Prime Restaurant, GPO Building, Sydney

It's my boyfriends birthday coming up, and because it falls on a weekday, I decided to take him out on the Saturday before so we could thoroughly enjoy our night out. And that we did!!

I took him to Prime restaurant in the GPO Building in Martin Place - I'd heard several good things and read a stack of excellent reviews about the place. And I'd been craving a good steak lately, and you can't go wrong with a restaurant that has won Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant 10 years running!!

Prime is set down on the bottom level of the GPO Building amongst several trendy bars, delicious looking restaurants and even a cheese and wine bar. We approach the door of the restaurant and can see all their awards on the wall outside - it's quite impressive.

Inside, the low lighting, heritage listed sandstone and "New York Style" interior give the restaurant an intimate feel. We are amongst the first to arrive for the evening, but even as the night wares on and it gets quite busy, I never really felt like there was anyone else in there but us.

The 'candles' on each table is a nice touch.

Upon being seated, we were presented with fresh, warm, crusty sourdough with butter. At perfect room temperature. I can't stand it when you're given butter and it rips your bread because it's unspreadable!! I could smell the sourness coming from the bread - it was so delicious, everything a sourdough should be. Soft, warm, crunchy crust, a smooth sour flavour. It was just delicious.

The menu

French Onion Soup - $16

I went with french onion soup with three cheese crouton for entree. It was packed full of onion, and was slightly sweet as though the onion had been caramelised. Not watery at all, and quite rich from the cheese - oh the cheese!! It had SO much cheese in there, and I'm quite a big fan of that, but it was almost too much. And I will mention that there is absolutely no dainty way to eat cheesy french onion soup. Cue cheese strings hanging from my chin. How embarassing. 

Cured assiette of air dried wagyu and kurobuta pork prosciutto served with pickled vegetable & onion marmalade - $28

Aaren ordered the above - I tried a small mouthfull of the wagyu and it was perfect - salty, smooth and a wonderful flavour. Aaren tells me the richness of the meat was perfect, and that the vegetables that it was served with were cooked perfectly. 

For mains I ordered:

Pan fried wagyu hanger steak (170g) with potato puree, asparagus, daicon radish & pepper sauce - $36

As this plate was set down in front of my, my mouth literally started to water. The smell was just divine. The steak was perfectly cooked to my liking, tender, rich (marble score 7+) not a hint of chewiness about it. I'm actually really fussy with steak and only really eat it about once or twice a year. For me to actually want more is a rare occurance. I didn't want this to end!! The potato puree was smooth, buttery, slightly salted and matched perfectly with the crunchyness of the radish & asparagus. 

Chargrilled loin of sashimi tuna with ragout of roasted capsicum, black olive tapenade & celery leaf beignet - $39. 

Trust my boyfriend to order tuna at a steak restaurant!! The tuna was perfectly cooked - seared on the outside, beautifully pink on the inside. Aaren said it was beautifully fresh, soft & melt in your mouth. The roasted capcisum & black olive perfectly complemented the flavour and freshness of the tuna.

Bailey's souffle with honeycomb ice cream - $16.50

I really REALLY wanted us to order something different for the dessert - unfortunately we both had our heart set on the souffle. As willing as I am to share, I wanted the majority of it to myself and was only willing to offer Aaren a taste of it. And he was feeling likewise. So we both ordered it. 

Let me tell you, it was the right decision. The souffle was perfectly cooked, light & fluffy with a strong, smooth bailey's flavour in every mouthful. The icecream was served on a bed of honeycomb and was beautifully creamy with a hint of natural honey flavour coming through. Delicious. 

There will definitely be a next time at this restaurant. Service was absolutely brilliant, atmosphere was private, intimate and non invasive and they have a wonderfully extensive wine list too.

Prime Restaurant

GPO Building

1 Martin Place

Sydney 

http://www.gposydney.com/Prime-15.html