A Florida steakhouse is selling a “unbelievable plant-based” menu item for $105.
Charley’s Steak House is selling the F U Filet Mignon for US$69, which roughly equates to AU$105 – reportedly the first in the United States to have a plant-based option of the tenderloin cut.
The plant based dish included fermented soy and wheat, beet juice, B12, fortified iron and coconut oil, with a 170-gram version having 40 grams of protein with no cholesterol.
The steak is prepared with a dry rub and cooked on a wood-fired open flame pit.
However, it is prepared alongside other high quality cuts of meat.
The menu labels the food item a “freaking unbelievable” option from Chunk, which is a food tech start up partially funded by Robert Downey Jr.
Chunk aims to “make delicious, nutritious, plant-based whole cuts that are kind to the environment, and accessible to all”.
“Chunk is listed on the same menu as other premium cuts of beef thanks to its exquisite culinary performance, great taste and texture, clean ingredient list, and impressive nutritional profile,” Amos Golan, Chunk founder and CEO, told Veg News.
He said in another interview that one of the biggest challenges when it comes to fake meat is “is mimicking the texture, colour, and taste of traditional meat, along with controlling the direction and thickness of the fibres and the juiciness of the cut”.
Bosses from the restaurant said they have been looking for a viable vegan option for a long time.
Seth Miller, the vice president and chief operating officer of Talk of the Town Restaurant Group, which runs Charley’s, told Fast Company: “We always go in the show and turn right, into the vegan and vegetarian section. And we’ve just been disappointed.”
But it seems that they finally settled on one they love, saying the cut “fooled them” and there are talks to offer it at their other restaurants.