Ali Kaneet is drunk with excitement – and beer – after discovering a five dollar feed in the city.

Strattons Hotel

249 Castlereagh Street, Sydney

The five dollar steak lives! And we aren’t talking some once a week special. At Strattons Hotel on Castlereagh Street they are serving it up every day, with a side of chips and the gravy of your choice. That’s right, gravy is included. How many times have you pulled out a Pink Lady for a five dollar feed only to be slugged a couple of bucks for the mushroom sauce. Not here!

As you can tell, I’m a little excited by a five dollar steak in the middle of the city. There is a catch, though. You have to buy it with a drink with your meal. Good thing it’s a Thursday and the hand-pumped craft beer is going for five bucks a schooner.

I go for the Nail Brewing Company Brown Ale. When the steak comes I’m not confronted by the biggest slab of meat but it’s fat and juicy, and goes down nicely. The mushroom sauce is nice too, with actual pieces of mushroom (connoisseurs of five dollar steaks will understand this isn’t a given). By the time my plate is cleared I’m only fifteen minutes into my lunch break. I order another beer to pass the time.

One bloke I’m drinking with decides he needs a second steak. He’s on that Paleo diet and eats beef by the barrel load. I snaffle a few of his crinkle-cut chips and am more than satisfied. I order a third beer to keep him company.

Three-beers-full I head back to the office. There’s booze on my breath so I buy a pack of P.K., pop a couple of pellets, and sit at my computer.

This bloke is really smug about his P.K.

I try to knuckle down and get back to work, only to find myself distracted. P.K.? What the hell does P.K. even stand for? I get onto the Wrigley website, the company behind P.K., and learn even they aren’t sure.

In the Wrigley universe there are two possible answers to the question: “Some say the initials P.K. are derived from a slogan that originated many years ago, in the development of our strict packaging codes – specifically “Packed tight – Kept right”, whilst others believe the P.K. brand was named after Philip Knight Wrigley who was the CEO from 1925 to 1961.” I’m putting my money on big Phil’s initials.

My eye is drawn to another of Wrigley’s Frequently Asked Questions. “Is it true that if you swallow chewing gum it takes seven years to digest?” The answer: “No. Although chewing gum is not designed to be swallowed, it passes through the body’s digestive system after a few days in much the same way as roughage.”

I’m about to share the revelation with my colleagues when I remember the golden rule of working half-cut: Keep your head down and mouth shut. I open a word document and start writing a food review. Next time at Strattons I might order a soft drink.