Common Cuts serves steak frites starting at $28.50
The owner wants to make “steak night every night.” What do you get for your money? What else is on the menu? So how does a restaurant compete with pub prices?
Cost-conscious venues are coming to the fore in Melbourne, and another steak-frites champion restaurant is opening in the city, wearing its price tag loud and proud.
Common Cuts, opposite the Old Melbourne Gaol on Russell Street in the CBD, serves steak and chips for $28.50. It follows 7 Alfred’s, which opened on Little Collins Street in October and whose menu includes $48 whiskey fillet and chips. The deliberately reduced offering was to keep options to a minimum, allowing diners to get in in as little as 30 minutes.
Common Cuts offers multiple dishes, but what it really relies on is its steak fries for under $30. Diners choose between a 220-gram piece of wagyu or a 300-gram char-grilled Angus roastbiff. The $28.50 meal includes fries, but sauces are an additional $4.50 fee.
Chef Reki Rei, who is also behind sachi sushi restaurant and katsu specialist Atsu, opened Common Cuts with three other partners and says the venue is the way to make “steak night every night.”
“If you go to Rockpool, [may not go out] for example, eating out for the next two weeks, because it’s not cheap. And if you go to a bar, it’s almost like a lottery, whether you get a good result or not. [steak].”
When asked how he keeps costs down, Rei lists a few precautions. The most obvious are cuts of beef. The wing is taken from the abdominal area of a cow and is a working muscle. It can be difficult if not cooked well. Rostbiff is cut from the rump to the back of the cow. Whiskey has a strong flavor, although it’s not as mellow as premium cuts like eye fillet or porterhouse.
Common Cut sources its wagyu wing from Black Diamond’s Queensland farms, while its rostbiff comes from well-known Gippsland producer O’Connor.
Rei also says he buys in bulk whenever possible, the kitchen streamlines butchering and prep, and cooks steaks using sous-vide and reverse searing. He and his business partners all work in the business, which can help reduce labor costs.
He also admits that the $28.50 price tag is a clever piece of marketing. “We open the door [to the more premium cuts]”he says.
Beyond the two entry-level steak fries, there are seven more options from various manufacturers priced between $45 and $185. Three O’Connor steaks, dry-aged for four weeks by supplier Vic’s Meat, cost up to $220 for a kilogram of T-bone.
The sauces go beyond the typical red wine or red wine sauces. Charred scallions and malted butter, mustard and horseradish, and chimichurri are among the six options.
The menu also includes steak tartare made from a mix of Angus rump, roastbiff and tenderloin, as well as a decadent wagyu lasagna studded with bone marrow. A 180-gram cheeseburger on a Martin’s potato roll ($28.50) can be upgraded to a wagyu-on-wagyu blast ($48.50), which features 85 grams of sliced A5 Japanese wagyu atop melted cheese.
Don’t want beef? There’s prawn cocktail, Yorkshire puddings topped with whipped goat cheese and grilled padron peppers, and grilled chicken Maryland with flatbread and charred lettuce.
The space features a large DJ booth in front of a wall displaying vinyl records. Guest DJs and late nights are also planned, as well as a brunch menu starting January 19.
Dinner Monday-Saturday. Starting from January 19, also Saturday-Sunday brunch and lunch.
Emma Breheny- Emma is Good Food’s Melbourne dining out and restaurant editor and editor of The Age Good Food Guide.
