A LOAD OF BULL

Steer Bar & Grill:

The Olsen Hotel, 637-641 Chapel St, South Yarra VIC
(03) 9040 1188 or www.steerbarandgrill.com.au
Photo: Shannon McGrath

Steer Bar & Grill has a lot of ’art. Well, really it must. You can’t fly under the banner of an Art Series Hotel dedicated to the one of the finest of Australia’s fine artists, John Olsen, without getting a little artsy fartsy. Team Steer (Paul Bellette, Alex Moulieris and Robert Webber and chef Stacey Thompson) has opted for something a little more befitting their 120-seat Brazilian steakhouse concept than Olsen’s frogs — a whopping Cezary Stulgis bull sculpture menacing the entrance, and a 5m -long , bovine worshipping, acrylic painting hanging on the wall. Mark Davis of Dasch Associates was charged with harnessing all that raging bull, laying a path of hardwearing furniture from Living Edge, solid Tom Dixon pendants and plenty of leather upholstery in the wake of Stulgis’ stampeding talisman. And why not, says Bellette of the audacious fitout, “go home and everyone’s got the same simple four white walls. Personally, I want to go out somewhere interesting. Not to some wanky, minimalistic restaurant that has nothing to look at. Call me old-fashioned.”