THE Prince Alfred Hotel, more affectionately known as ‘the PA’, may be home to the longest serving restaurant in Ipswich but it is not resting on its laurels.
The award-winning hotel is not afraid to try something new and last year when it literally smashed the way it made its hamburgers and created a PA signature version, called the ‘smash burger’, orders skyrocketed and it has become a favourite on the menu.
Head chef Ruel Cristobal describes it as like ‘a lasagne of burgers’ – two smashed beef patties layered between melted cheese with bacon strips, caramelised onion and barbecue sauce.
He credits the success of the popular burger not only with the quality of the meat, which is sourced from farms around the Darling Downs, but also the way it is cooked very quickly on a very hot flat grill, sealing in the flavours of the meat.
In fact, it’s no surprise to learn that the methods for cooking all of the hot favourites at the PA’s signature restaurant Char’d are based on sizzling hot temperatures either from a flat grill, volcanic rocks or, particularly for fish, hot and slow smoking.
Although Char’d has been well-known for its steaks, from 200g eye fillets to the humungous 1.2kg tomahawks, seafood is quickly becoming a new favourite at Char’d – the hybrid dish ‘reef and beef’ combos which offer a free garlic prawn topper with a choice of sirloin, rump, T-bone or eye fillet on Thursdays have been a smashing big hit – and another signature dish that you are not likely to find anywhere else in Ipswich is the PA’s Red Claw crayfish, which chef Ruel personally collects fresh from his supplier and brings back to the kitchen (every Tuesday, for those in the know) to prepare simply cut, cleaned and baked in the shell with a little garlic butter as a dish on its own or served as a steak topper to order until sold out.
