Hyde Park Hotel

When I drive straight to the gym from work I generally drive down Fitzgerald Street and have been watching over the past few months as they give the Hyde Park Hotel a much needed facelift. I’d only been there once, years and years ago and had memories of it being a bit of a drive. With its giant Dan Murphy’s liquor store next door and freshly painted front it was looking very impressive when complete. So I was keen to give it a go and so suggested to GG that we headed along for lunch one Saturday.

From the outside it almost looks like a whole new place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived just before 12 so getting a table wasn’t a drama, though given the nice weather it did fill up more as we were there. It’s a decent sized venue with several options of where you can sit – outside, near the bar or over to the left in another dining room with a few booths. This is where we headed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What to drink was the first important decision and they had a decent drinks list, fair few wines but more importantly for the weather, plenty of beers on tap. And speaking of on tap they also had Bulmers Pears Cider! Score – both GG and I couldn’t go past this – we’ll have a pint each please 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a glass with ice, just delightful. A chilled, refreshing wonder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So even before we had arrived I had decided that I was in the mood for a steak sandwich and their’s sounded delicious – scotch filet steak, baby roquette, mustard onions, aioli, swiss cheese, bacon, chilli tomato relish, toasted loaf ($17.50). Not a bad price I had thought really. I thought this all the more when my meal arrived. It was a mountain of a meal. I think I knew just looking at it that there was just no way I was going to get through it all and my challenge was to put a respectable dent into it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chips weren’t too bad, a generous serve, but perhaps just a touch over cooked. Only slightly though and I had to focus my attention on the sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cutting it in half I saw what I was in for. A huge layer on bacon, a perfectly cooked piece of steak, tasty cheese and tastier relish. I usually veto bacon and cheese on my steak sandwich, like to keep it simple, but I figured I would embrace the way that the Hydey does it and have no exclusions. I thought they did a great job and couldn’t be disapppointed with the size. I polished off half of it with relative ease but only really nibbled the second half. Steak sandwich and pear cider makes for a perfect Saturday lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now across the table, GG was feeling like something a little less bready but was still in the mood for something of the steak persuasion so decided he would try the Graziers Fillet Mignon 250gm. This grass fed cut of beef is the tenderest of them all, aged for a minimum of 6 weeks. Comes served with daily sides and your choice of condiment ($36.50). So not quite the bargain of my sandwich, but not too bad, by Perth standards.

A perfectly cooked medium rare piece of steak with its crunchy greens on the side and with a generous pour of three pepper sauces. However there was a problem and that was the over charred bacon on the outside. There were parts of it that were literally black. GG commented on it and I had said well say something if you aren’t happy with it, but I think we both aren’t the hugest fan of rocking the boat so he didn’t say anything and pushed on. I’m not sure why that is…. just a knee jerk reaction to say yes everything’s fine even when it isn’t….. must work on that.

So anyways I tried a bite of his steak with a little of the bacon and some of the gravy. The meat was delicious but the burnt taste of the bacon had really permeated through all the sauce and spoilt it. I’m surprised that GG ate it all as it was, it was pretty disappointing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The service had been wonderfully attentive and very friendly and I so think that if we’d asked for the steak to be fixed that it wouldn’t have been an issue so that was really on us not to have said something. I’d go back. There were some other menu items that I was keen to give a go and a waitress had mentioned that the Hydey burger with its smoked cheddar was a real winner, so that’s on the top of my ‘to try’ list.

They’ve done a fabulous job of turning the Hyde Park Hotel into a fabulously fresh establishment – spacious and trendy. Despite some disappointment for GG on this visit, I’m sure we’ll be back to give it another go.