Asado

The Verdict

You know dinner’s gonna be meaty when your menu is upholstered in cow. The drinks menu at Asado looks like a skilled veterinarian could still save it. I handle it gingerly, half expecting it to moo.

Asado is a venture from the crew behind Pastuso, San Telmo and Palermo. And guess what—it’s meatier than all three combined.

The general theme is Argentine/Spanish grill house. There are huge pillars, decked out in piebald cowhide, a giant mosaic of a gaucho (Argentine cowboy) on one wall, and behind the open kitchen pass...a bottomless flame pit, glowing and spitting with red hot logs. Any bovines that stray within 200m of Asado should make sure they have excellent life insurance.

The fit-out looks a bit like Palermo in a lot of ways. Except while Palermo went for earth tones, Asado favours pampas-green. There’s dark timber bistro seats, marble-topped tables, and clever stained glass dividing walls (to keep the cavernous space from feeling too, well, cavernous).

Food-wise, you can expect more of your favourites from Palermo and San Telmo. There’s plenty of tapas to get you started—personally, we could have eaten about 28 of the beef, mashed potato and preserved lemon empanadas. 

The beef tartare is crazy good, pepped up with pickled mushroom and confit egg yolk. Whack on some sides like broccolini or other such greens like the cos lettuce with French radish and manchego. The meat is coming.

There are plenty of ways you can take the main event, like the pasture-fed  lamb rump or Black opal wagyu, but one signature dish we couldn't go past is the Tira de asado, an O’Connor’s Argentinian style short rib.

The wines, as you’d expect, as big and bold and Argentine, heavy on the Malbec reds. You can check them out in the floor to ceiling, temperature controlled wine wracks.

Image credit: Mel Desa