The steak is the main event here: this one clocked in at 660 grams. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
What’s your vice? Chocolate or ice cream? Reality TV so bad it’s good? If your vice is wine and steak, then it would be a sin to miss out on a trip to the newly opened VICE.
Much like sister-venue Molly, VICE is accessed through Odger’s Lane. This is mostly just theatre: the restaurant takes the place of Bleachers Sports Bar, and there is definitely a door to Northbourne Avenue hidden behind the thick curtains covering the windows. But, like all the best theatre, if you can suspend your disbelief and lean into the drama, you’ll be rewarded with a good time.
Tucked into the back corner of Odger’s Lane, a doorway from the alley funnels you into the dark entrance of VICE. Dramatic black and white portraits of beautiful women dressed in nun’s habits adorn the walls, and of course, the models are doing un-nun-like things: smoking, drinking, holding wads of cash and sucking on a lollipop in a way that would send choirboys racing to confession.
Under the gaze of these sacrilegious nuns, we are encouraged to allow our gluttonous instincts to take over.
The nuns look down from around the restaurant. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
The main event on the menu at VICE is the steak: rib-eye on the bone, seared to medium-rare perfection. We are presented with our hunk of steak – priced per 100 grams – before cooking using the ‘reverse grill’ method, which starts low and slow before cranking the heat to finish.
There are a few indulgent starters which tap into the primal nature of the menu: house-baked focaccia served with a quail tallow candle, fire-warmed olives, and toasted bone marrow.
Executive Chef Jesse O’Neill told Region there was a lot of testing and tasting to perfect the steak.
“We settled on rib-eye because it’s more consistent in the way it cooks. And the reverse grill method is perfect because it’s fast enough for service, but slow enough to render the fat.”
To accompany your meal, there is a decent wine list and a lineup of 10 beer taps (likely a happy leftover from the Bleachers era). A penchant for a Petit Chablis is definitely one of my personal vices, so I was very happy to see it on the menu. We briefly considered splurging on the $3000 bottle of Dom Perignon, but decided we weren’t feeling quite that sinful (especially on a Tuesday).
Executive chef Jesse O’Neill and venue manager Jared Waters. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
To accompany your indulgent steak, there is an equally indulgent list of side dishes. Chef Jesse said he came up with the list by asking himself: “What would I like to eat with a steak?”
Cauliflower mornay, potato puree with butter and chives, roasted pumpkin with ‘nduja and stracciatella are a few options that I mentally save for next time. My dining partner and I settled on duck fat roasted chat potatoes and gem lettuce with candied walnuts, peppered pecorino, and agrodolce (an Italian sweet and sour dressing). And, having finished the Petit Chablis, we continue quaffing French wine with a glass each of Beaujolais.
As venue manager Jared Waters tells me: “It’s a steakhouse, you’ve got to have a good wine list!”
The entrance to VICE is tucked into Odger’s Lane. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
The steak arrives with a proper scattering of flaky salt, sliced to display the perfectly medium-rare meat inside. Along with a selection of sauces, you can also opt for a mustard tasting plate featuring your usual suspects (hot English, Dijon and seeded) along with house-pickled horseradish and moutarde violette, a traditional mustard made with grape must, which gives it a rich purple colour and wine-tinted flavour.
At first, we feel that the paper tablecloths don’t fit with the elegant surrounds of the restaurant, but when we see the spatterings of duck fat, mustard and wine on the table, we realise that the paper is an invitation to feast with abandon: be as messy as you please, there are no white tablecloths to launder.
The dry-aged burger and fries are worth sneaking out of the office for (shh, don’t tell the boss). Photo: Lucy Ridge.
There’s also a cheeseburger on the menu, made with dry-aged patties and served with gentleman’s relish. So of course, I have to take myself back the following day for a cheeky lunch. No regrets.
VICE is located at Odgers Lane, Melbourne Building. They are open from 12 until late Tuesday to Saturday. Follow VICE on Facebook or Instagram.
