New items at Ubin Seafood

C says:

It’s been almost a year and Ubin Seafood is still at the top of our list for a great no-frills dining experience. Obviously the beef and heart attack rice are a must-have, but we’ve tried some new items that are pretty darn awesome too.

Soft Boiled Egg Special

Soft boiled egg served with cubes of seared foie gras, sprinkled with salt and truffle oil. There’s just no way that this won’t taste amazing.

Carabinero prawn sashimi

These prawns are served sashimi style, so you enjoy the sweet flesh with some wasabi and soy sauce, and then attack the mammoth head, filled with the richest, creamiest head juice that almost tastes like uni. At $16 a prawn, it's a bit of an indulgence but if you consider that other places serve the same prawn at over $30 each, it seems a no-brainer not to have it at Ubin.

BBQ Kurobuta pork ribs

We weren’t particularly impressed with the regular pork ribs we had previously, but the kurobuta ones on the other hand were great. Tender, juicy and succulent, and most importantly, not smothered with BBQ sauce.

Smoked bacon carbonara

Carbonara with smokey bacon served in a claypot. This was also really good, but unless we're going with a large group of people, there simply isn't enough room in our stomachs for this, as well as everything else that we want to have.

Note that all 4 of the items above require pre-ordering at least a day in advance.

My ideal Ubin menu, then, goes something like this:

Soft boiled egg special
Carabinero prawn
Kurobuta pork ribs
Beef (takeaway leftover heart attack rice)
Boss Beehoon

Collapse into food coma after.

A says:

Approved.

Ubin Seafood

C says:

I can't believe that the best steak and ribs that we've had in ages was at a seafood restaurant - what's going on?!

I was understandably apprehensive about recommendations to try the rib-eye steak at Ubin Seafood. Who can blame me? Ubin Seafood is a frenetic seafood restaurant in the heart of Sin Ming Industrial Estate, amongst car repair shops. I had my misgivings, but we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt one rainy Saturday night.

OMG. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the best beef that I've had in ages. I thought Oca Grassa was good, but this really takes the cake. US certified Angus rib-eye, chargrilled, then cut into cubes and served on a platter with wedges, caramelised onions and, the best part, fried rice cooked with the beef drippings.

Where to begin? The rice was like a delicious version of claypot rice, with crispy bits of beef fat that were reminiscent of the charred bits at the bottom of claypot rice. This went perfectly with the sambal belacan that was provided.

The beef was outstanding. It was tender, juicy and perfectly cooked. There was a good char, and it was seasoned just right with salt and pepper. For some reason, almost every cube of meat had a bit of fat on it, which gave the already sweet meat an incredible flavour, and not a single piece had any sinew or gristle on it. The steak costs an unbelievable $12 per 100g; granted, their minimum size is 550g, but that's still $66 for one of the best steaks I've had. I think my beef search is officially over.

Something else I've been trying to find in Singapore are good ribs. My idea of good ribs are basically like Naughty Nuri's - flame grilled, and tender but with still some bite to them. Not the overly braised kind that are slathered in BBQ sauce, which end up tasting (and looking) like pulled pork. Ubin does a pretty decent version, thought not as awesome as the steak. The ribs were just slightly overcooked, but otherwise all the elements were there. And sauce served on the side, as it should be.

In comparison, the sweet potato leaves fried with sambal were a bit lacklustre, though maybe it's because they didn't quite go with the rest of the dishes. On hindsight maybe a simple asparagus dish may have been more appropriate.

The place is teeming with huge tables of families tucking into plates and plates of seafood. Going as a couple is definitely not efficient - their minimum orders of items like prawns (minimum 300g) is somewhat prohibitive to us trying many dishes. Unless you're there solely for the steak, I think 4 is the bare minimum. It's perfect for large groups, and best of all, they have a BYO policy on alcohol too.

Parking's a bit of a bitch though, and that would be the only thing preventing us from coming here regularly. Well, that and the fact that they affectionately call the fried rice "Heart Attack Rice"...

A says:

Early contender for best of '14. Awesome. If only parking was easier.

Ubin Seafood
Block 27 Sin Ming Road, #01-174
Sin Ming Industrial Estate Sector A
Tel: 6466-9558
Mon – Fri: 11am – 2pm, 5.30pm – 10.30pm (Last Order)
Sat & Sun: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 10.30pm (Last Order)
www.ubinseafood.com

Oca Grassa

C says:

My faith in beef has been somewhat restored. New(ish) restaurant Oca Grassa on Bukit Pasoh Road is a charming Italian restaurant specialising in beef - specifically, their star dish, the Florentine steak. The menu lists a 1.2 kg cut, but you can ask for an 800g cut which is perfect for 2 people to share.

What sets their steaks apart is their unique technique of both curing and aging them in-house. When we went, they had two different types of Florentine steak available - aged for differing periods of time. We went for the longer one (either 14 or 30 days, sorry can't remember), since I wanted a full-on beefy experience.

The steak is grilled and served on a disc of Himalayan rock salt, imparting even more flavour and char to the meat. It also acts like a hot plate of sorts, and they provide you with an empty plate to transfer meat if you don't want it to carry on cooking. The steak comes with roasted new potatoes, and confit onions and garlic.

Wow. The combination of the curing/aging process and the flavour and char from the salt disc, makes for an intense flavour experience that made me very happy indeed. I enjoyed the sirloin part of the Florentine for its flavour and ring of very tasty fat; A predictably preferred the tenderloin side.

Their other offerings are worth a mention too. The bread comes with a tomato and basil jam, with a glass of olive oil and home-made balsamic jelly. The texture of  the balsamic jelly is a bit strange, but the syrupy flavour more than makes up for that.

They were out of their char-grilled foie gras starter, so they recommended one of their daily specials - a tortellini filled with foie gras and pork jowl, served with a mushroom and truffle emulsion. This was really good, particularly the sauce which we completely lapped up.

We managed to get a table at fairly short notice on a Friday night, which is good for us but not very good for the restaurant. It was about 3/4 full by 8+, but I somehow expected more of a demand for a table. We'll certainly be back, because at least for now, I think I've found my default place to satisfy my beefy cravings.

A says:

Fantastic. Great food and service. Will definitely be back.

Oca Grassa
6 Bukit Pasoh Road
Tel: 6534-9854
Mon to Sat: 12 noon - 3 pm; 6 pm - 12 mn
Closed Sundays
www.ocagrassa.com

Bistecca Tuscan Steakhouse

C says:

I'm pretty disillusioned with beef at the moment. From the somewhat lacklustre burger that we had at Morton's recently, to a surprisingly flavourless Florentine steak at Bistecca, it all seems to lack a beefy flavour, or any flavour really, that sets it apart from any other meat.

Bistecca is known for its Florentine steak - a T-bone cut that comprises the striploin on one end and the tenderloin on the other. For 2 persons a single cut will suffice. We were there with W and M so we shared a double cut Florentine.

The Flintstonian-sized behemoth definitely made an impact when they presented it to us. Sizzling and almost black, we eagerly awaited its return while they took it away for slicing.

Unfortunately, because it was so thick, the ratio of the outside char to the rare steak was disproportionate. Once you get past the admittedly yummy charred exterior, the meat itself tasted oddly of nothing much. Just almost raw meat without much flavour at all. It was only saved by fairly aggressively salting the meat at the table.

W and M, who've had the single cut on previous occasions, assure me that it's usually much better. I assume that the double cut is simply too thick to get the balance right, especially when the meat itself doesn't have much flavour on its own. A better option would probably be to order 2 single cuts next time, the Florentine and a bone-in ribeye to share. We'll reserve judgment till we do.

A says:

It's pretty good, but even considering that the price is pretty standard for good steak places, I don't think it's worth it.

Bistecca Tuscan Steakhouse
25 Mohamed Sultan Road
Tel: 6735-6739
Open Tues to Sun
Lunch : 12 - 2pm
Dinner : 6 - 10pm
www.bistecca.com.sg

Shashlik

C says:

It doesn't get more old school than this. Shashlik hasn't changed in years, but I guess over the years, our palates have gotten a little more, should I say, particular. A recent vist with A's family was somewhat underwhelming, but at the same time you have to give them props for doggedly remaining stuck in the 80s, and refusing to change.

We always start with the Borsch. Portions have gotten a little smaller, and they're much stingier with the beef - we each only had one piece of beef in our bowl. It was still pretty tasty though.

I remember someone ages ago recommending the Egg Millionaire, so we ordered a portion to try. Basically, it was an egg custard of sorts, with cheese and bacon, re-stuffed into an egg half-shell and baked. Definitely an 80s kitschy dish.

Because the steaks here are served on a hot plate, they end up still cooking when they arrive, so we asked for rare instead of our usual medium rare. The waiter seemed very apprehensive and tried to discourage us (maybe they don't get many rare orders?) but we stood our ground, and good thing too. Especially how slow I eat, by the time I was halfway through my steak it was already medium rare to medium.

They still serve Baked Alaska and Peach Melba for dessert, but we decided to pass since we weren't particularly enamoured with everything else. Will we go back on our own? I don't think so, but if A's folks suggest it for another family dinner, I guess we won't say no.
 
A says:

Super old school. This was what passed for a high-end steakhouse back in the day. Now, it's relatively affordable and value for money. The steak standard is very good for what you pay (around $30+ per steak). The borsch soup has been scaled down in terms of portion, but I mean the price hasn't changed much in like 10 years so something's got to give right?

I'd recommend this if you're pretty old and out for a kitschy steakhouse experience.

Shashlik Restaurant
545 Orchard Road
#06-19 Far East Shopping Centre
Tel: 6732-6401

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

C says:

Together with a few other bloggers, we were very kindly invited by Ruth’s Chris to a blogger’s dinner to celebrate the opening of their very first outpost in Southeast Asia, right here in Singapore.

Ruth’s Chris has almost 50 years’ history, starting with its humble origins on a street corner in New Orleans, and expanding to 133 locations worldwide.  In Asia, there are a few outlets in Hong Kong and Taiwan, one in Japan and now at the Marina Mandarin in Singapore.

We expected bite-sized samples of their offerings at a fairly large event, but to our surprise it was a proper sit down dinner with only about 12 of us in total. True to the Southern hospitality that is a trademark of Ruth’s Chris, the tables were set with a detailed menu and even a Ruth’s Chris stress cow. We were also presented with Mardi Gras beads, which set the tone for an extremely enjoyable evening.

Unlike the crab cakes at most places, the ones here are literally just mounds of straight-up blue crab meat with barely any fillers, finished with sizzling butter poured on top. Without the distraction of breadcrumbs, you could really appreciate the chunks of fresh sweet crab meat. We were each given little yellow parcels, which turned out to contain half a lemon. This ensured that you didn’t get lemon juice all over your hands, and didn’t squeeze lemon seeds onto the crab cake either. Ingenious. 

The barbequed shrimp with Creole butter was served family style, and we all lapped up the sauce for this. The buttery yet not excessively creamy sauce went perfectly with the accompanying garlic bread, as well as their in-house bread. *Note: They serve a wicked whipped salted butter with their bread too.

What distinguishes Ruth’s Chris from other steakhouses in Singapore is their New Orleans heritage, which they proudly continue to showcase in their menu. I chose the seafood gumbo and was not disappointed. The gumbo was chockfull of seafood flavor, and with the rice stirred in, was comfort food at its best.

A chose the chopped salad, which apparently has over 10 ingredients including romaine and iceberg lettuces, radicchio, diced egg, tomato, crumbled blue cheese and topped with crispy fried onions. The bites that contained blue cheese were particularly good, but overall I preferred the gumbo.

With the exception of certain bone-in cuts which currently cannot be imported from the US to Singapore, Ruth’s Chris only serves USDA Prime steaks. (For their bone-in cuts, they use Australian Wagyu.) Their steaks are broiled on a trademarked 982-degree Celsius oven, and served on a 260-degree Celsius heated plate, with their signature sizzling butter poured on top.  No sauces are added, so that you can fully appreciate the flavour and quality of the meat.

(Photo courtesy of Ruth’s Chris Steak House)

Between us, we had one Petite Filet (230g) and one Prime Ribeye (340g). The steaks were cooked to a perfectly even medium rare, and well broiled outside. They were both amazingly tender – the Filet obviously so, but even the Ribeye required barely any effort to cut through. I preferred the Ribeye as it had a good balance between tenderness and beefy flavour. The Filet was remarkably tender but I found the flavour a bit too subtle.

The sautéed mushroom and asparagus sides were served family style, and if I hadn’t been so full from everything thus far I would have polished off more of the mushrooms, which were so simply prepared yet so delicious.

Stan, the President of the group responsible for the Ruth’s Chris franchise in Asia, was raving about their lamb chops, saying how excited he was that Singapore (unlike some of the other Asian outlets) allows the import of US lamb. While not on the menu for the evening’s dinner, we convinced him to get the kitchen to broil a portion so that we could see for ourselves what the fuss was about.

Man, he wasn’t kidding. The lamb was one of the most memorable bites of the evening. I’ve never tasted lamb with that much flavour, yet without too much of the characteristic lamb pungency that some Asian palates aren’t used to. The meat was tender and succulent, perfectly seasoned with rosemary and garlic, and just truly amazing.

We were told to save some room for dessert, and I’m glad we did. The cheesecake here is legendary. Besides the fact that a single portion consists of a whole 5-inch cake, everything about it was stellar, from the buttery crust to the perfect texture of the cheesecake and the topping of sour cream that added just the right acidic edge.

A meal here doesn’t come cheap – a steak will set you back about $85, but then again these prices are no more than other premium steakhouses like Morton’s, but certainly less than Fat Cow. Portions are large, so sharing and doggybagging are very much the norm and are indeed encouraged.

Their a la carte menu is available all day, and in a couple of weeks they’ll start offering a lunch menu too, with smaller cuts of steak, lunch salads, and some steak sandwiches and sliders too.

I’m definitely keen to try their lunch offerings, but right now I’m dreaming about going back for their lamb chops and cheesecake.

A says:

Getting a good steak these days isn’t cheap. But the portions here are HUGE so you get a lot for what you pay for. Although funnily enough the stand out dishes of the night weren’t the steaks, but the crabcake, lamb and gumbo (and the Creole butter that came with the shrimp). The desserts are also a definite must-try. Insanely good for what you’d normally expect from a steakhouse. The only problem is that they are GIGANTIC. One order of the cheesecake is probably enough for 4.

We had this meal as part of a special event, so it may not be indicative of an average visit, so we’ll post another review when we go back. And from what we’ve tried so far, we’ll definitely be back.

*Disclaimer: atetoomuch did not pay for our meal here, but rest assured that this did not affect our review in any way.*

  

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

6 Raffles Boulevard

Level 4, Marina Mandarin

Tel: 6336-9093

Open daily: 11.30 am – 3 pm; 5.30 pm – 11 pm

Masa Steak & Hamburg

C says:

Major props to A’s friend KH for suggesting this place for dinner. The guy who owns Masa apparently also owns all the restaurants occupying that corner of Robertson Walk, next to Wine Connection – Masa, Tori-Tama, and Yakiniku Yazawa round the corner.

As the name suggests, Masa serves steak and hamburger steak, but don't expect a casual, Ma Maison type place. At Masa, they only serve wagyu beef, so their prices are unsurprisingly pretty high. Their cheapest steak is $68, going as high as $220 for a 180g Chateaubriand, a premium cut from the tenderloin.

However, if you go for their hamburger steak, prices are a lot less frightening - $28 for a 200g patty, and $38 for 300g. Their starters, all featuring the same wagyu beef, range from $20 to $28, so these are much more affordable alternatives to get your wagyu fix at Masa.

We tried the carpaccio, and the seared tataki. The carpaccio was fairly traditional Italian, with thinly sliced raw beef, arugula and shaved parmesan cheese. The beef texture and flavor were amazing – because it was raw, you could really taste the flavor and unctuous fattiness of the waygu beef.

The seared tataki, served Japanese style with onions in a ponzu sauce, was also good in a different way. The sear obviously gave it more flavor and bite, but you also appreciated the flavor of the wagyu a bit less. I honestly don’t know which I prefer, but I do know I now want to try their steak tartare as well.

When you order your hamburger steak, you have a choice of 3 sauces – original, demiglace and ponzu, and 3 toppings – fried egg, garlic chips and cheese. I had the demiglace sauce and a fried egg; A had the original sauce with garlic chips.

The garlic chips were a bit of a letdown. They were thin and delicate but didn’t have a lot of garlic flavor. The fried egg, on the other hand, was a great topping, since the runny yolk just added to the already rich flavor of the beef.

The hamburger steak itself was outstanding. Cooked medium (we weren’t given an option), the patty was fall apart tender – you could cut it with a fork or chopsticks, and full of flavour. I liked my demiglace sauce, as it tasted the most like a reduced Western-style sauce, but it does get quite rich after a while. The original had a tart edge which helped alleviate the richness, but it was also less flavourful. Again, if you’re going with a few people I’d recommend ordering both sauces to share, so that you get the best of both worlds.

Unless you’re very hungry, I’d recommend just getting the 200g patty, since it’s quite rich and it does get a bit monotonous after a while. Better to have more variety by ordering the smaller patty and having a couple of the awesome starters as well.

Ask them about their desserts, because the menu isn’t the most informative (only listing Ice Cream, Sherbet and Dessert of the Day). Tonight they had vanilla and caramel ice creams, peach sherbet, panna cotta and gateau chocolat. A had the panna cotta, which was pretty good, and my caramel ice cream rocked. It was a burnt caramel, much like the one at Kazu http://atetoomuch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/kazu.html, so it wasn’t cloyingly sweet and was a perfect way to end the meal.

An amazing find. We’ll definitely be back.

A says:

I recommend the starters (under $30 each). The hamburg steak is good and still affordable. We’ll definitely be back for that combo.

For a casual dinner, the conventional steaks are just too rich (in price) for my blood though. With the chateaubriand costing over $200, they better be good too. Maybe for a very, very, very, vey special occasion. Like winning the lottery.

Masa Steak & Hamburg

11 Unity Street

#01-03 Robertson Walk

Tel: 6836-2529

Open daily: 6 pm – 11 pm

Bedrock Bar & Grill

C says:

The specialty at Bedrock, a steakhouse run by the guys behind Oriole, is their Tomahawk steak, a massive Flintstonian-sized 400-day grain fed F1 wagyu long-bone ribeye, with a marbling score of 5. With each cut averaging 1.5 kg, there's no way A and I could have had it on our own.

Cue W and M, who indulged us by joining us for dinner and sharing it with us. At first we were a bit stunned when we found out the price of the Tomahawk - an eye-popping $345, but after doing the math, we realised that at about $85 per person, it would've cost the same if we'd each ordered our own steak.

The mammoth steak arrived already pre-carved and sliced, on a platter with 5 different sauces. The meat was very well salted, and grilled to a perfect medium rare. It didn't even need the sauces, though the wholegrain mustard added a nice tart kick.

We started with a baked camembert that was outstanding. The cheese was creamy and oozy, and was topped with black pepper and capers to cut through the richness of the cheese.

For dessert, we shared the waffle ice cream sandwich, with honey and fig ice cream, though A had most of it. This was really good - the waffle was crisp and light, and I liked the flavour of the ice cream. I still prefer L'Entrecote's saltcaramel waffle though.

Bedrock's steak prices are pretty high, with most steaks hovering around the $70 to $90 mark. With prices rivalling those at Cut or Morton's, I'm not sure that Bedrock can really justify them. Sure, the Tomahawk was good but it wasn't lifechanging. I actually found the camembert and the dessert more memorable. And the complimentary pita bread with roasted garlic.

A says:

Very good food. Very high prices. I’m not sure it’s worth it so I’d only recommend it if you have a very large food budget.

  

Bedrock Bar & Grill

96 Somerset Road

#01-05 Pan Pacific Serviced Residences

Tel: 6238-0054

Mon–Sat: 12pm–2.30pm, 6.30pm–12mn
(Closed on Sun)

www.bedrock.com.sg

Lawry’s The Prime Rib

C says:

We haven't been to Lawry's in years; to be honest it's never really been on our radar, since prices aren't all that cheap relative to quality. One of A's friends bought us all dinner there on Sunday night for his birthday, so we got to check out the restaurant's relatively new digs in Mandarin Gallery.


Their signature salad is the Lawry's Spinning Bowl salad, so termed because they toss the salad with a signature dressing in a spinning bowl laid over a bed of ice. I guess the ice keeps the greens fresh, and the spinning ensures that each leaf is completely coated in dressing.

I pity the waitresses dressed in the French maid outfits and very unfortunately designed headpieces though. Neither ours nor the one at the neighbouring table did the salad performance with enough conviction to ward off the inevitable snarky comments.


We ordered some starters for the table to share. The seared scallops were ok, but the crab cakes were very impressive.



They're obviously known for their prime rib, but I'm not a fan of slow roasted beef. I tend to prize flavour over extreme tenderness, so I prefer steaks that have a good sear to them but still medium rare inside. I ordered the fillet mignon which was indeed all of the above.


A on the other hand loves prime rib. He had the Lawry's cut, which was 280g, and enjoyed every mouthful. I agree it was good, but I still preferred mine.



Desserts were a bit hit and miss. Their specialty dessert, the crepes suzette which was prepared tableside, was quite underwhelming. The brownie and mud pie were pretty ok though.

There was a slightly awkward moment though, when one of our friends discovered a fly in their red wine. Since we never noticed a fly falling in, we thought it may have come from the bottle. The manager wasn't very apologetic, and kept insisting that it couldn't have come from inside the bottle, and only offered a glass of house red as compensation. It was only after our hostess got quite firm with them, that they relented and either gave a discount off the bill, or didn't charge for the bottle of wine.

So, did this visit change our mind about Lawry's? To be honest, I still maintain that while I'm not averse to going, it still wouldn't be a place that I would consciously choose.

A says:

Lawry’s standard has declined dramatically over the years. While it’s improved somewhat since moving to Mandarin Gallery, I can’t say I’ve been reconverted.

Food-wise, my prime rib was great, and some of the desserts were not bad, but everything else was very ordinary and not worth the price. I guess what you’re paying for is the service with servers dressed up. And honestly, only two of the people serving us were any good. The rest were rather incompetent. Overall, I’d rate this as okay. You could probably consider it if you’re going for a special occasion and you want a bit of drama in the presentation. Just don’t expect too much from anything besides the mains.

Lawry’s The Prime Rib
333A Orchard Road
#04-01/31 Mandarin Gallery
Tel: 6836-3333
www.lawrys.com.sg

Pepper Steakhouse & Bistro

C says:

This review, and our experience of Pepper, changed dramatically in the last 15 minutes or so of our visit. We started out quite enthused, but by the end I was seething and couldn't wait to get out of there.

First off, Pepper is not to be confused with Pepper Lunch, the casual/fast food chain from Japan. Pepper Steakhouse is actually part of the folks behind The Pump Room (literally; the restaurant has been carved out of The Pump Room's premises at Great World City). They decided to open their own steakhouse, sourcing almost exclusively grass-fed beef, after being dissatisfied with the quality they were getting from their purveyors.

The restaurant is still pretty new - I think it's still only in soft launch phase, so from now till 30 November they're offering 15% off your bill. I guess just-opened jitters accounted for our experience, though to be fair if we judged them purely on their food they would still score pretty highly.

In addition to quite a selection of typical mains, they have signature steaks, currently from five different breeds. Besides their sharing cuts for two (an Entrecote and a Chateaubriand), the rest of their steaks come in 200 gram portions, and range from a very decent $32 to $38 (for the non-wagyu beef).

After much deliberation, we decided to try a ribeye from a New Zealand Harmony Prime Beef, and a tenderloin from a New Zealand Savannah Black Angus. Both medium rare.



It's usually the case that ribeyes are a more flavourful cut but tend to have a bit more bite, compared to tenderloins which are tender but lack much beefy flavour. But comparing the two, the tenderloin came out the clear winner in both departments. Much better texture and flavour, and even the colour of the meat was far superior. The ribeye was rosy, whereas the tenderloin was a deep red, almost burgundy - the mark of good aging. That's not to say that the ribeye wasn't good, it was; just that the tenderloin was much better.

You can choose from a selection of sauces - we picked wild mushroom and bearnaise, but firstly the sauces weren't good, and anyway the meat was good enough without any sauce.


The steaks come with free flow fries, but they're the thick cut steak fries. They're still quite addictive, and at least they serve good ketchup. We ordered a creamed spinach which was more of a sauteed spinach in cream sauce, but was pretty good anyway.


We ordered a starter of crab cakes with a watercress salad and mango chutney, which came in a decently sized portion and was pretty good. Wasn't bursting with crab meat but what do you expect for $18.


We tried the chocolate lava cake which was decent, but the cake had a weird alcoholic flavour to it that we couldn't put our finger on.

That was the food. Now on to the bad stuff. Firstly, I don't know if it was just this particular night, but we were plagued with screaming babies all night. And parents who were content to let them continue wailing.

Then the service. Food took a while to arrive, which was bad enough but still forgiveable. What wasn't, was the fact that I had to wait 15 minutes after giving them my credit card, for them to bring it back to me for signing. After 5 minutes I got impatient and started chasing them. After 10 minutes I started asking anyone who walked by and when still nothing materialised, I was really pissed. Finally when they brought the credit card slip there was nary an apology, and the waitress only muttered an insincere "sorry" to A, not to me although I was the one who was (a) paying, and (b) looking almost murderous by then.

So, food-wise yes, I think I would recommend Pepper for the quality of the meat and the price you pay for it. But if they don't improve the service then I don't think the food is worth the angst.

A says:

I hope this place just has teething problems because our service, while polite, was incredibly slow. As was the kitchen. And a 15 minute wait to pay is plain bad.

Food-wise, the crabcakes, spinach and harmony ribeye were good, while the savannah tenderloin was excellent. Everything else sucked. Especially the steak sauces (thankfully served on the side) and the horrible molten chocolate cake.

We’ll probably be back later next month (while the opening 15% promo is still on) to give them another chance. But if the service and the kitchen are going to be as bad, they’ll definitely get a not recommended rating.

Pepper Steakhouse and Bistro
1 Kim Seng Promenade
#01-66/67 Great World City
Tel: 6887-3229
Mon - Fri: 10am - 10pm
Sat & Sun: 9am - 10pm

Hippopotamus: An update

C says:

We finally went back to Hippopotamus to try their steaks, this time with A’s folks. We thought we’d do a taste test, so we ordered the Prime Rib for 2-3 persons from the “Premium Meat” section, and the Ribsteak on the bone, from the regular section of the menu.



OMG, it was SOO bad that I’ve now concluded that probably the only thing worth having here is actually the Tartare Grill that I had the last time. Both steaks were full of sinew and fat, and were tough, tasteless, underseasoned and poorly cooked.


We ordered the dessert sampler, which came with tasting portions of a Floating Island, chocolate crepe, crème brulee, fruit salad and a mango sorbet. The Floating Island and chocolate crepe were passable, I didn’t try the crème brulee, and the fruit salad and mango sorbet were both afterthoughts.

To say this was disappointing is a huge understatement; I can’t remember when I’ve been this angry at such poor food.

A says:

Good service. Bad food. The only thing I can recommend here is the seared steak tartare.

Hippopotamus Restaurant Grill
6 Raffles Boulevard
#01-204/205
Marina Square
Tel: 6338-5352
Open daily: 11 am to 10 pm

Hippopotamus Restaurant Grill

C says:

I asked A to pick a dinner place at Marina Square tonight, but when he suggested Hippopotamus Grill, I thought he’d gone a bit loony. I was under the impression that this was another Malaysian chain restaurant, like Meatworks, so it was with some trepidation and very muted expectations that I approached the Hippo.

I’m ashamed to admit that I got it all wrong. Firstly, it’s a bona fide French chain, and more importantly, the food is actually pretty decent for the price. We started with the roasted bone marrow served with buttered toast. The marrow was well seasoned, but I think it was also roasted for a tad too long, because the marrow had started to render quite a bit of fat. Good effort, but I wouldn’t order it again.

We’d read some good things about their steak tartare, and I saw that they also had an option of a grilled tartare – their steak tartare already mixed with the egg, capers and other condiments, then very lightly seared on both sides. This is probably sacrilege to steak tartare connoisseurs, but for someone like me who still finds pure steak tartare a little too queasy, this is a perfect compromise.

The meat was roughly hand-minced so it still had some texture, it was well seasoned, and the beef itself was very flavourful. The grill added a nice smoky char, and also cooked the surface just enough to add some bite, yet still retaining the raw interior. Essentially, this was a very tasty, perfectly rare burger patty.

A ordered the Hippo burger, which had sautéed onions and gruyere cheese. The patty was a bit too thin to impart a whole lot of beefy flavour, and there wasn’t enough cheese either. Still, at $14.90 you can’t really ask for too much. The side salad had a kick-ass vinaigrette, but the potato gratin was a bit ordinary.

A was feeling quite retro, so we ordered the molten chocolate cake for dessert. I found this alright, but A was somewhat disappointed, mainly by the ice cream.

Because I came with absolutely no expectations, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. They have a decent array of steaks here at fairly reasonable prices, and I’m quite keen to come back to try them. Maybe we’ll do a taste test of their premium vs non-premium steaks, to see if we can really taste the difference.

A says:

Unlike C, I had higher expectations for this place. But things started looking bleak when I arrived and saw the very open layout. Still for want of anywhere else as interesting in Marina Square, we decided to give it a try.

All things considered, it was a pretty good meal. The service was good. The seared steak tartare was great, but the Hippo burger disappointed for lack of cheesy flavour. The biggest disappointment was the rock hard ice cream with my molten chocolate cake.

Still, the steak selection looked very interesting so we’ll probably be back at least once to try them. I’ll reserve final judgement until then except to say that if ambience is a big thing for you, then maybe you should give this place a miss.

Hippopotamus Restaurant Grill

6 Raffles Boulevard

#01-204/205

Marina Square

Tel: 6338-5352

Open daily: 11 am to 10 pm