Porteño

01What to order

• Bass Strait Reserve bone-in ribeye, MB3+, 500 g / 18 ozA$165 on the October 2026 menu. Grass-fed Angus and Hereford from the Limestone Coast, SA; dry-aged 42 days.
• Tallawanta Black Angus T-bone, MB4+, 850 g / 30 ozA$195. The 'Porteño Reserve', from Moree, NSW; 200-plus days on grain.
• Shimo F1 Wagyu bone-in sirloin, MB4+, 600 g / 21 ozA$195. Wagyu crossed with Holstein, Kiewa Valley, Vic; dry-aged 28 days.
• Robbins Island Wagyu rump cap, MB9+, 250 g / 9 ozA$105. Tasmanian; 18 months on pasture, then 450-plus days on grain.
• Tallow-fried empanadasTwo for A$26, filled with dry-aged beef.
• Crispy fried Brussels sproutsA$18, with lentils, mint and vincotto; a dish that came across from Cleveland Street.

02The beef

Six producers, all Australian. Bass Strait Reserve: grass-fed Angus and Hereford from the Limestone Coast, as a 220 g / 8 oz eye fillet (A$95) or the 42-day bone-in ribeye. Tallawanta Black Angus from Moree, fed at least 180 days on grain grown on the farm. Shimo F1 Wagyu from the Kiewa Valley, finished mostly on barley: skirt 250 g / 9 oz at A$115 and the 28-day sirloin. Robbins Island Wagyu from Tasmania; Margaret River Wagyu from WA, a 220 g / 8 oz flat iron at A$125; and Westholme purebred Wagyu, four years old, from Wylarah Station in Queensland, a ribeye whose price the waiter quotes. Broadsheet notes an in-house aging program.

03The fire

Wood and charcoal, from day one. In 2010 Australian Bartender described the asado, an open pit for whole suckling pig and lamb, beside a flat Argentine parrilla; the extraction had to be designed to clear the smoke from both. In 2016 Gourmet Traveller reported the parrilla and the asado pit moving to Holt Street. Today the menu lists woodfired bone marrow, blood sausage, prawns and cheese. Order the 42-day ribeye.

04The story

Porteño opened in mid-September 2010 at 358 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, in a former Greek bar and discotheque, after an 18-month delay that Australian Bartender attributed to shipping containers from Argentina and costs. The owners were Joseph Valore, Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate, who had met at the Four in Hand; Sarah Doyle worked on the design. In June 2016 the team announced a move to the former MoVida site at 50 Holt Street; it reopened there in December 2016 with about 95 seats, and Cleveland Street became an events space. The house dish of the early years, the chuleta (a dry-aged ribeye with ox-heart tomato and baguette), is not on the October 2026 menu.

05The practical

50 Holt Street, Surry Hills. Phone 02 8399 1440. The house lists dinner every night (from 5:45 pm Monday to Thursday, from 5:30 pm Friday to Sunday, to 10 pm on Sunday) and lunch on Friday, noon to 2 pm. The private dining room is entered from Gladstone Street. Two banquets in October 2026: Signature at A$155 per person, with a 21-day dry-aged Tallawanta sirloin, and Grand at A$195, with the 21-day sirloin and the 42-day Bass Strait ribeye, plus A$45 for a Wagyu selection. The wine list runs to about 300 bottles.

Address

50 Holt Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Phone

+61 2 8399 1440

Website

porteno.com.au

Directions

Google Maps ↗

06In Sydney’s selections