The Lansdowne Hotel

The Lansdowne Hotel.
2-6 City Road,
Chippendale.

Style/cuisine: Pub.

Ahh, the Lansdowne. Five-dollar steaks and beer, all within easy stumbling distance from Uni. The Union could learn a few lessons from this place. It could even boost membership if you could get a cheap, decent cut of meat at Manning House.

Sarge had the steak and chips with pepper sauce, medium-well, and I had the steak with gravy, medium-rare. We also had sides of garlic bread and steamed vegetables. And well, it was all good. The steak was exceptional, a really nice cut for the cost. Mine was tender and pretty juicy but Sarge had the misfortune of getting one with more than its fair share of fat and gristle. We've both eaten here plenty of times before and it's the first time either of us has come across a marginally bad steak, so we're willing to write it off as bad luck.

We're pretty impressed with the chips. The look like 'homemade' fries, and initially we thought they were. But once while we were stuffing our faces with dead cow, the kitchen received a delivery. Boxes of frozen 'home style' fries. How disappointing. But for frozen chips, they're pretty good.

The drinks are a little on the expensive side, but I suppose they subsidise the meal. The thing we're most disappointed with is that the 'schooners' aren't schooners at all. Drinks come in 355mL glasses, not the regular 425mL schooner glasses. Ah well. A price we're willing to pay.

Reports of surly staff were unfounded. We found them friendly enough and promptly brought our meals to us. Sarge felt that the perve factor was rather low. However, we found the place pleasant and not too pretentious. A reasonable place for a quiet lunch.

Rating: Four out of five plates licked clean.