Serving Steak, BBQ and Seafood in Moorabbin
Wood & Bone is a steakhouse and BBQ smokehouse at 4 Tabbita Street, Moorabbin — eight minutes from Bentleigh, ten from Brighton. We serve wood-fired Sher Wagyu, porterhouse and scotch fillet Wednesday to Saturday, and host private functions Sunday to Tuesday.
Fire first, everything else second
Most restaurants that serve steak are restaurants that happen to serve steak. We are not that. The grill is the reason the room exists — everything else on the menu is built around what the fire is doing that night.
We cook over wood. Not gas with a wood aesthetic, not a charcoal drawer under a salamander. Actual timber, actual smoke, and a chef who has spent years learning what each cut does when it meets that heat. The porterhouse comes off with a crust you can hear. The Sher Wagyu — marble score and all — gets barely any time at all, because the best thing you can do with beef that good is get out of its way.
The difference shows up in the first bite and it is not subtle. Wood fire runs hotter and less evenly than gas, which sounds like a problem and is in fact the entire advantage: you get a proper crust in ninety seconds while the centre stays exactly where you asked for it. A grill that behaves perfectly produces steak that tastes like it was cooked by a machine.
Low and slow, the other half of the menu
The smoker runs long before service. Brisket goes on the night before and comes off when it is ready, not when the clock says so. Ribs, lamb, duck — the smokehouse side of the menu exists because the same fire that sears a steak in ninety seconds will, given twelve hours and a lower temperature, turn a tough cut into something that gives way under a fork.
If you have only ever had American BBQ from a food truck, this is a different proposition. Same principles, sit-down room, proper wine list. There is not much BBQ in Moorabbin doing it this way, and not much of it anywhere in the south-east doing it in a restaurant rather than a car park.
A note on the brisket: it sells out. Not as a marketing device — we smoke a finite amount because the smoker holds what it holds, and when it is gone on a Saturday at nine, it is gone. Come earlier, or order it first.
Not only beef
The seafood is genuinely good and we would like that known. Prawns off the grill, salt and pepper calamari that arrives crisp rather than chewy, and kingfish that gets the lightest possible treatment. There is lamb, there is duck, and there is a vegetarian option that is not an afterthought salad.
The sides are built to cut through fat rather than add to it — sharp, acidic, green. Order one more than seems sensible. Nobody in the history of this restaurant has regretted that.
The wine list is short on purpose and long on things that stand up to smoke. Big reds, mostly, with enough structure to survive a porterhouse. Pilsner Urquell on tap, poured properly, by people who know why that matters.
The room, and who is in it
It is a proper restaurant room — not a pub bistro with tablecloths, not a fine-dining exercise where the service makes you sit up straighter. Warm, a bit loud on a Friday, quiet enough on a Wednesday to have a conversation that matters.
On any given night there will be a table of six celebrating something, a couple who have been coming for years, and someone eating alone at the bar with a scotch fillet and a glass of shiraz. All three of those are the right way to use this place.
Where we are, and when
4 Tabbita Street, Moorabbin. Free off-street parking, which after a week of work is worth more than most people admit. Moorabbin station is a short walk if you would rather not drive at all, and the Morris Moor precinct is around the corner.
Kitchen runs Wednesday to Friday for lunch and dinner, and Saturday for dinner. If you are searching for steak near me on a Sunday, we are closed to the public that night — which brings us to the other thing this room does.
Three nights a week, this room is yours
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we close to the public and open for private functions only. Corporate dinners, birthdays, engagements, wakes, christenings — the whole venue, your guest list, a menu we build with you.
It is the most under-appreciated thing about Wood & Bone. A private room in the CBD costs what it costs and comes with a two-hour turn. Here you get the entire restaurant, free parking outside, and nobody hurrying you toward the door.
There is more to see from here. Read about our wood-fired steakhouse and what sets a Melbourne-wide grill apart, browse our dinner menu and wine list, or find out how the smokehouse side of the menu works. For private functions Sunday to Tuesday, get in touch — or simply book a table for dinner this week.
Book your next event
Wood and Bone Restaurant is the perfect place to impress your guests at your next Melbourne function. We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality cuisine for any event. Our experienced chefs design menus for events of all kinds – from birthday parties to Christmas celebrations, corporate functions, and more.
No matter what the occasion, our team will work with you to create a menu that will tantalise your taste buds and leave your guests impressed. We use only the freshest ingredients and our dishes are prepared with the utmost care, so you can be sure that your guests will enjoy a truly exceptional dining experience.
Corporate event catering is a hugely competitive industry and as market leaders, we must continue to offer our clients the best food and unrivalled service.
We work closely with our corporate clients to provide the right menus and the most convenient ordering options to suit their busy schedules. We understand that their time is precious and that they need to be able to rely on us to deliver great food and service, every time.
We are proud to be the catering company of choice for many leading businesses and organisations, and we are committed to continuing to raise the bar in terms of the quality of our food and service.
If you are planning a corporate event and are looking for a catering company that you can rely on to deliver great food and service, then please get in touch with us today.
