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Steak

The Market Grill @Telok Ayer (Singapore)

March 13, 2014
@CBD, @Chinatown, @Raffles Place, @Singapore, @Tanjong Pagar, Steak, Western/International/American
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Groundhog Steak.

imageYaya I know, Market Grill AGAIN!? But I couldn’t help it; I had told my friend so much about my last two visits here that she really wanted to try it and I just couldn’t come up with any good reason why not to. And I can’t even remember what exactly my dish was called, just that it was on the special’s board that night. The beef was fantastic though, a l’entrećote cut, broiled to a perfect medium rare with a nice char, bloody and juicy and topped with a thick truffle infused lentil gravy. I absolutely enjoyed the meat and the gravy was pretty interesting but somehow the strong fancy truffle flavors didn’t really work for me with the rather rustic lentils. Nevertheless a good dish overall.

The Market Grill
208 Teok Ayer Street
Singapore 068642
Tel: +65 6221 3323
http://themarketgrill.com.sg/

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The Market Grill @Telok Ayer Street (Singapore)

January 4, 2014
#Meat, @Chinatown, @Raffles Place, @Singapore, @Tanjong Pagar, Steak, Western/International/American
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Meat me up, Scotty!

imageA friend organized a get together at ‘Market Grill’ on Telok Ayer tonight and as I had heard a lot about this place I was a bit excited to finally try it out.

I had done my research and since pretty much all mains cost about the same here (S$40-50) my mind was set on ‘Boston Lobster‘. When the waiter was taking our order though almost everyone ordered a burger of some sort, so all over sudden I felt more like beef and spontaneously changed my order to the ‘Bavette‘. This turned out not being a bad choice at all as it was grilled-medium rare on spot, with a nice char that gave it an even more rustic texture and flavor. The juices stayed inside the meat, where they belong and together with the heavy glazed onions and the quite sharpish pepper sauce this became a fantastic combination of flavors that did almost let me forget their over-average pricing.

‘Market Grill’ is a nice bistro style restaurant, similar to ‘L’Entrecote‘, with great food and overly kind waiters that patiently helped me re-arrange the table-chair-ratio for about three times. Despite the slightly high price tag it’s a very popular and busy place, so if you are a bigger group it would be a good idea to come by early as they don’t take reservations and the space for groups bigger than four is very limited. Anyhow, I will return here soon to finally get my hands on that delicious looking lobster. Can’t wait.

The Market Grill
208 Teok Ayer Street
Singapore 068642
Tel: +65 6221 3323
http://themarketgrill.com.sg/

Intrepid Gastro Bar @Far East Square (Singapore)

September 7, 2013
#Meat, @CBD, @Singapore, Australian, Steak, Western/International/American
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Back for the groin…ehm, loin.

 imageI came back to ‘Intrepid’ to meet with two friends over lunch and to try their ‘Char Grilled Kangaroo Loin‘ I had spotted on my last visit. I must have overlooked the elevated price of S$38 back then but since I was already here I clenched my teeth and ordered it anyway.

It was a very generous portion and looked delicious which would’ve been fine if my friend hadn’t pointed out its’ resemblence to a male p…hallus. Again clenching my teeth and having a laugh I deconstructed it a little bit on the plate to destroy any misleading similarities and started digging in. There was some light salad and an amazing side of pan tossed veggies with barley that had a great new texture and tasted fantastic, well seasoned and light. The roo loin was wrapped in thicker slices of parma ham which added some salti- and smokiness. The meat was perfectly grilled to a medium – medium rare, was tender and soft and had a light gamy flavor. The peach chunks sprinkled on top reminded me more of baked apples but fitted the richness of the meat nicely nevertheless. Fantastic dish.

I liked coming back here, a nice place for brunch, lunch or just hanging out over a coffee or a beer and if you take the time to have a chat with the people running it you quickly realize they are very passionate about what they are doing, their food, their ingredients and everything else which you can feel and taste as well. Besides, most other mains are rather moderatly priced below or in the early twenties so it’s not just a place for special occasions. Good on ya guys.

Intrepid Gastro Bar
40 Pekin Street
#01-01 Far East Square
Singapore 048770
Tel: +65 9068 8297

Suprette @Jalan Besar (Singapore)

August 26, 2013
@Farrer Park, @Lavender, @Little India, @Singapore, Steak, Steak & Frites, Western/International/American
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Dude, Where’s my Marrow?

imageWow, my friend was really super hungry so everything had to be decided rather quickly and be at best around the corner. From the places I had lined up close by most weren’t open so we head over to Jalan Besar to check out ‘Suprette’ in the basement of the Kam Leng Hotel I had read about. We were greeted warmly by the staff and the interior seemed nice and cosy, something similar to a small bistro.

My friend had the ‘Suprette Burger‘ and I ordered the ‘Hanger Steak & Marrow‘ which was the actual reason I had this place on my radar in the first place. When it came to the table it looked pretty tasty, all meaty with a mountain of golden fries. The hanger steak was brilliant, even though cooked slightly over medium and somewhat coldish, it had this rich beef flavor, more rustic and was completely lean which was totally my thing. The fries on the contraty were like hot sticks, crispy and so perfectly salted that I didn’t touch the salt shaker even once for the whole dinner. One thing I missed though was the bone marrow which I thought to remember from pictures of other blogs. I wasn’t quite sure so I asked the staff if it maybe was incorporated into the sauce or something which I didn’t really get a proper answer to and the sauce surely was creamy and delicious but nothing about it really reminded me of buttery marrow. After i had finished up my meal another gentlemen approached us and told me politely that I would now get a two dollars rebate as normally this dish was including half a grilled bone of marrow which they ran out of about a week ago. Usually I would have said something but I wasn’t really in the moment then and actually was quite puzzled realizing I just ate a multilated dish and only was told about it afterwards. Not cool man.

At last ‘Suprette’ really is a nice place close to home with some wicked free flow fries and great steak but honestly, this situation could have been handled so much better. I think it’s ridiculous to hold a grudge over something tiny like half a missing bone so when I’ll eventually get over this tragedy in my life I will return here to finally try a flawless and completely intact hanger steak and this time I just buy myself an extra portion of marrow for the two dollars that I saved tonight.

Suprette
383 Jalan Besar
Kam Leng Hotel Lobby
Singapore 20900
Tel: +65 6298 8962
http://www.suprette.com/

Roessle @Auf Dem Graben (Waldenbuch, Germany)

July 23, 2013
@Germany, @Waldenbuch, German, Steak, Swabian (Schwaebisch)
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Spaetzle = Home

imageIt was my sister’s birthday and my mom had booked a table at ‘Restaurant Roessle’ in Waldenbuch where we met family and some of my sis’s friends. They had changed their menu slightly since I have been here the last time but all the old favorites were still there.

I ordered the ‘Rinderfillet Jaeger Art‘ (beef fillet with mushrooms) and remembered to order it rather rare what my recent visit at the ‘Bootshaus‘ had teached me. The first cut into the lovely charred meat proofed that this was the right decision as it was perfectly rose and juice in the center with a surprisingly strong beefy taste for a lean cut like this. The mushroom sauce was rich and creamy but tasted so delicious I completely wiped it off the plate using the tasty handmade spaetzle (local type of pasta). The spaetzle were soft, fluffy and light and were sprinkled with in butter fried breadcrumbs that coated them with more texture and flavor. Home.

‘Roessle’ had been around for some generations and offers a very nice selection of regional specialities in a more up market atmosphere which also has it’s price tag and makes it a place for rather special occasions. Also the service is more than friendly and the salad bar is awesome, just saying.

http://www.landgasthofroessle.de/

Roessle – Landgasthof Hotel
Auf dem Graben 5
71111 Waldenbuch
Germany
Tel: +49 7157 7380

Bootshaus @Neckarufer (Heidelberg, Germany)

July 15, 2013
@Germany, @Heidelberg, Steak, Western/International/American
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Steak at the river.

imageAfter my Germany trip had kicked off with the beautiful wedding of my beautiful sister I had to face reality and go to Heidelberg for a week’s work. On Monday evening then I went together with a colleague to meet some friends that just had moved back to Heidelberg from India. We met for dinner at the ‘Bootshaus’ and were lucky enough to get a seat outside on their little terrace overlooking the banks of the Neckar river.

I had their ‘400gr Rumpsteak‘ which was fantastic. The meat was very lean but still had a very strong beef flavor and was nicely juicy. The charred crust of the steak was super crisp from the broiling and added a nice new texture to the humongous piece of meat. The kicker was their garlic/herbal butter that was extremely creamy and tasted heavenly together with the beef. The side salad was good but drowned in dressing and the roasted potatoes were perfect crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. I loved this steak but I wished I had remembered that a German medium always tends a little more towards well done.

I liked this place a lot as it was particularly nice on this scenic sunny afternoon sitting on their terrace, overlooking the river and enjoying great quality food served up by their very attentive and friendly waiters.

http://www.dasbootshaus.com/

Das Bootshaus
Schurmanstrasse 2
69115 Heidelberg
Germany
Tel: +49 6221 25396

Blue Butcher @Hollywood Road (Hong Kong, China)

June 22, 2013
@China (PRC), @Hong Kong, @Sheung Wan, @Soho, Roasted Chicken, Steak, Western/International/American
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Meat Heaven is Close

imageThe evening of the actual farewell party had arrived and to kick off the night we had a guys dinner before meeting up with the girls for some drinking games in Wan Chai. My mate chose the ‘Blue Butcher’ which was just a 2 minute walk away from the apartment that I had rented for the weekend.

For starters we had besides others the ‘Truffle Fries‘ that were actually made with real truffles rather than truffle oil and tasted great and crisp.

imageAnother one was the ‘Bone Marrow‘ that came together with delicious crusty toasted bread, some arugula with caper berries and sea salt. Putting all ingredients together this became a delicious combination of flavors.

imageThen we had the ‘Compressed Organic Tomato with Burrata‘ which consisted of green and red tomatos that were skinned and glazed with a light tasteless oil as well as a knot of burrata cheese. The cheese was light with only a very little creamy center which I liked but real burrata fanatics might feel let down by. The tomatoes on the other side were refreshingly cool and had a clean tomato-y taste with a nice texture. This was pretty okay but still kinda just tomatoes.

As mains we ordered the ‘Australian Wagyu Bone in Ribeye‘ 32 ounces rare and the ‘Free Range Charred French Chicken‘. The steak was absolutely amazing in quality and taste. It had a strong char on the outside so the fat had melted and the inside was wonderful red and moist with a lovely marbling and a good fatty flavor mixing with the beef aroma. Brilliant. The chicken came accompanied by some crunchy caramelized carrots and was wonderful moist and glazed with slightly sweetish sauce. Tasty stuff.

The ‘Blue Butcher’ is a stylish and modern place that sure comes with a price tag but therefore you’ll get a great ambience and some amazing food. Nothing for every day dining but definitely a place for a special night. Pretty good.

The Blue Butcher
108 Hollywood Road
Central
Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
Tel: +852 2613 9286
http://www.bluebutcher.com/