The Kings Hotel and Jack Duggan’s Irish Pub have both been named among the 10 finalists in the best steak category of the Australian Hotels Association (NSW) Awards for Excellence.

That gives Bathurst as many finalists as the whole of Sydney and pits the local pubs against such big name venues as The Opera Bar at the Sydney Opera House.

AHA CEO John Whelan said it was an outstanding performance from the two hotels. 

“It’s almost unheard of for any regional centre to have two finalists in such a hotly contested category as best steak venue,” Mr Whelan said.

“It clearly says a lot about the quality of the local meat and standard of food at Bathurst pubs. By way of comparison, only two hotels in the whole of Sydney made the final.

“It’s great to see the rise of innovation in terms of food offerings at hotels right across NSW.”

Last year it was Goulburn’s Hibernian Hotel which took the bragging rights for the best steak, but with two nominations in the top 10 for 2015 that title could well be heading to Bathurst.

Stuart Peel from The Kings Table restaurant at The Kings Hotel was yesterday justifiably proud of the reputation he’s forged since taking control of the restaurant with his wife Kirstyn about six years ago.

“We’ve made the state final for the best steak on two other occasions, so we’re hoping it’s a case of third time lucky,” he said. “It’s nice to know the judges like our food. The judging’s not just taken from one visit, though. There’s at least two or three times they come in anonymously to check out how tender and juicy are steaks are.”

Mr Peel said the secret to a great steak is sourcing first-grade beef and how you cook each particular cut.

“We get our meat from Robanco in Blayney. It’s grain fed and mostly comes from the Cowra Abattoir,” he said.

“It’s got a higher grade of marbling which makes it more tender and juicy. It’s cooked on a special grille that’s like a rippled plate. It stops the flames hitting the meat and drying it out.”

The Kings Table’s most popular steak is the sirloin which comes with any reef and beef order.

“But a close second is our giant rib eye steak and then we have the Kings Kilo challenge. It’s a one kilo slab of rump steak which quite a few people regularly have. I’ve had a crack at it, but came up short. That’s a lot of meat, plus sides, to down in one sitting.”