The ribeye steak - served with your choice of chips, vegetables or salad, and a sauce - is the culmination of a carefully managed journey from paddock to plate.

The beef is locally grown and sourced from the Bungendore Butchery, with each cut aged for 100 days and professionally cut to portion size.

Pub owner Anthony McDonald - who's a medium rare man himself - said he was proud of head chef Beat Etlin and the entire kitchen team at the hotel.

"The bistro is the cornerstone of our business and we're not only extremely proud to take out first place, but we're proud our customers took time out to vote for us," he said. "We're just an everyday NSW pub, we could never have imagined that our humble little steak would receive so much attention. We're stoked that it's been recognised on the national stage."

Throughout the campaign chicken parmigiana dominated the public vote as the most popular dish, followed by steak, burger, pork ribs, then fish and chips.

As part of the competition, the chefs behind the nation's best pub meals will visit Melbourne later this month where their winning dish will feature at pop-up restaurant, The Hungry Yak, at Melbourne's iconic Riverland Bar that runs through November 6, offering a first of its kind experience for diners, bringing Australia's five best pub meals together under one roof. The other four meals of the top five were:

- Chicken Parma from The Birmingham Hotel, Smith Street, Fitzroy, Victoria.

- Fish and Chips from Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel, Watsons Bay, NSW.

- KFC (Kentucky Fried Cheese) Halloumi Burger from The Henson, Marrickville, NSW.

- Smoked BBQ Ribs from The Pier Bar, Cairns, Queensland.

The other four best steaks were:

- Cardinia Park Hotel, Beaconsfield, Victoria.

- The Railway Club Hotel, Port Melbourne, Victoria.

- Napier Hotel, Fitzroy, Victoria.

- Apple Tree Creek Hotel, Apple Tree Creek, Queensland.

(Jim Kellar contributed to this article.)