A real live Australian describing his experience there...
Recently, while we were in Seattle, we (my family) got a sense of morbid curiosity about the Outback Steakhouse near our hotel. So off we went, to take a look at this most famous of bastardisations of our culture.
The Outback Steakhouse is basically a run of the mill 'franchise restaurant', with a pseudo-Australian theme. It's a fairy stereotypical 'outback' motif... pretty much what you'd expect from a chain started by a random Yank trying to make a buck off the seeming popularity of anything perceived to be 'typically Australian'. (Over usage of the word 'mate' for example) They actually have an Outback Steakhouse in Parklea in Sydney, according to their site. The site also claims that 'bonzer times start with awesome outback tucker'. Just so you know.
Upon entering, I found roughly what I'd expected- an array of various depictions of animals on the walls; koalas, kangaroos, and the like. There was also movie posters from Australia, a couple of Australian flags and a few other odds and ends. Also of note was the dim, pinkish lighting. Then there's the giant cutlery. (That's 'silverware' for you Yanks). At any rate, the 'knoyfes' (As in "that's not a knoyfe, this is a knoyfe") are elaborate, about 15 inches long including the thick, wooden handle and serrated edged blade... the things look designed to saw through bone. The other cutlery is also a bit oversized, but the knife steals the show.
Onto the menu, which is where the bulk of the entertainment is to be had. It's fairly standard fare, but everything has these cheesy themed names which bring enjoyment and mirth.
Firstly, many dishes are named after places in Australia. You can get an Alice Springs Salad, some Toowoomba Pasta, a Brisbane Caesar Salad, or the Melbourne (a 20 ounce steak). Most of these are bland at best, but I thought that Botany Bay Fish O' the Day was clever... even though I have my doubts about how healthy it is to eat fish from any waterway in Sydney, let alone one near oil refineries and the like.
There's something there called 'Bloomin' Onion'. I haven't a clue what it is, but it's a side-dish, (or, an 'Aussie-tizer', according to the Steakhouse menu...) and the description reads "an outback Ab-original". I can hear the groans from here. The rest of the menu is merely silly and amusing... but this one is downright awful and potentially insulting. Painful.
Not as painful as what they're apparently doing to
John Howard, though. There's a menu choice called the
Prime Minister's
Prime Rib. I wouldn't have imagined that our beloved little PM has too much
meat on him, but there ya go...
Now onto the 'baffling usage of slang' department: the 'Walkabout Soup O' the Day' (more potential insults to Aboriginals) is described as being "a unique presentation of one of our Australian favorites. Reckon!" Pardon my wanton usage of Internet shorthand, but... WTF!? That quite literally makes no sense.
I also ran across a couple of examples of nearly Australian food. They have 'Aussie Chips', which got me excited until I found that these are merely cheese fries, and thus as American as School Shootings and Krispy Kreme. Same deal with the hamburgers. The supposedly Australian burgers are made with USDA grade American beef, and there's not a slice of beetroot or pineapple in sight.
There are plenty of signs that this at heart an American restaurant, with an Australiana facade. Prawns are referred to by their American term, shrimp, (on the barbie, no doubt) and the only Aussie beer you could get was Foster's, and I'm pretty sure no Aussie would ever even contemplate naming a dessert the 'Chocolate Thunder from Down Under'. I won't insult your intelligence by attempting to explain the multiple opportunities for mockery that name creates.
General impressions? Well, predictably, it's far from an accurate or authentic depiction of Australia, but that's not really the point. As an Australian, it's tempting to get nitpicky and defensive of something like this. The key is to maintain an open mind. The fun in something like this is to just enjoy the farce, and laugh at the absolute cultural surreality of it all. I was also pleased to find it mercifully short on kangaroo and dingo references. Those are two of my pet hates.
I do wonder, however, what percentage of the American customer base is actually taken in by all this, and taking it all as a genuine example of Australian culture and cuisine. Hopefully it isn't too high, but you never really know...
Bonzer!
Jaggar tells me that "As it happens, those of us from the USA don't even notice the "Austrialian" theme. We just go there because it's the only place we can get a decent steak and not have to put up with a horrible "Texas" theme"
So there you go.