SIFF 2011 Let's Do Lunch - Mad Cow, Sydney [CLOSED]

I've been planning to check Mad Cow for a while but the menu prices usually put me off a bit. This is coming from someone who lives less than 5 minutes from Cooks Hill Hotel ($10 steaks!) and used to dine on $5-6 steaks back at uni while the prices of steaks at Mad Cow range between $36 for a minute steak to $110 if you want a wagyu sirloin.

As part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival, Mad Cow and numerous restaurants across Sydney are offering a $38 Let's Do Lunch set menu including a matched glass of choice.

Mad Cow's Let's Do Lunch menu

At Mad Cow, they are offering a wagyu 250g rump steak with spicy barbeque sauce, shoestring fries and green salad. On the Let's Do Lunch menu at the restaurant, they also offered two other dishes they weren't listed on the SIFF website: mushroom risotto and a pan roast fillet of cone bay barramundi but hey it's Mad Cow! Might as well try a steak when you have the opportunity.

Complementary bread and butter

The staff were very attentive. One of them asked if this was my first time trying out a LDL meal. In fact it was. It took a while for them to get the complimentary bread but they apologised immediately. The bread was sooo good! From what I remember, it was the Sonoma Soy Linseed bread. I might buy the loaf when I get the chance.

Wagyu rump steak (250g) with spicy BBQ sauce

When the waiter presented the steak, my initial reaction was "that's a pretty small steak". It was good that the fries and salad were included otherwise I would have ordered more. The wagyu steak was tender, juicy and oozing with flavour. The barbeque sauce was the perfect match with its tangy spicyness that complemented well with the steak. If there is anything that I have learnt, it was do not underestimate the size of the steak. As small as it looked, I almost wasn't able to finish up the steak because it was more filling and denser than I thought.

Check out the steak!

This is a knife!

The chips and salad were great side dishes. While the chips are addictive with its crunchiness, the salad balanced out the oils from the steak and chips as well as the butter and the carbs from the bread.

Shoe string fries and green salad

Shiraz - definitely an ideal combination with a meal like this

I would definitely recommend coming back here to try out the steaks or check out the non-steak dishes or even Mad Cow's signature steak tartare and some of the other starters. For a deal like this, it is definitely worth the experience - and the cost! Plus you can't go wrong with complementary red wine.

Mad Cow
Location: Level 1, 320 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Contact no: 02 92403000
http://merivale.com.au/madcow/