News
Afro-boer. Photo courtesy of the restaurant
Even though Pretoria is known for a distinct steak culture, it’s nowhere near places like London, where you can attend a butcher’s course to compare 65-day-aged meats from 11 different species. But that doesn’t mean capital city chefs aren’t creative, nor residents not adventurous. Hennie Fisher tasted his way around Pretoria to find 9 next-level steaks with unusual preparations, sauces and sides.
Alfie’s (Hazelwood)
This tiny restaurant just on the edge of Hazelwood is lauded by some as serving the most authentic Italian food in town. On the secondi section of the menu you can find the 600g Fiorentina T-bone speciality steak, prepared with minimal fuss and seasonings. Accompaniments are ordered separately and can range from oven-baked potato wedges to aubergine done in a typical Italian style. Share this generous cut for R165.
Afro-boer (The Willows)
This casual spot in the east serves a thick-cut, grass-fed 350g rib-eye steak, sourced from a local butcher called Hokaai. Their steaks are slow-matured, seared in a griddle-pan and served with a curried whiskey-butter sauce, a samoosa, a devil on horseback, some peppered green beans and mash. Chef-patron Michelle Cronje-Cibulka featured the samoosas on the menu as a way to involve their maker, an old man from the community. This less-than-traditional steak sells for R140.
Brasserie de Paris (Waterkloof Ridge)
While primarily known for its classic interpretations of dishes, Brasserie de Paris serves an unusual trio of 70g beef steaks, comprising a fillet au poivre (with a pepper crust), a fillet topped with bone marrow, and a béarnaise fillet. This combination of classic flavours and a modern re-interpretation goes for R152.
Brasserie de Paris. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.
Carlton Café Delicious (Menlo Park)
Carlton Café Delicious serves a sirloin hand-cut from the carcass and aged on the premises. Their banting-friendly menu option is designed around this 250g steak that’s seasoned with a homemade spicy coconut mix and served with avocado, deep-fried feta on salad greens, and a dark-chocolate-and-fig dressing for R105. They try as far as possible to use only free-range, grass-fed beef; chef-patron Rachel Botes says people appear to be catching on to quality beef in Pretoria and she’s loving being a part of this awakening in the city.
Carlton café. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.
De Kloof Restaurant (Waterkloof)
The free-range beef fillet steak is named ‘Meraki’ and is served with a braised beef rib phyllo parcel, potato-skin angel hair, beetroot halva, bone-marrow-and-stout jus, horseradish, beetroot carpaccio, ox tongue and a smoked egg (R179). The team at De Kloof serves only grass-fed, free-range beef and is fundamentally opposed to feedlot beef. Restaurateur Charl Whitlock says they rarely serve the tasty onglet (hangar steak), arrachera (skirt) or spider-cut steak, because Pretorians favour the more tender cuts.
The interior at De Kloof. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.
La Madeleine (Lynnwood Ridge)
Chef Anne Leusch serves a beef fillet, very classically prepared with red wine jus, shiitake mushrooms, potato gratin and red onion marmalade (R180). However, when her dad and restaurant partner Daniele Leusch can find great quality flank, they prepare a typical Parisian bistro dish called bavette à l’échalote: flank cooked blue (very rare) with reduced veal stock and shallots, crispy pomme paille (matchstick fries) and a side salad (R130). The meat is somewhat fibrous, but they say it’s one of their favourites steaks for its extremely tasty flavour.
La Madeleine. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.
Moo Moo Wine Bar and Grill (Brooklyn)
The menu offers an unusual way to mix-and-match: no less than five cuts of steak (step 1), cooked in the style of your choice (step 2), served with sides (step 3) and sauces (step 4) of your liking. Options are rump, sirloin, fillet, rib-eye or T-bone, which can be cooked in the following ways: with a traditional barbeque basting; with coarse salt, pepper and herb crust; with a café de Paris glaze; and a chimichurri sauce. Sides include onion rings, shoestring potatoes, a potato skewer, crushed potatoes, creamy mushroom and spinach, and for true meat lovers, even a biltong sauce. Their free-range meat is sourced from Greenfields and prices range from R84 for a 250g rib-eye to R156 for a 500g rump.
Ritrovo Ristorante (Waterkloof Heights)
The signature steak is the fillet Ritrovo, a 900g Swiss-trimmed fillet that’s wrapped in a crisp herb-and-mustard crust and cooked twice. It’s served with a rich tarragon-infused béarnaise sauce and a good Italian wine-based demi-glace, fried pepperoni and melanzane, spinach with garlic, mushrooms, and the restaurant’s fabulous potato croquettes (R400). The fillet is cut into medallions as it emerges from the oven. This meal serves two, and is usually served rare or medium rare. They do not use aged steaks for this dish, but rather simple grass-fed beef for more flavour.
Ritrovo Ristorante. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.
Priva (Waterkloof)
Waterkloof’s super glamorous Priva Lounge (where the kitchen stays open until past midnight) serves beef fillet seared on the charcoal grill with a miso-soya cream, pine nuts, shiitake mushrooms and fried polenta rounds for R188. Heartier palates could indulge in their club steak tagliata, a thick cut of sirloin on the bone, laced with garlic, rosemary and olive oil, and served sliced through to the bone with potato wedges (R198). Steaks at Priva are from a grass-fed source and are wet-aged for two weeks. The restaurant often has live jazz bands performing and the most enticing cigar selection in all of Pretoria.
Related posts
-
-
The Hussar Grill’s seasonal lunch special will stop you in your tracks
-
Enjoy two courses for just R185 per...
-
-
-
Have you tried Gauteng’s all-day street food experience – Streatery?
-
Fan favourites include nachos, noodles, sushi and pork belly mac ’n...
-
-
-
Where to get outstanding gyros and souvlaki wraps in SA
-
Calling all Greek food enthusiasts! Discover the best spots for...
-
9 Comments
Leave a comment
Promoted Restaurants
-
Orangerie at Le Lude
There’s something innately celebratory about visiting an estate like Le Lude that specialises in Methode Cap Classique. Naturally, this adds an extra sparkle...
-
Evita se Perron
Our café is open 6 days a week for breakfast & lunch and you can sit down inside or outside and order from our café menu. No table bookings, walk-ins only. We are...
-
3 Kitch3ens at Silver Forest
3 KITCH3NS is a vibrant colourful Restaurant and Bar based at the Beautiful Silver Forest, at the foot of the Helderberg Mountain surrounded by Trees. As the name...
-
Zest Restaurant
At Zest Restaurant the chefs work behind the open plan kitchen, with its wood fire grill, and can be seen whilst creating delectable dishes. Diners are able to...
-
Stellenzicht Wine Pod
Our Wine Pod is our unique tasting room on our estate. It was designed to bring nature into the structure. Because of this, when you are enjoying a glass of elegant...
-
Yamitsuki
Founded in 2000, Yamitsuki introduced the concept of Japanese style cuisine, presented to customers via a unique conveyor belt system. The experience was fun and...
Just wondering how much a critic gets paid ONLY to review certain( the same) restaurants again & again.
Afro-Boer is more a bakery, far less than a steakhouse.
Next to Alfies, is SALT, serving amazing red meat dished.
Hillside Tavern has been in business for a long time, no mentioning.
Hinterland & Pacha’s serve some of the best steak in Pretoria, no mentioning.
Crawdaddy’s always good with any meat dishes.
Would be nice to see if this critic( who owned restaurants before) can be more fair when doing reviews?
I totally agree with you!
I totally agree with you Steven!
Excellent reviews and all around positive attitude from your side Mr. Fisher something I’m sure we can all appreciate in this age where everyone has their bit to say about everything and easily (albeit mistakenly) sees themselves as a food critic. On that note I thought I should just notify yourself and the readers that the following has changed.
Alfies has recently changed the price of their Fiorentina and is now charged at R32 per 100g. Roasted potato and aubergine are served on the side as a standard but can be swopped with a side salad.At an additional cost one can also order an additional pasta burro or pasta pomodoro (a half portion of a butter or tomato based sauce ) on the side.
I agree . The biggest mention Completely left out is the Godfather . They were awarded runner up in The wolftrap steak house awards and are in the final judging round every year . Thee pretoria steak house
I agree!Godfather are the best!As food critic/fundi should do a more balance review. especially, if he is focusing on a specific dish.All the restaurant that are mentioned, certainly have good steaks but won’t it make sense to focus on a steakhouse when reviewing “memorable steaks'”?
A valid review by a respected chef, Lecturer, critic and food-fundi; it does not pretend to cover every steakhouse in Pretoria; for that I will buy EAT Out annually!WE tend to support Restaurants in our area and may well be missing out on some of the best.I have personally enjoyed steaks offered at 7 of the 9 Hennie has reviewed and largely agree with him. My biggest complaint relates to ordering my preference of a RARE steak and being served one closer to Medium! return it at your peril !As a one-time Bailli of the Chaine des Rotisseurs I feel competent to record these comments.
Sid.Saks
Hennie,
You seem to have missed the godfather restaurant in centurion. Their rooibos smoked sirloin with herb butter is amazing, and the coffee smoked sirloin with vanilla butter even better. Give it a try.
I have never seen a steak on the menu at Afro Boer.