toowoomba...tidakapa...

I love a good delicatessen. So there're places like Euro Deli and Jarrod & Rawlins who have been captivating the hearts of meat lovers, but i'm pretty sure not many have heard of 'Toowoomba Steak House". Why the funny name? Beats me. 

It opened not too long ago at Platinum Mondrian, Jalan Genting Kelang, Setapak - just 5 minutes drive from my condo. Our first time having steak at an unknown place...now, that's risky. I remember hoping they  can cook steak better than they can spell.

The restaurant has rather limited tables, probably because the kitchen and meat storage area already take up half of the entire place.

The wooden tables and chairs carry a rustic feel to this place.

The visible kitchen makes it interesting to see the chef who is cooking my meat.

Basically, they've got 3 grades of steak - grass-fed (cheapest), grain-fed and then of course, there's Wagyu (for the loaded!).

The Mushroom Soup (RM 8.90) tasted like it came from a can. Very watery and the mushroom bits in it felt tasteless and dry, it seemed like they were thrown in right after scooping the soup into a serving bowl.

It also seemingly felt right to try their 'Toowoomba Steak Soup' (Beef Soup) since it had the restaurant's name on it. This was slightly more costly, at RM 10.90. Unfortunately, another disastrous dish as it was too salty for my taste, it felt like i was gulping down a bowl of thick beefy sauce rather than soup. The combination of beef chunks with carrot dices and broccoli bits just didn't go well together as a soup. I think i enjoyed eating the garlic bread more.

Next came my Caesar Salad (RM 9.90), which i should have known, for that price, all i'd be getting would be lettuce leaves and croutons in salad dressing. This one had no hard-boiled egg and cheese shavings! Oh, how I missed Coffee Bean's version of Caesar Salad. And the dressing was way too acidic, every time i swallowed, it felt a burning sensation in my throat!

The highlight of our meal was their Rib Eye Steak (Grass-Fed) at RM 32.90. Now, THIS was quite appealing in terms of quality of the charring and arrangement of food on the plate. Looks good eh?

But then, medium rare....?

err, looks extremely rare for me.... *revolting look*

At least now i know that people should only come here for the meat. Forget about the side dishes. It's just not up to par.