The popular AHA WA Best Steak Sandwich competition has come to an end for this year, with the Merrywell at Crown Perth and the Bayview Bar in Bunbury taking out WA’s Best Steak Sandwich for Perth and regional WA respectively.
This year’s competition saw a record number of venues participating with the eight finalists facing off against each other earlier this week, at the AHA (WA) Hospitality Expo, held at Crown.
Four finalists from regional WA battled it out on Tuesday, with the Bayview Bay in Bunbury taking home the top gong for a second year in a row.
The Bayview Bar won a close contest against Divers Tavern (Broome), Cervantes Bar and Bistro and Lancelin’s Endeavour Tavern. The Bayview Bar’s Hoang Hung Nguyen won the prestigious award with his aged scotch fillet cooked in clarified garlic and thyme butter.
On Wednesday the competition shifted to the Perth-based finalists, with the Merrywell’s Daniel Lopes winning by a nose with his lamb steak sandwich. Daniel took home the win against the CY O’Connor Village Pub, the Carlisle Hotel and last year’s winner, the Karalee on Preston.
The Australian Hotels Association (WA) CEO Bradley Woods said the competition was taken to new heights in 2018.
“The quality of the sandwiches presented this year was simply outstanding, with new entrants exceeding expectations and the finalists raising the bar to a new level,” Mr Woods said.
“The AHA is so proud to sponsor a competition that is significantly raising the standard of this iconic menu item.”
“Each year we see the quality of the steak sandwiches improve but this year in particular we saw some simply suburb creations.”
“The high standards that this competition demands is testament to the hard work of the chefs and staff in venues across the state.”
“The epic battle that we saw this year will resume next year and we are excited to see what wonderful creations kitchens across WA will produce.”