Food Cravings – Steak

by Aude
 
 
Our Food Cravings column is back (first edition on Italian cuisine here and second edition on French traditional food here) and this month I am very sorry for the vegetarian out there but it’s a very juicy and super meaty one.
 
I’m not a huge meat eater. I do consider myself as quite reasonable (as I’m also perfectly aware of the environmental impact of a non-vegetarian diet … but so not ready to go vegetarian #sorrynotsorry) but whenever I eat a steak I wanna it to be just perfect because it’s not that often.
 
On the menu today?

- 5 places that I love which are serving steak, each with a different style from the good old steakhouse to the burger joint

- 2 addresses that I would definitely recommend for buying meat, one online and one offline

- A super easy recipe for you to cook the perfect hanger steak at home

- An interview of a steak lover and steak specialist: Peter Zwiener, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse President and son of Wolgang Zwiener founder of the group

 

 

CRAVING FOR A GOOD OLD STEAK STEAKHOUSE STYLE 
 

Opened for a little less than 1 year, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse just ticks all the boxes of the good old steakhouse:

- Elegant and cosy interior

- A menu featuring all the classics from the Caesar Salad to the Steak & Chops or the Lobster Mac N’ Cheese

 
But don’t be fooled, classic doesn’t mean boring and there is a little twist that you, steak lovers, will definitely love: the beef they serve has been dry-aged 28 days in their very own dry ageing room.
 
I’m telling you more about the dry-ageing process in Peter’s interview lower in this article but can already tell you that it results in the most tender steak I’ve been eating in a while. Not to mention a slightly stronger taste. A good old steakhouse yes but serving a surprising chop! 
 

Wolfgang’s Steakhouse
1/F, Printing House, 6 Duddell Street – Central 
 
 
Wooloomooloo is definitely not a well-kept secret and I bet many of you already knows about it but I like it that they serve steakhouse classics in a chill and quite vibrant atmosphere that has nothing to do with a traditional steakhouse.
 
The beef they serve are all grain-feed and 2 to 3 weeks wet aged, which if you ask me is not as good as dry aged but still I do love going there to enjoy a yummy steak in a cool atmosphere and with a beautiful view.
 
Hong Kong Madame tip: you definitely wanna arrive early and enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine on the rooftop (in Wan Chai) before moving to dinner in the dining room downstairs.

Wooloomooloo
Wooloomooloo Wan Chai
31/F, The Hennessy, 256 Hennessy Road
 
Wooloomooloo TST East
G/F, TST Centre, 68 Moody Road 

 

Last but not least, I recently got a huge crush on newly appointed Head Chef of Grand Hyatt Steakhouse: Chef Fernando Gojan. His philosophy? Focusing on introducing a whole range of artisanal dry-aged beef carefully sourced from small-scale farms.
 
Tasted and approved by no one else than me (sorry that’s all I got but I swear I got pretty good opinion when it comes to food) here are 3 highlights of the menu:

- John Stone from Ireland where cattle roam freely and are fed 100% grass

- Rhug Estate from the UK where cattle are raised on an organic farmland where the grass is monitored by The Soil Association (happy to hear that I’m not the only one taking things seriously here!)

- Gutrei Galician from Spain, free range cattle grass and corn fed and raised for at least 8 years to give them enough time to grow. The beef is then dry-aged for 40 days making it rich, super beefy and firm …  a huge crush on my side!

 
You need another proof that you must try the three above? I had them three and didn’t have a single drop of sauce with it. The meat was just too good by itself. Says the girl who cannot resist béarnaise sauce (I did have some, after the steak just so that I can dip my bread in a spoonful of sauce #sorrynotsorry)
 
Grand Hyatt Steakhouse
Lobby Level, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Road – Wan Chai
 
 

CRAVING FOR A STEAK WITH A TWIST
 
I’m not gonna lie, I’m a huge fan of Pirata Group and love absolutely each and every one of their restaurants (and cannot wait for the exciting opening of their two new babies: Madame Ching and Chifa … stay tuned, will definitely be sharing more very soon). Where else in Central can you get a yummy and super juicy steak (very decently sized I must add) for HKD 180? If you have a place please let me know, in the meantime I’ll keep on being addicted to MEATS’ Hanger Steak.
 
Hong Kong Madame tip: I would definitely recommend going for the Glasgow Salad, unlike suggested by its name this side is nothing healthy but rather a good old plate of skinny fries served with miso ketchup and chicken salt … just what the doctor ordered!
 
MEATS
G/F, 28-30 Stauton Street, Soho – Central   
 
 

CRAVING FOR A DIRTY BURGER

Because yes, eating a steak just by itself is super yummy (especially when it’s from one of the above places) but I do sometimes crave a very dirty beefy burger. Usually not the best beef but you know how cravings are …. out of control!
 
Shake Shack just opened in Hong Kong and I must confess an uncontrollable love for their signature ShackBurger featuring 100% all-natural Angus beef, no hormones, no antibiotics. The only issue is: that little pornfood things only costs HKD 50 … dangerous! Lucky me I’m only craving a burger every 6 month (I’m not working my ass off at the barre every day to ruin it all with burger overload!) 
 
Shake Shack Hong Kong
Shop 4018, Podium level 4, IFC Mall
 
 
 

Stocking on quality meat to satisfy a craving at home  
 

When it comes to buying meat, I usually always got to the same place: Bones & Blades.
 
The trendiest butcher shop in Sai Ying Pun which on top of being hyper hype (which I love, I don’t see why just because meat isn’t a sexy fancy thing butcher shop couldn’t be sexy and trendy places) only serves grass-fed animals imported from family-owned farm from all over the world with a focus on sustainability.
 
Hong Kong Madame tip: if shopping there makes you crave for a piece of meat right here and right now, you might wanna check the next door Quarter Master serving steaks and burgers with meat from Bones & Blades.
 
Bones & Blades
1 Second Street – Sai Ying Pun 

 

But I do also sometimes feel lazy and like the idea of ordering online and in that case my go to website is Farmer’s Market and their selection of 100% grass-feed Australian beef.
 
Hong Kong Madame tip: place your order before noon from Monday to Friday and your order will be delivered the next day … because we all know it, cravings cannot wait more than 24H to be satisfied, right?
 
Oh and except from the frozen selection, all products are fresh and haven’t been frozen before which means you can freeze them yourselves and stock on fresh Australian beef for your next steak craving.
 
https://www.farmersmarket.com.hk
 
 

 
So happy to share with you our very own interpretation of MEAT’S hanger steak with a nice Asian twist.
 
FOOD SHOPPING (for 4 people)

- 4 hanger steaks – approx. 200g each

We like to get ours from Bones & Blades in Sai Ying Pun

- Soy sauce

- Nuok man

- 2x Lime

- Mint

- Thai basil

- Coriander

- Lemongrass

- 4x shallot

 
TIME TO COOK

- Starting with the marinade: mix together soy sauce, 2 shallots sliced very thinly, lime juice, sliced mint, basil and coriander and one stick of sliced lemongrass

- Marinate the steaks for 30 to 40 min

 
Hong Kong Madame tips:
Make sure to turn the steaks quite often so that the steaks are marinated equally on all sides.
 

- Grill the steaks over high heat – 3 min maximum on each side as you want it to be raw in the middle

 
Hong Kong Madame tips:
Once grilled, put the steaks on side and wait 5min before cutting and serving. Those 5 min will give enough time for the blood to circulate throughout the entire cut of meat and equalize the cooking. 
 
 

- For the sauce mix together the two other shallots, again sliced very thinly, mint, basil, coriander, lime juice and nuok man

- Slice the meat, baste with sauce and serve

 
Bon appétit!
 
 

 

 
Few weeks ago, I have been lucky to meet with Peter Zwiener, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse President and son of Wolgang Zwiener founder of the group. Of course, I had to ask him how he likes his steak but that’s not the only thing we have been discussing.
 
Hi Peter! Can you tell me a little more about Wolfgang’s Steakhouse? 
 
Wolfgang’s Steakhouse was founded with my father, Wolfgang Zwiener, originated from Germany but who moves to the US when he was 20 years old. Soon after landing, he started to work at Peter Luger, an iconic steakhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklynn, named best Steakhouse in New York City 30 years in a row. My father work at Peter Luger for more than 40 years before deciding to retire in 2003.
 
On my side, I had many professional lives before Wolgang’s Steakhouse including 16 years in the financial industry. I used to love taking my clients to Peter Luger!
 
And then, when my father decided to retire in 2003 I realised it was the last opportunity I had to ask him if he wanted to open a restaurant with me. We opened our first location on 4 Park Avenue, then in Tribeca followed by Berverly Hills and Hawaii.
 
In 2008 we had to slow things down, because of the economic crisis but things kicked-off again full speed in 2013 mainly thanks to the lift of ban on US beef and in 2014 we opened our first steakhouse in Japan.
 
Today we have 19 restaurants around the world: 9 in the US, 1 in Seoul, 1 in Beijing, 1 in Hong Kong, 1 in Singapore, 2 in Manilla, 4 in Japan and we are looking to have 25 by the end of this year with opening in Cyprus, NYC (will our 6^th restaurant there), Jakarta, Shanghai and a third outlet in Manilla.
 
Wolfgang’s Steakhouse specialized on serving 28 days dry-aged meat. Can you tell me a little bit more about dry-aging and the reason why you have chosen to serve dry-aged meat? 
 
After slaughtering the cow, the meat tends to become tough. There are different ways of tenderizing it and we have decided to go for the most natural one which is dry ageing.
 
There are actually 2 ways of aging beef: wet-ageing or dry-ageing. Wet-ageing is cheaper, it tenderizes the meat yes but problem is the meat will bleed out during the process resulting in a loss of flavour. So we have decided to go for dry-aging. Dry-ageing is definitely an expensive process first of all because you need a special room for that but also because during the process the beef will shrink and you will lost from 10 to 20% of it. The outside of the beef will also get hard and crusted so this part will have to be removed and by the end you will have lost 30 to 40% of the beef. Yet, the taste is definitely unique!
 
Where do you source your meat and how is it different? 
 
We only use USDA Prime Beef – 100% Black Angus or Angus Beef - no matter the cut when a lot of places would usually use prime beef for certain cuts only. And we never use frozen meat! We source directly from the slaughter-houses and have the meat air flown within 2 days of slaughter.
 
Dry ageing also has us stand out. All our cuts are dry-aged except the stand-alone filet mignon.
 
And last but not least, we only source bulls as heifers may vary in taste and texture due to hormonal changes and what we are looking for is consistent quality.   
 
Does your menu vary from one steakhouse to another, from one country to another? 
 
Not really. Our All-Day menu (which is also our dinner menu) is very consistent across the globe. Yet, we do have some localized dishes served at lunchtime only such as the mushroom soup in Hong Kong.
 
What’s your fav cut? 
The Porterhouse so that I can get both the filet mignon and the sirloin!
 
How do you like your steak?
Blue!
 
 
 
You’ve got some cravings that you would like us to satisfy? Always here to rescue fellow foodies! Drop us a mail at contact@hongkongmadame.com