For a venture so intimately tied to its owner’s personal brand, we’d expected to see more pictures of Wolfgang Zwiener at his eponymous restaurant. As it happens, photos of New York’s mustachioed meat master only appear sparingly at the entrance. One suspects that Zwiener, a man who rose from migrant waiter to proprietor of one of Park Avenue’s hottest restaurants, is too humble for all that.
There is, however, one prominent portrait aloft in the Beijing branch of Wolfgang’s Steakhouse – of a cow. It watches soberly over patrons, urging them to treat its sacrifice with due respect. A fitting choice for a restaurant that would rather let the beef do the talking.
And if this beef could talk, it would have an unmistakably New York accent. Because these cuts aren’t for the light-hearted. There are no thin slivers of boeuf with a red wine jus. Wolfgang’s specializes in great hunks of American-style steak, dry-aged on site and grilled to leave its exterior in crispy contrast to its marbled center.
The signature porterhouse (RMB600 per person) is a beast of a cut that arrives juice-laden and sizzling. It’s pre-sliced and ready to lift straight from your plate to your mouth, where it subsequently melts away.
We can’t honestly report on Wolfgang’s other offerings – soups, salads, seafood and chops – because there’s little room left after the porterhouse (although we should shout-out the wickedly thick strips of sizzling bacon, RMB30 a slice). But if a steakhouse can be judged on its signature cut, then Wolfgang’s passes with flying colors – mainly brown and pink.
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