The Oaks Hotel, Neutral Bay

MEEEEEEAT!!! So a certain someone was a lil miffed that he didn’t get to partake in the consumption of bone marrow last week so when I spotted them over on Does My Bomb Look Big In This we made the trek over the bridge to The Oaks Hotel (118 Military Rd, Neutral Bay).

Walk through the pub and into the newly renovated Bar and Grill, check out the menu then order and pay at the meat window. While the menu has the usual burger and pizza suspects I find it fascinating that in the meats section (with meats sourced from Vic’s Meats and butchered in house) you have the option of having it cooked by the kitchen or grilling it yourself on the bbq outside in the courtyard. I decide on the former because well, I’d already consumed a cider and me + alcohol + fire = ouchies.


I couldn’t resist the blackboard special of the Dry Aged Ribeye on the bone with bone marrow, roasted potatoes and spinach ($42) which was one hunk of a sexy beast. A slice of Cafe de Paris butter melts languidly on the ribeye and while it was closer to a medium than my requested medium rare it was pretty damn tasty. Well rested and juicy to the max, I managed to eat about 3/4 of of the ribeye before throwing my hands up in defeat. Oh but what’s that in the background?


Marrow! The marrow came with the Ribeye and yes I did ask for extra marrow ($5) and zomg. Gloriously wobbly and fatty, the bone marrow is roll your eyes to the heavens amazing, golden and scorched on the edges with molten centres. Later I find out that it’s so popular they hope to have the marrow on the menu permanently as a side woot it’s definitely something I would cross the Bridge for!


Noods is a sucker for mussels so chose the Au Congo Mussels ($29). The mussels were bathed in a coconut cream, lemongrass and chilli sauce and while it could’ve used a tad more oomph in flavour the serving size was pretty generous especially with the never ending cone of fries and sides of fluffy bread.


Aaaand I had to get the Banoffee pie with caramel gelato ($14) because who doesn’t love slices of banana over a layer of caramel and biscuit base and topped with cream?


Loved the outdoor area with seating around a massive oak tree, it’d be tops for chillaxing on a summer’s arvo!