LOCATIONSauce Bar & Grill is located in the beachside suburb of Coogee - 15 minutes from east from the CBD.
PROFILED BY DEGROOTS MEDIAWhen a restaurant boldly states that it is virtually impossible to leave its walls hungry, there are some out there who would take that on as a challenge. It’s not hard to guess that Sauce’s trade maintains a steady flow of meat dishes – most bathed in the restaurant’s lip-smacking special barbecue sauce. However, if grills and ribs aren’t the flavour of your day, then there are plenty of mouth-watering a la carte dishes to choose from that don’t require carving knives. The seafood jambalaya sees a wonderful arrangement of king prawns, mussels, chicken, vegetables, tomatoes and fiery rice, spaghetti comes with ragout of veal, capsicum, onions and basil pesto, and there a few appetising vegetarian dishes too.
That said, it’s not uncommon to be overwhelmed with a desire to wrap a bib around your neck and work your way around a prime cut. From pork and lamb racks to sirloins and aged Angus eye-fillets, Sauce’s reputation for cooking ribs and steaks to perfection precedes it. Custom make your meal by choosing between home-made chips and jacket potatoes with sour cream, and a home-made sauce to match. The restaurant itself is surprisingly stylish, bringing class and sophistication to a meal generally associated with chowing-down and sticky fingers. Outdoor tables take best advantage of the view which overlooks the Coogee oval but it is the centrally placed bar which demands attention – a steak dinner would be incomplete without a cleansing ale or heady red to wash it down. If you have some room on your dessert side, tuck into some good old-fashioned ice-cream with toasted almonds and fudge sauce. However, for those looking for a challenge, I dare you to prove Sauce wrong.
Annabel Wise, August 2008