Saintly steaks and roguish comedy (Saint & Rogue, Melbourne CBD)

Saint & Rogue
582 Little Collins Street
Melbourne CBD
Web: www.saintandrogue.com.au 

I’ve been watching with interest what’s been going on in the food scene down the western end of Melbourne’s CBD. I used to work down that end, and as so often happens, you get stuck in a rut and only really know about the places near your work – within about a block. Well – times were tough back then all of four years ago. There wasn’t much. Since then, I’ve moved jobs (twice) and locations (Paris end) but kept an eye out.

A friend went to Saint & Rogue a long time ago and raved about it, and during the course of my research, I discovered they do a Tuesday night steak night, $22 netting you a steak plate normally costing $28 AND a glass of wine. Netball having a bye, and Mr Behemoth being amenable to a Tues night dinner out followed by Comedy Festival shenanigans (yeah I’m a bit behind with blog posts), we plumped for Saint & Rogue.

You notice two things upon entering the place. One, the fit-out is great. Pub downstairs, kitchen/dining upstairs (but you can eat anywhere). Upstairs is all dark and moody, with the exposed wooden rafters of the historic building showing. There’s a choice of table seating or intricately carved booths. Mr B says “it’s like you’re playing Thief [computer game], if I was going to blackjack someone… it would be here”.

Never one to turn down a booth.

The other thing you notice is that the owner/proprietor/maitre d-ude is just so damn friendly and nice. I felt bad. He should have way more customers than were currently inside (albeit we were eating a little early at 6pm-ish).

Having already sorted what we were going to eat before we made it in the door, we both got the steak deal. I got mine with a glass of Victorian red, perhaps from Heathcote, and Mr B had a James Squire ale.

The steak was scotch fillet, cooked perfectly and it came with chunky chips and a blob of garlicky mayonnaise-y sauce (it might have been horseradish cream, on recollection) that took the perfectly fine steak to… divine. How corny is that! Sorry guys. Sometimes I can’t help myself.

One photo, because we both had the same dish:

Whatever was in that white blob was amazing.

We really liked the quick dinner we had here, and would like to come back to check out more of the menu. Super friendly manager/owner/guy, delicious steak, atmosphere that’s a little bit fancy, and less people. It’s a shame more people don’t know about this place. Quality pub grub. Edible Posts has also been here for a mid-week dinner and enjoyed it as well, ordering different dishes if you want to check those out.

What else is good down the west end of the city?

Advertisement