By Vanessa Cavasinni, editor Australian Hotelier
In what has become a huge annual competition, the best steak sandwiches in Perth and regional WA have been named.
Late last week, the AHA WA held their Best Steak Sandwich competition at Crown Perth, with chefs from the four regional pubs and four Perth pubs to cooked off to be crowned as the best steak sandwiches in their respective regions.
Bradley Woods, AHA(WA) CEO, and Chuck Hahn, master craftsman, Lion Beer Australia, judged both competitions. They were joined by Meilin Chew, Reporter, GWN News and Scott Leach, National President of the AHA for the country competition, while Graeme Butler, senior reporter with Today Tonight and Morgen Lewis, CEO of the Australia Day Council WA, helped out with judging the Perth entries.
Chef Ben Elliott of The Bayview Bar in Bunbury beat out the competition from Bouvard Tavern, Cervantes Bar and Bistro and Southerly’s Tavern, to take out best country steak sandwich. His creation included MSA graded Scotch fillet, vintage cheddar, baby spinach, homemade tomato relish, aioli, and caramelised onion on wood-fired Turkish bread served with chips and a slaw garnish.
In the Perth competition, chef Mikey Phull from Karalee on Preston was named the winner, besting the chefs from The Carlisle Hotel, CY O’Connor Village Pub and The Generous Squire. Phull’s steak sandwich was indeed a mouthful, made up of 200 gm of WA Black Angus sirloin, pork belly, crispy crackling, swiss cheese, marinated tomatoes, fresh rocket, caramelised onions and homemade barbecue and porcini mushroom sauce. It was served on chargrilled bread with beer battered chips.
This is the second time Phull has won the competition, having taken out the title in 2014.
Woods said that the eight finalists exemplified the incredible quality of food to be found in WA pubs.
“More than 60 WA pubs and restaurants competed for the Country and Perth Best Steak Sandwich titles and it shows just how dedicated the venue teams are to producing outstanding steak sandwiches using fresh, local ingredients.”