I shrunk!

Morten originally didn’t want to bother stopping in Texas because he had heard that it was just cattle country without much going on. When I was at Surfers Paradise (Australia), I got to talking with a woman who moved to Queensland from Texas and made the food sound so good. I wanted to go to Texas just to try some of the traditional grub! Cattle country = good steak, right?

Well, it turns out both Morten and I were wrong.  Texas was a lot of fun (we ended up staying for three days) but the food wasn’t as good as I thought it would be — not bad, but not great.

The Big Texan

The one tourist attraction in Amarillo (our first stop in Texas) is the Big Texan restaurant. Why? Because it’s home to the famous 72 oz steak — free if you can eat it with a giant shrimp cocktail, roll with butter, salad, and baked potato in under one hour, or $72 if you can’t. How big is a 72 oz steak? Well, you’re only supposed to eat as much meat as the size of your fist. The 72 oz steak is roughly six or  seven times the size of my fist, or the size of a small cat.

We decided we couldn’t eat that much so we ordered a regular steak for two, and a chicken fried steak to share between the three of us. With each order, you get two sides so we picked: fried okra (a very bland green vegetable), beef steak tomatoes with raw red onions, coleslaw, steak fries, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. Needless to say, it was still too much food. We didn’t bother to pack up the leftovers because most of it consisted of the chicken fried steak which tasted cheap (imagine a fast food copy cat of McNuggets in a larger form made with mashed beef that doesn’t taste like beef).

The 72 oz steak at the Big Texan

If you order a steak at the Big Texan, always order it one step rarer than you would normally order (ex. if you like your steak medium rare, order it rare). They warn you on the menu that due to their cooking methods, their steaks always come out drier and more well-done than other restaurants.

I wouldn’t recommend the place for the food, but I do think it’s worth a stop if you’re in the area just to feel like you’re living in a world of giants. You’ll find just about everything in giant form: money, cow, cowboy boot, chair, rice crispy square, Hershey bar, cake, steak, etc.

Oh, but if you’re a vegetarian or animal rights activist, steer clear of the place. It’s a steak house and every wall is covered with the work of taxidermists: elk, deer, moose, beaver, boar, bear… anything furry and formerly wild.

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Left to Right: Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Crocodile, Emu

I fed them, I played with them, I lay on the grass with them, I took pictures of them, I took pictures with them, I saw them as roadkill, I saw many of them as roadkill, I learned how to tell them apart, I learned how to avoid hitting them on the road, I learned how to shoot them, I learned about their habits, I took a tour about them, and now… it was time to eat one!

That’s right folks, nearly three months after my first encounter with a kangaroo I was finally ready to try eating one. The verdict: tender, juicy, but bland. I’ve heard that kangaroo is supposed to be gamey, but it didn’t taste that way to me. In fact, it didn’t taste like much at all. I also had emu and crocodile on the same plate and they were equally bland which makes me think it was the chef rather than the meat because the last time I tried crocodile it was delicious and full of flavour. Boo-urns.

Tips for Travellers Eating at Undara

1. Get to the buffet when it first starts around 6pm. You have to order your main dishes at the counter and the chef makes them one at a time. If you get to the dinner at 7pm or after, you’ll likely end up waiting a half hour before your meal is ready because that’s when everyone starts to arrive. There were a lot of hungry loud kids impatiently waiting for their food when I was there.
2. The buffet style dining will soon be scrapped for a la carte dining. This isn’t a bad thing. I’d recommend the Undara Volcanic Prime Rib Fillet (steak). It comes from the Collins family Spring Creek Station nearby. If they still have the same chef, order it one step rarer than you normally would.

Dinner at Undara

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You might think after looking at the pictures that I would’ve been full. At least, that’s what the chef thought. I didn’t really mind his jibes about my appetite but I certainly didn’t appreciate them either. I think people often underestimate how much I can eat because they think “oh, little Asian girl. She couldn’t eat much.” If I’m with company I normally don’t eat that much because it takes me a really long time to finish my plate and I don’t like to make people wait for me. But, if I’m on my own I take my time and I can end up eating quite a bit. After all the food you see in the pictures (which I finished by the way — I don’t like to waste food), I didn’t feel like I had eaten anything but the kitchen had already closed.