Bistecca @ Sydney

This is one table that is so hard to get in Sydney. And when a space at the counter came up, I jumped at the invitation.

I am talking about Bistecca, the (in)famous steakhouse located in the basement that can only be accessed from a back alley in CBD Sydney. The word bistecca was borrowed from the English beefsteak in the early 19th century.

Like all good underground bars, Bistecca is a little tricky to find. You’ll uncover its covert entrance on Dalley Street, which itself looked like a service access to the loading dock of the surrounding buildings.

Those unassuming stairs will feel like anything but the descent into a really cool basement bar, but trust us, you’re in the right spot. Welcome to Bistecca, a subterranean steakhouse by Liquid & Larder

A doorway opens out into Bistecca’s bar—chequerboard floors, mood lighting, marble, and lashings of rich, cherry coloured wood care of Tom Mark Henry interior design. 

Showtime begins when you’re called up to slide past the bar into the dining room.

The superstar at Bistecca is bistecca alla Fiorentina — a really fancy-schmancy, Tuscan-style T-bone that is extra large and dates back to 16th century Florence. Bistecca alla fiorentina (lit. ’beefsteak Florentine style’) is usually made of young steer (vitellone) or heifer (scottona) – in another word, a prize-cut of beef – and is one of the most famous dishes in Tuscan cuisine.

As I settled down at my place in the dining room, the friendly Bistecca crew will politely asked me to hand over my iPhone. I tried to resist and say I needed the phone to take photos for my blog, but was sternly declined. I reluctantly handed over my phone, and it was locked away in an antique cabinet. Hence some of the photos you see here are lifted from the internet. PS: I learnt that cameras are allowed, just not smartphones.

This restaurant is so deeply ensconced under a block of the Northern CBD that The War of the Worlds could be happening outside and you’d be none the wiser, sitting in the small dining room under the curved brick ceiling and letting the radiant heat of the charcoal grill toast you gently.

The steak on show is Black Angus from the Riverine region of NSW. There’s no choice of cuts, just the T-bone. And the size depends on the number of diners at the table. Order the amount by weight, bone-in. The minimum cut is 600g but the optimum is always 800g – 1.2kg. The cut steak would be presented to you before grilling, weighted and price written on the brown paper.

Once the order was placed, my butcher whom originally came from Shanghai went about hacking the whole slab of beef with a saw that would not be out of place in Freddy Kruger’s mansion. He jokingly told me that he saved a lot of gym money from working here.

There’s also a magical edible candle that is made of beef dripping and duck fat, and served with housemade GF focaccia. It was quite strange to be mopping up the melted “candle wax” but once I overcame the initial apprehension, it was a rather good dip for the warm bread. However, it coagulates back to the solid state very quickly.

The steak is cooked fireside over charcoal, wood and olive branches for smokiness to a perfect medium-rare. The steak is then left to rest and served in traditional Italian fashion, well-seasoned with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. The steak is good. It doesn’t have the intense, concentrated flavour of a dry-aged cut, and the char is very gentle. It also comes unseasoned, with only a little olive wood and ironbark smoke to augment the clean, light beefiness of the sirloin and fillet sliced off the bone.

The steak does not come with sides, they can order a half portion for single diners. I highly recommend their baby Brussels sprouts; they abdicate all healthy responsibilities in favour of being fried a crisp bronze and top-and-tailed with sour cream and grated pecorino.

And to round off a wonderful evening, I had an affogato, which came deconstructed and for me to add the espresso and the liquor. The phone was retuned as these days, you need the phone to make payment instead of the card. I like the steak A LOT because it’s good, proper, tender cow meat, the way steak used to be before the world went wagyu-mad.

It’s an arrogant concept, dining here is such a controlled, regulated “journey.” If you are constantly working on your smartphone, or you are waiting for that life-and-death call from your CEO, this is not the restaurant I would recommend. If you want 2-3 hours away from the digital lifestyle and enjoy an evening with your love ones enjoying a great steak, this is it. Reservation essential.

Bistecca
3 Dalley Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Tel : +61 2 8067 0450 (Reservations)

Visited Mar 2025