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There’s good steak, there’s very good steak, and then there’s steak that gets flown to Amsterdam to be judged against 470 others for the title of the world’s best.
The winner of the 2026 World Steak Challenge is an Australian Wagyu fillet, bred and raised at Torrens Creek in Central Queensland by fourth-generation cattle producers Adam and Hayley Rea.
The Senku Pure Wagyu fillet, produced by Brisbane-based Paradigm Foods, took the top prize at the international ceremony on September 10, after more than 60 judges from across the globe assessed the entries blind.
If you don’t spend much time thinking about Wagyu, the basic idea is that it’s prized for its marbling: those fine flecks and veins of fat running through the meat. That fat is a big part of what gives Wagyu its rich texture, but getting it there takes some very particular breeding and feeding.This particular animal started life on the Reas’ property before heading to Sapphire Feedlot, where it was finished on a bespoke grain program.
“This is the first time we have ever entered the World Steak Challenge, and we've come away with the top title, judged blind against the best in the world,” says Paradigm Foods general manager Nick Thompson.
For the Reas, who’ve spent most of their working lives breeding Wagyu, the win is a little hard to believe.
“To have an animal we raised on our own country end up on the best tables in the world and now be named the best steak in the world is beyond anything I set out to achieve,” says Adam Rea.
Days after winning, the Senku fillet sold out at Brisbane restaurant Fatcow on James Street – but they're already working on getting more through the doors. If you’re curious whether it really is the world’s best steak, keep an eye on their socials.