THE OAKS - NEUTRAL BAY, SYDNEY

The Oaks
118 Military Rd
Neutral Bay, Sydney

Fact One: The Oaks is NOT named after the large oak tree in it's outdoor area - this was planted some years after the place opened.

Fact Two: The Oaks has just won an award for having the best steak in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Pub Food Guide.


We were lucky enough to have a guided tour of this expansive place by owner Andrew Thomas. The Thomas family have owned The Oaks for decades and the passion for this lovely place has clearly not diminished.

The Oaks has been here since 1885 and it has just undergone an extensive refurbishment and introduced a new menu with something for everyone - but a particular focus on quality steaks.

We were at The Oaks for a Meat Masterclass being held in a lovely room opening onto the outdoor area and gazing across to their large oak tree. Josh Bradley from Haverick Meats explained everything you'd ever need to know about the different cuts. Then Danny Russo - consultant chef to The Oaks - explained how to cook the perfect steak, demonstrated this for our group and then supervised us doing it ourselves. It was so informative and interesting and we learned quite a few new things from the expert!

Danny has his steaks blue rare. It's an acquired taste that many will never acquire! I like my steaks medium rare and Mlady likes hers a little more cooked. Danny showed us how to season and cook the perfect blue rare steak and then it was thinly sliced for us all to try. I have to admit it tasted pretty good.

Will I cook mine this way - probably not - but there was no doubting that it was very tasty.

There were four different cuts available for us to choose. I chose the dry aged scotch fillet - I think.

Its moments like these that you wish you'd paid a bit more attention - as this was a simply amazing steak that melted in my mouth.

The grill was hot - very hot - and the steak was lightly done to end up perfectly medium rare - sorry Danny I couldn't quite go the blue rare again!

Mlady had a wagyu rump steak.

Again it was a hefty piece of meat that looked great even before it was cooked. As we now had some extra tips from Danny Russo - and some on hand advice - the cooking process was even easier. Again we ended up with a delicious steak - lovely meat that was well cooked.

We also had a side of duck fat roasted potatoes - crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and delicious.

A rather unusual but very nice side was the marrow in the bone.

This looked spectacular and tasted just as good.

Marrow is something that some like and some don't. I'm in the "like very much" group and this was great.

Another side was a tangy coleslaw that went well with the steaks and also tasted great.

Even though we were very full with great steaks we couldn't resist odering some banofee pie.

We'd spotted some going past us earlier and it looked so good! It was delicious!

Banofee is such a great combination - banana and toffee.

Whoever created this marriage of tastes deserves a medal!

Andrew Thomas

The Oaks is an institution. Places don't last around a hundred and thirty years without being good. The Thomas family have had The Oaks for ages but by upgrading and evolving it the place has stayed fresh. The food is great - award winning in fact - and The Oaks has a great comfortable relaxed feel to it.

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of The Oaks. Special thanks to Wasamedia for arranging our visit and to Andrew Thomas for taking the time to show us around his pride and joy - The Oaks.