal, I was a bit surprised to see the limited range of locally sourced beef on offer, given that Queensland has some great beef producers, particulary of the wagyu persuasion. But, at the end of the day you can’t beat a high quality cut of beef cooked to perfection and that’s exactly what I got, leaving me completely satisfied by my dining experience. So if you haven’t yet eaten at The Norman Hotel, hop on down to Woolloongabba and check it out. We all left with full bellies and totally recommend it.

– Ross