When I was at the Merivale Winter Feasts launch party a few weeks ago, I was most impressed by Mad Cow’s GFC-friendly offering. But after a rather disappointing experience at Peter Doyle’s est., I became a little cynical about visiting the Ivy’s New York inspired steak house.
With a little hand-holding from my girlfriend, we made a booking for Friday night. That morning, the reservations department gave us a call and offered a complimentary chauffeur ride to the Ivy for dinner. Was this the proverbial olive branch to restore my faith in Merivale Winter Feasts?
Mad Cow
At 5:50pm that night, a gorgeous white Bentley pulled up to pick us up. It was definitely a sight for sore eyes after a long Friday at work.
A taste of the good life
While I tried my best to grill our driver, Glenn about the selection criteria for the chaffeur service – he remained tight lipped about the affair. “All by random,” he maintains. Random or not, I must congratulate Merivale for this fantastic extra – it is a point of difference that sets it apart from other top notch restaurants around the city.
Moooooo
But was the food good enough to bring me back?
Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes! I’m proud to stand up and say that I’m a Mad Cow convert.
Rangers valley wagyu flank steak w/ barbeque sauce
This was one of most succulent and tender steaks I’ve had in Sydney. With a marble factor of 7+, the meat melts in your mouth and has a rich, layered flavour that develops as you chew it (slowly I might add). Sure it’s an extra $5 supplement, but considering that 200g of the real deal wagyu steak costs $70, the small investment is well worth it!
Braised wagyu beef cheeks, mushroom, celeriac, broad beans
The wagyu beef cheeks are just as tender – cooked so well it almost falls apart when touched lightly. Stacked on top of a tower of mushroom and celeriac, the beef cheeks are juicy, moist and drenched with flavour.
Shoestring fries - $6
Cauliflower gratin - $9
Rosemary garlic fried potatoes - $6
Baby green beans, mint, lemon, feta - $8
We weren’t overly excited by the dessert selection on the Winter Feasts menu at Mad Cow. They were very ordinary, but still a nice way to end what was a fantastic meal.
Crisp meringue, raspberry sorbet, blueberry compote
Poached quince, cinnamon crème
Apologies for the appalling photos in this post – it will be the last time I leave my SLR at home!
Note – Merivale’s Winter Feasts promotion is available Mondays to Fridays from 12-2pm and 6-8pm.
Mad Cow
The Ivy
320 George Street
Sydney City
# 02 9240 3000
www.merivalewinterfeasts.com
Related Posts
15 comments
Yup Mad Cow is a fav of mine too
How fortunate u got the bentley but you should had asked if you could have driven it hee hee 
Wow arrival by chauffeur-driven Bentley? What a lovely way to start the weekend~
Lucky lucky you, what an awesome treat to get the chauffeur! That would make for a great experience overall. I’ve been wanting to try here, I love the look of it! And I’m such a sucker for a cauliflower gratin.
Wow. How lucky of you guys!! MAd Cow is definitely on my list… love the look of the cauliflower gratin! *food envy*
ahhh yes the bentley ride!! but i’m glad the food held up to expectations – and dare i say it – exceeded them!
Lovely steak – and such a wonderful (artery-clogging) marbling factor. This makes me want to visit so much!
nice work with the free ride. did they take you back home too? good to hear the food was good. how come you had a bad experience at est.? what did you order? i enjoyed the winter feast meal i had a est.
Hi FFichiban – I would’ve loved to have taken over the wheel, but I’m not so sure Glen would’ve liked it so much. I hear Hemmes hires out his private collection of Bentleys to the Ivy. Wonder if that’s true!
Hi Helen – I can’t think of a better way to start the weekend!
Hi Steph – I must’ve been living under a rock because I only just discovered cauliflower gratin – delish!
Hi Betty – I can’t say I’m normally “lucky” so this was a big treat for me.
Hi Trisha – The food definitely exceeded expectations! Am tempted to go back just to relive my one night of luxury.
Hi Belle – Highly recommend you visit, the steak is divine!
Hi Simon – They didn’t take us back home, unfortunately. The good ol’ train took us the rest of the way. It wasn’t so much that the food was bad, it just wasn’t the 3 chef hat experience I had expected. I had the linguini and duck leg – both very ordinary. The restaurant lacked real atmosphere, even when there were 10-12 other tables.
I’ve found Mad Cow to be hit and miss. As suggested by the name, the red meat options there are consistently memorable (the lamb shank I had for Winter Feast melted off the bone), whereas their non-carnivorous options appear to be lacking.
Let’s just say recently, a friend who had ordered the pumpkin risotto did not expect it to come out of the kitchen looking like something to be found on the sidewalk early on a Saturday morning.
Fantastic coverage and that’s brilliant that you got chauffered there! It’s that bit extra that makes you feel pampered
The wagyu looks gorgeous…
[...] been to Mad Cow, Sushi Choo and est… This week, our Merivale Winter Feasts adventures continues on to Ucello, [...]
Sounds great – but do they offer the Bentley service to pretty much anyone who is dining there, or was this a special favour because you were reviewing the restaurant? If the later, then I consider your review a little ‘tainted’ rather than totally independent. Surely you should be getting the exact same service as anyone else, in order to review and recommend a restaurant to them?
Hi David, the booking was actually under my girlfriend’s name. Her partner left a nice tip the last time they dined at Mad Cow, so the reservations department must have made a note of it. Nothing to do with me reviewing for the blog!
[...] I Am Mad Cow As seen in the Nov/Dec issue of Tiger Tales [...]
[...] from stuffing ourselves at the launch of March into Merivale, Ms. Taste and I return to Mad Cow to try one of their $33 meal [...]