Kingsleys (not the chicken shop)

Although the Simple Man and I tend to be of the view that Valentine's Day really is a bit of a sham-American-overcorporatised holiday , we are prepared to forgo our moral stance on, well, pretty much anything if it means that we are able to abandon the kitchen for a night in favour of going out.

However. Now that you are getting to know the Simple Man, it may not come as a surprise to you that he is not only a man who loves his Big Food with chips, he is also a man that loves his footy. When I say footy, I do refer generically to the sport and he does watch most varieties of football. Special place is reserved, however, for real football - ie soccer. Not only does it occupy large amounts of his time on the television, he also plays several varieties - indoor, outdoor and summer six a side. Valentines Day happened to fall on the evening of his team's six a side semi final.

So, we went out on Wednesday evening instead which allowed us a little more choice in venue, as I expect a lot of Canberra's better restaurants were booked out on Thursday night. Being a considerate kind of partner, I chose Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse as the venue on the premise that The Simple Man would be pleased by the variety and quality of meats on offer.

Kingsleys is located at the bottom of the Canberra Centre, which is a bit of a weird location, but it kind of works basically because you dont see the shopping centre from inside the restaurant. We sat outside in a little red booth which was quite pleasant.

Simple Man and I shared a crab spring roll starter which was served with plum sauce and was quite delicious. Simple Man had earlier caused some controversy by announcing that he might have the homemade pie for dinner. Given I'd chosen the restaurant on the basis that it is he, rather than me, that has a penchant for steak, I coerced him into having the rib eye instead. When ordering, it took some time for Simple Man to get the concept that when he ordered his steak (which cost $30 - not wagyu either, that came in around $50), he would receive no sides. Not a little green salad, not even a sprig of parsley, just the steak. Once this was understood, he ordered some green beans with caramelised onion, with a bit of a grimace.

I intended to have seafood, however freely admit that I baulked when I discovered that it was pretty much only crab which came in at a price way higher than I was prepared to pay (about $60). I ordered the steak sandwhich which conveniently came with chips which Simple Man offered to share.

The steak arrived, as described, on the middle of the plate, garnshish-less (it does come with a red wine jus). I keenly awaited the testing expecting a reaction along the lines of "ooohhh", or a "it melts in the mouth" comment. Neither came. Although Simple Man declared that it was a good steak, better than the average pub steak, it was not quite up to the high standards that he had expected, particuarly given the price he was paying.

My steak sandwhich was good - the steak was well cooked and nice and tender as you would expect from a steakhouse. It was, at the end of the day however, just a steak sandwhich - it's kind of hard to be out of this world. I thought that it was good value ($20), compared to The Simple Man's steak and beans, which came in at somewhere closer to $40.

The service was mixed - we had one excellent waiter followed by a much younger average one as well as a couple of other waitresses in between, which is fine, but at a better quality of restaurant sometimes its nice to have just one face and it also effects the way I tend to tip - the first guy was great, but the last not so good, so the tip was probably average too.

I've spoken to a friend since this dinner who agreed with my experience but commented he'd had a much better experience at Kingsley's in Sydney. Maybe that's part of it. But I guess at the end of the day, perhaps you can expect too much from a steak.

We skipped dessert. We'd foolishly intended to go to Kokoblack afterwards, not realising that it had shut at 1730. After a couple of rants about how poor Canberra's nightlife is (you'd think we'd be used to it!) we ended up at the Front Cafe in Lyneham for comedy night. We had a peppermint tea (me), a hot chocolate (Simple Man) and a bit of a laugh (both of us) before agreeing there are other places we will try before returning to Kingsleys.

Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse
Ground Floor
North Quarter
Canberra Centre Civic
Ph: 1300546475

Service: Mixed
Crowd: Mostly business
Money: $$$
($ = mains 15 and under; $$ = mains 25 and under, $$$ = mains over 25)