Maria’s Steakhouse Bangsar

Call me old fashioned but I really could kill for a good old fashioned charred steak.

I love it when the flavor of the ribeye or the wagyu has real depth, along with the muskiness and a mineral quality about it.. and of course, a good char. I mean, I hate it when the meat lacks char. At Maria’s steak house, one gets a richness and an unmistakable tanginess of beef’s flavor and a slightly sweet, charcoal char, that’s characteristically, Maria’s. That’s why the menu states – no sauces needed.

Maria’s ‘secret baste’ adds a glazed, sweet, garlic-ky and caramelized char on all their steaks – definitely a signature taste found on all their grilled servings. Not everyone, though, will like the sweet outer coat especially steak lovers who like their grilled meat seasoned only with some salt.

We started off with NZ spicy mussels slathered or rather drowning in a tangy tomato base. It was slightly overcooked and the sauce way too overpowering – it was a case of too much of a good thing where the sauce was concerned.

Pumpkin soup – another trademark at Maria’s apparently but we found the flavour a little strange, almost plastic. Didn’t fancy the flavour of this soup.

Oxtail soup – this was delicious for me. Simmered slowly with garlic and herbs this one yields a rich broth and tender, succulent, fall off the tail-bone meat, making for a lavish feast. My dining partner didn’t feel the same about the taste as he wondered if there was some commercially made sauce added in the recipe.

The Australian Black Angus, just under RM100 was a superb cut of meat.

Loved the medium rare doneness of this steak, with their trademark baste flavour. The roasted potatoes and vegetables were superb too.

The Australian Wagyu grade 7 (just under RM200), which to us felt more like a 5, was actually a notch up from the Angus, in terms of unctuous decadence. The marbling was good, and the steak really melted in the mouth.

Again that characteristic, sweet caramalized char is evident on the steak. There are pros and cons about it. The cons is that it makes all the steaks taste nearly the same.

We ended the night with Maria’s coffee laced Tiramisu. Not the best we’d eaten but nice enough.

Another surprise at Maria’s was this Prune cake – it is a must order. Not terribly prune-y, it reminded me more of a carrot cake, but with a nice buttery richness. This homemade cake was the bomb, order it.

All in all, Maria’s is a great alternative for wholesome, affordable steaks. They have their own way of making these beef cuts a memorable one. Go try them!

Add:
Maria’s SteakCafe Bangsar
No. 58, Jalan Maarof, Bangsar Baru, 59000 Kuala Lumpur
Phone:+60 3-2282 2220