Review: Hurricane’s Grill & Bar

Thad is as close to a carnivore as a human can get, so we’re on a constant lookout for good steaks. They are fairly cheap here, and a lot of restaurants and cafes actually offer lunch or dinner specials for around $10 for a 250-350g steak. And they are pretty good too!

But for a steak that is as good as The Keg in Canada, well, that’s just been an impossible task.

I think we might have come close with Hurricane’s Grill here in Sydney! I have been craving for some good ribs myself, and we have a couple more carnivores joining us from Singapore, and the grilling aroma floating around Darling Harbour has always got us salivating. We actually tried to get seats at the restaurant when Mel and Gerald came to visit last month, but we were put on a two-hour wait-list at 8pm!

We called the day before to make a booking this time, but there was a lot of hemming and hawing on the phone and eventually, they told us to show up early to gurantee seats. That is fine with me, but I have a pickle with WHY then, do they put their numbers on the website and indicate “Phone Bookings”?! So anyway we were all hungry, so we went down as early as 6.30pm and was advised that we’ll get our table in 20-minutes. Hurrah! Oh another peeve, they have no PROPER waiting line to put your name down! There’s just this huge swarm of hungry customers looming around the booking staff, and because no one knows who arrived first, everyone is giving dirty stares to everybody else for “cutting their line”. The point is, they need a decent wait-line to prevent mayhem.

We decided to order a calamari appetiser since we were told that our steaks and ribs were going to take a while. It was such a huge disappointment I didn’t bother to take a photo. And it came with steamed rice on the side?!? Very bizzarre. And for $14, totally not worth it. And the complimentary bread was pretty dry and tasteless too.

So all in all, we were off to a pretty bad start. But I was pretty confident about their mains, seeing how the rest of the diners were sucking their ribs dry.

To my horror, Thad was going on about the 1kg rump steak and challenging Dan to it. Fortunately, everyone managed to regain their senses and went for the slightly more manageable 750g ($39).

WTF?!

So as you can see from the picture, everyone was pretty flabbergasted when the steaks arrived. It was HUUUUGE. Waaaay bigger than his face.

Perfectly happy with 350g of prime rib eye @ $30

My FULL rack ribs @ $33.

Oh when the ribs arrived at the table, I knew I was in meat-heaven. It smelt soooooo goooood. The half rack goes for $27, so you can see why I just went ahead with the full rack anyway. They provide bibs so you don’t make a mess of yourself!

Going to pass out soon

Almost done!

Squeezing out a smile!

HEEEEELLLPP!!

Dan must have done something stupid...

... like ordering one more!

... And Thad follows suit!

I'm out man!

Loving my ribs! Bigger than my face!

Remnants of my ribs...

Hitting food-coma soon

The Wellesley Quartet

BURP!

So as you can see, we had a pretty awesome meal

Verdict: Besides the miss on our appetiser, everything else was a hit! The steaks were succulent and flavourful, the ribs were aromatic and juicy, and by the end of the night we were gonna pass out on the floor. The portions are huge, to say the least, and I would say extremely value-for-money. Skip the sides, and just go for the mains, and you won’t be disappointed. Arrive early to get seats, otherwise you’ll be in for a long wait!

They have three branches:

1. HURRICANE’S DARLING HARBOUR
Harbourside Shopping Centre, Shops 433 -436, Level 2, Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia.
Phone (02) 9211 2210 (Sorry no email bookings)
Opening hours: LUNCH 12pm till 3pm and DINNER 5.30pm till late – 7 days a week

2. HURRICANE’S BONDI BEACH
Phone (02) 9130 7101
Opening hours: DINNER 6pm till late – 7 nights a week, LUNCH from 12pm on Sundays only

3. HURRICANE’S EXPRESS TAKE-AWAY BONDI BEACH
Phone (02) 9365 3450
Right next to Hurricane’s Grill & Bar Bondi Beach
Opening hours: 12pm till 10pm – 7 days a week

http://www.hurricanesgrill.com.au/