Wayside Inn @ South Melbourne

I am sure this is not the first time I have mentioned this before but it has taken me awhile to find a steakhouse in Melbourne similar to the ones that you will get in Brisbane (i.e. in a pub, choose your meats, off to the grill, eat with nice chunky chips and wash it down with a beer and minus all the fancy ambience and big price tag). Then again, we are in Melbourne where everything is a little posher, classier and more expensive, so to look for something that is a little more affordable was always a harder thing to do. Coupled by the fact that I am always side tracked with phases where we either crave for all things Asian or busy experimenting in the kitchen, it has finally taken 8 months to visit our first Melbourne steakhouse.

Wayside Inn was our venue for the night. From the outside, it looks like some run down pub (especially in the dark) but walk in and you are greeted with a minimalist and modern dining area, which was pleasant but didn't seem to gel in with the facade.

Apart from a small selection of grain fed and grass fed cuts, they have a rotisserie menu which serves a different meat everyday. I can't wait to go back on a Friday to have their suckling pig.

Complimentary bread and butter is always a plus in my books, especially butter since the Wife has been encouraging me to spread my bread with some less fat margarine at home.

They have quite a selection of oysters and we ordered a variety of 12 with a shallot vinegar. The names of the oysters escapes my mind at the moment but if I must recommend, ask for the smaller and expensive ones (I am sure they will let you know which ones).

We came here for steak and steak is what we got. A generous 500gram grass fed rib eye on bone with bernaise sauce. I didn't ask if their meats were dry aged but it lacked a little intensity that you get with dry aged meat. As with some places, there was a lack of seasoning (I love my steak with a nice crust of salt and pepper).

Unfortunately with any finer restaurant in town, you have to order separate sides as all you get is a handful of salad leaves, albeit with a beautiful tangy dressing. We had a hand cut chips to go with it but we had better (no way near what we had in Aria even though the prices were comparable).

However all that being said, I am happy to have paid $42 for the steak (no stinking of the whole apartment, cleaning up the pan and complaints of my meat being cooked a little rare).

< span>By the end of my protein fix, we were stuffed but I couldn't resist ordering an ice-cream sandwich. I remember it was a classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter (there was no need to listen on before I wanted one) and we polished it off pretty quickly.

While the place got quite busy by the time we left, it wasn't terribly noisy and service was pretty good. It was nice to know that we could escape for a good meal, just merely a 10 minute drive away from home.

Matter of fact, we were so happy with the place, we popped up the week after for their happy hour (3-6pm) oyster special; half dozen oysters and a drink for $14.

No amount of oysters was going to fill me up for dinner so we shared a fish and chips (off the bar menu). No complaints except maybe for $24, I originally expected a bigger serve of fish (forgetting that it was a gastropub after all).

However now that we are on a semi diet before our trip to the US of A meaning less red meat for the time being, which may mean not seeing ourselves coming back too soon, Wayside Inn is definitely on our list of places to go back to.

Address and contact details:

Verdict: 4 stars out of 5 stars. Something about the place that both the Wife and I love and when steak is on the m! enu, I a m always a happy man.