Steak and MasterChef

Have you seen MasterChef? If you have yet to be hooked on that runaway hit reality tv show (with more emphasis on 'show' than 'reality' sometimes), where a group of amateur cooks fight it out in various culinary challenges for that eponymous title, then get online and catch up. If only to see the judges' expressions as they taste the food the contestants whip up.

Season 2 dishes up (haha) more of the same. The three judges (chefs Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris, with food critic Matt Preston) are back with the same pursed faces and thoughtful gazes into the distance while contemplating the merits (or demerits) of a contestant's dish. It's such an awesome job. While friends of mine who are into MasterChef aspire to be like the contestants on the show, I'm aspiring to be like the judges. Who wouldn't want to get paid to sample tasty food and rub shoulders with the who's who of the food industry?

I am now practising for that golden gig. I find myself thoughtfully tasting each mouthful of food at meal times, trying to discern the salty from the sweet, the sour from the bitter, instead of just gulping down everything in sight. I turn my dishes around, critically assessing its presentation, and how the various ingredients are laid out on the plate. It's rather fun pretending to be a food snob.

Last night I had the chance to play MasterChef judge at The Point restaurant in Albert Park. It claims to be the best steak restaurant in Melbourne (nine different beef dishes, no less), has one chef's hat in the 2010 Good Food Guide and is situated by beautiful Albert Park lake. And we have the Entertainment card, which will give us one complimentary main course when another is ordered. Sounds like a good night already!

Except that the restaurant was damn hard to find. It was probably our fault though, relying on the Google Maps navigator on our phones. The directions on the restaurant's website is way better. Didn't help that Albert Park was so dark and unlit at that time of night (we had reservations for 8.30pm).

Finally got there and walked up to the restaurant, which was on the first floor - the building also houses a cafe and a function space. We walk past a glass cabinet showcasing the various types of moo-cow served here: pasture-fed beef from Cape Grim in Tasmania, grain-fed beef from Clare Valley in South Australia and grain-fed sher wagyu from Ballan in Victoria.

The decor in the restaurant was classy - floor-to-ceiling windows, dark carpet, crisp white tablecloths. Shame it was too dark to admire the view of the lake, but we got a good glimpse of the pretty city lights in the distance. It would be beautiful here in summer.

We started with half-a-dozen Coffin Bay oysters ($18) and the wagyu beef tartare with quail egg and osetra caviar ($26), accompanied by a glass of 2005 Yarrabank Cuvee sparkling wine from the Yarra Valley in Victoria ($15). Jam was driving so he just had sparkling mineral water (yes, I'm the alcoholic in the relationship). It was about a 15-minute wait before my bubbly arrived, and I found it a little disconcerting to be sitting there twiddling an empty champagne glass. The entrees also took their time, but while waiting we were each served a bread roll with oil, and a little portion of seared beef on quince paste with a little flat bread stick, which eased the hunger a little bit.

Coffin Bay oysters - apologies for dim photos! Lighting wasn't so great.

The oysters came with two accompaniments - a soy mirin sauce and a chilli and onion relish. While they were beautifully fresh, the oysters weren't properly shucked IMHO. Usually you can just suck them from their shell, but with these little buggers I had to work on loosening them as the tissue that connected them to their shell wasn't severed.

Soy mirin and onion relish to accompany the oysters

Wagyu beef tartare

The wagyu beef tartare came topped with a sauce, the osetro caviar and tiny accompaniments of finely-diced shallots, cornichons, hard-boiled quail egg yolk and egg white, and parsley. We also got four triangles of toast to dip in the wagyu. Okay, now to be honest, the wagyu didn't really taste of anything. I felt like I was chewing on meat - yes, it had that clean freshness to it - yes, and the meat had a tender, soft texture - yes. But it seemed to be empty of taste, and it really needed the sauce, caviar and the other accompaniments to lift the flavour. Maybe it was meant to be that way, but it was a bit disappointing for me. Perhaps I'm just used to the stronger soy and mirin sauce used in Japanese beef tartare. Jam, however, commented that the sauce (which was acidic and kind of tomato-ey, even though it was a white sauce) kinda overpowered the beef.

The steak. Used a flash this time 'cuz I was sick of dim photos!

Our main events of the evening were the two Clare Valley grain-fed eye fillets ($44 each) - one cooked medium-rare, the other rare. To drink - a glass of Nepenthe tempranillo from Adelaide Hills, South Australia ($12). The steaks came with The Point garnish - a roasted bone marrow, a selection of mustards and a choice of bearnaise, salsa verde or red wine sauce. The waiter asked us when we ordered what sauce we would like, and recommended the bearnaise and red wine sauce. I now wish we had asked for some of the mustards as well - which, strangely enough, were never brought to the table despite the fact that they were meant to be served with the steak. The bearnaise sauce took a little longer to arrive at the table - not sure if this was an indication of the slightly slower service that night, but we saw another table complain about their sauces being slow to arrive too.

Anyway, the reason I wish we had the mustards was because the bearnaise sauce was not good at all. It had the taste and consistency of herbed butter - like someone just melted a whole knob of butter, added some herbs to it and let it solidfy to a thick paste. Meh. The red wine sauce was better, but not totally impressive. Luckily the eye fillet was so beautifully cooked that it didn't really need anything else. It was tender, juicy, flavourful...everything a good steak should be. The marrow was another highlight - the top layer was crispy and underneath it was just creamy. I could eat more. We didn't order any sides, but were pleasantly surprised when a generous plate of potato roesti was brought to our table, compliments of the chef. Perhaps to make up for the lag in service?

Dessert - (from left) salted peanut mousse, caramelised banana and popcorn ice-cream

By the time we finished our mains we were so full that we could hardly move. But the dessert menu was so tempting that we just had to share one! We ordered the salted peanut mousse, with caramelised banana and popcorn ice-cream ($17). Before dessert arrived, we were served a small tumbler of orange sorbet topped with strawberry foam to cleanse the palate. The dessert looked divine. A roll of chocolate mousse with salted peanut caramel and a chocolate disc, slices of banana - each topped with a crisp caramel covering, a cornelle of popcorn flavoured ice-cream and caramel popcorn to garnish. The sweetness of the mousse was complemented by the salty peanut caramel, and the softness of the banana slices was counterpointed with the crispness of the caramel coating, like the top of a creme brulee that makes that satisfying crack when you hit it with a spoon. The popcorn ice-cream was good, only thing was it melted too quickly!

Two coffees later, and our bill came to $142.50, with a $40 discount for the steak. Really good value for money, with or without the Entertainment card. Highlights were the beef and dessert, lowlights were the bearnaise sauce and the wagyu beef tartare. If we do come back, it will have to be in summer time, where you can savour the lakeside views and sunset over dinner.

Admire the lake views (during daylight hours) over a good piece of beef at
The Point Albert Park
Aquatic Drive
Albert Park Lake
t: +613 9682 5566
w: www.thepointalbertpark.com.au