Valentine’s Day was just this week if you didn’t know, a day where the ladies are treated to expensive romantic dinners. Except I didn’t take my wife out. Valentine’s day is just way too commercialised, especially by restaurants with their ridiculously priced set menus. Fast forward a few days later, I instead took her to the multiple award winning fine dining Char Restaurant in the Darwin CBD. It had been a few years since my last visit so I was very eager to see how things have been going.

We’re greeted by friendly waitress Pen who advises that she’ll be looking after us for the rest of the evening. True to her word she did an excellent job, starting off with a very detailed description of the specials of the day. I came for a steak though as I wanted to find out if it’s as good as the word on the street and if it could top theheavenly scotch fillet I had at The Cavenagh.

After much delibration I chose the wagyu rump ($46) – 300 grams, aged 26 – 34 months, 300 day grain fed. Immediately I noticed the core sample, ensuring the steak was cooked as ordered. I’m no expert but I reckon it was perhaps bordering on rare more than medium rare – you be the judge. Better under than over anyways when it comes to steak. Flavour wise, the menu description talked it up big time so I was expecting something epic:

“A ‘long fed’ feeding program of natural grains and cereal straw along with a stress-free living environment ensure that these marbling 9+ cattle produce an exceptional tender, juicy and flavoursome example of this famous Japanese breed. An older animal gives beefier more robust flavours also adding more sinew & juicy caramel flavours.”

Well if that doesn’t get your taste buds wet I don’t now what will. That’s about as far as it went for me though. If I didn’t know any better this piece of meat could have came from the value cuts section at Coles. It wasn’t bad, but certainly no where near as spectacular as it was made out to be. The Parmesan crusted cauliflower was forgettable being a bit too undercooked for my liking and the cauliflower puree would have been missed completely had I not gone looking for it – there was a tiny puddle underneath the steak. May as well have left it out as it failed to add anything to the dish. The salsa verde and mushroom sauce came to save the day though – both brilliant accompaniments to the steak, particularly the salsa verde with its fresh vibrant herbs that sang to my Vietnamese roots.

On the side we had double creamed potato mash ($8), which I'd have to say is the best pile of mush I've ever had. If you're going to go naughty carbs, this would be the best way to do it. We also had an orange, fennel and radish salad ($8) - different, yes, but also very tasty.

My wife had the crispy cider pork belly with some salad bits on top ($32). The meat was beautifully tender with robust flavour all the way through, very nicely done indeed. The skin was more hard than it was crispy though, it certainly doesn’t hold a flame to thecrackling at Pee Wee’s, or that of the belly or knuckle at The Precinct. I get that fine dining restaurant serving sizes are smaller than your average, but two cubes? Really? Take away the salad and you have an entree.

For drinks, the wife had a mango madness mocktail ($9.50) which was actually very nice despite my dislike for any drinks with mango in it. Very refreshing. We also had two bottles of sparkling water for a total of $15.80. Holy guacamole, it better have been sourced from pure untouched in over a million years aquifers 5km underneath the Antarctic ice for that much. If you’re into wine then you’re in luck, the list is one of the largest you’ll ever see.

Overall the service was excellent, but I have to say that I found the food to be of just reasonable quality – I just wasn’t that excited about my meal; factoring in value for money I’m even less impressed. I’m not a stingy bugger (well OK most of the time I am) but fine dining restaurants have really gotta be special these days to entice diners away from the mid-range guys creeping fancy food territory, those offering food that’s just as good but at much more competitive pricing – il Piatto, The Deck Bar, The Precinct and The Cavenagh to name a few.

I left full, but not as satisfied as I’d hoped.