Beefy Goodness

This is a backdated review, as I ate it around early Feb 2018. Bought the rice box on the owner’s recommendation. I was given the choice to add either garlic or seaweed flavoured powder to my rice, which I added a little of both.

However, I found the sushi rice to be abit too sour for my liking. As for the beef cubes, I felt that the flavoured powder could have been added in when searing the beef, so that we need not have to worry abt over-seasoning the dish. Some parts of the beef was also too chewy.

Lastly, I note that they do not have a proper menu up for easy reference. The owners have to constantly repeat and advertise how much it cost for beef cubes and for the rice box. Note that they were selling drinks as well. A menu would have been better to save the need to state the price verbally. (Disclaimer: this might have changed since I went there in early Feb 2018)

Made a reservation for two at 7pm on a friday night. We arrived late, at around 7.20pm as it was raining and the restaurant was a little difficult to find. We walked from outram mrt, but first time visitors should come fron tanjong pagar mrt instead as its nearer.

When we arrived, there was a few customers in the restaurant. The restaurant gives a vibe of "atas japanese". It was quiet and cosy. We were seated at the bar table area. The Japanese chef who greeted us was friendly and can converse in English well. We ordered the A4 Wagyu Beef Set ($38++) and A4 Wagyu Donburi ($25++) to share, and 2 pints of sapporo draft beers.

We were served the sides of kimchi and bean sprouts first. Both were crunchy and each have their unique taste. The kimchi was not too overwhelming and taste was just nice. Personally I preferred the bean sprouts though! Next, the beef donburi was served. We chose the one paired with foie gras. You can choose from foie gras, salmon roe, sea urchin or caviar. The foie gras was seared nicely and it melts in the mouth. There was abit of tendon inside the foie gras but this could be ignored. The beef was quite raw as you can tell from the photo. It was seared on the sides only and sliced. There were 9 pieces. They suggested 3 ways for us to eat it, in a particular order. First was on its own, then add the crunchy rice pops and seaweed, and last was to add the dashi stock. I personally prefer to add the dashi stock as it adds another level to the taste and texture of the rice and beef. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Next, came the exciting part. They used a crystal plate to grill the beef. The set comes with 6 slices of beef, salad, pickles. Funny thing is I rmb reading that there was supposed to be a bowl of beef curry rice as well but we weren't served that. It was until now when I'm writing this review then I realised that we were not served that. Hmm... 😪

The experience of the staff grilling the meat in front of you, is one of a kind. The anticipation grows as the smell of heavenly grilled beef danced in my nostrils. We were told that we are going to have the shoulder and thigh. There was one more but I couldn't rmb the type, it was either fillet or belly. Heh.

We had the shoulder first. It was quite buttery and it's the one in highest fat content, very different from the usual beef that we eat. Then we had fillet/belly. This part had lesser fat content and was a bit hard to bite off. I was trying not to finish each slice in one mouth as I want to enjoy it to the maximum based on what I paid 😂. The staff suggested for us to pair it with their in house special sauce. It was quite nice, sweet and sour paired with the beef 😍. Lastly, was the thigh. This had the least fat content. The chef also asked us for the doneness. We opted for medium rare. We were suggested to paired it with the smoked salt, which we did. It was heavenly! However they also said not to put too much as it might overpower the beef natural juices.

All in all, it was a good experience. The restaurant was classy and cosy. It was private enough to have a decent conversation with my friend. Other than our "missing beef curry rice", I think everything was good! The draft beer taste rather nice when paired with the beef as well! Total bill came up to be around $104. Rather pricey, but good enough for the quality of beef 👍 would come back again if there's a special occasion!