7th year wedding anniversary.
Booked on this site 4 days prior and received a phone call from the staff the very next day.
I had a female member of staff speaking in Cantonese which was nice a nice touch as I'm Chinese but born in Eng... you know what, there's no need to talk about my personal life but rest assured that the restaurant caters to both English and Cantonese-speaking clientele (as if anyone who is Chinese-speaking is going to read this review! Ha!)
I called a few hours before service to enquire if we could be seated at 18:30 instead of 19:00 which was my original booking but was told that the restaurant was fully-booked. It didn't matter to me because I'd not expected a different answer owing to my late request but what was curious was that upon arriving at 18:40 (we were told we could wait in the bar area if early) there were a number of tables empty. But hey-ho, it is what it is and I'm not complaining.
Our maitre D was a pleasant lady who spoke to us in English and she was polite and didn't mind when I asked if she could take some photos for us as we wanted to mark the occasion (and we got sat next to the window overlooking the harbour). Bit of a disclaimer; the er...pictures she took weren't exactly flattering and I'm not exactly what you call "trim" but I did laugh inwardly when my missus suddenly look like she gained a few pounds because of the "angles"... you know what I mean.
Argh. I monologued.
Here's what we ordered;
- One Lobster bisque
- Two Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
- Morton's Prime Ocean Platter for two
- Dry-aged Ribeye
- Whiskey Infused Dry-aged Ribeye
- Lyonnaise Potatoes
- Lobster Macaroni & Cheese
- Rosemary mocktail
- Passion mocktail (I think. I can't remember).
- Lobster Bisque: Rich and savoury with some creaminess. Not heavy. A little lobster claw which was delicate and sweet.
- Jumbo Crab Cakes: Someone on here commented that they were huge. They were not. They tasted OK (and by that I mean it was just a regular crab cake; it certainly didn't impress me) and came with a mayonaise/tabasco/ worcestershire sauce kind of "crab cake sauce" that was more spicy and sour than tangy.
- Morton's Prime Ocean Platter for two (cold): Lobster tail, Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, Oysters, Jumbo Lump Crabmeat, Ahi Tuna Poke.
Lobster tail: cold and while it was OK, it was a bit difficult to pull out from the shell. I brought out the inner caveman in me and used my fingers to pull it out. *beats chest like a Neanderthal*.
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail: Two Shrimp with the cocktail sauce on the side. A little bog-standard. Nothing new to comment. Shrimp not very sweet and needed cocktail sauce to spruce it up. Cocktail sauce erring more on spicy and tangy side.
Oysters: I couldn't remember where they were from but they had a faint sweet finish. Think Gillardeau but a quarter of the sweetness. These were small and plump.
Jumbo Lump Crabmeat: Lumps of crabmeat. I tried it with the cocktail sauce, vinaigrette and crab cake sauce (see above if you wanted to know what it was) and it matched best with the cocktail sauce (but I would have preferred if it was sweeter- but that's my personal opinion).
Ahi Tuna Poke: Very tasty tuna with two crispy slivers of some sort of tortilla (they weren't tortilla) crisp. Very moreish. Best out of the lot.
Dry-aged Ribeye (Medium to Medium rare): Had the faintest funky smell that I hear so much from gastronomes off youTube. Though Medium-rareish, it was slightly firm but nonetheless succulent. Missus couldn't stop eating it (and neither could I!)
Whiskey Infused Dry-aged Ribeye (Medium to Medium rare): For a hundred dollars more, this was another "funky" steak but with added whiskey. Really different, the smell was definitely unashamedly in my face. A treat. Must try.
Lyonnaise Potatoes: I'd never had these before. Fried semi-circles of slightly sweet potatoes with a generous amount of fried onions. I thought it was a better option than frites with truffle salt (I love truffles: I just didn't think it would pair too well with a thousand dollar steak, is all).
Lobster Macaroni & Cheese: Get this. It's lobster. It's Mac. It's radiation-coloured cheese; what's NOT to like?
Rosemary mocktail: Surprisingly there wasn't a hint of rosemary; not even a leaf. It was OK. Strawberry syrup, coconut cream and something else. I have work tomorrow and didn't fancy alcohol.
Passion mocktail: Pineapple and something something something else. I didn't try it. Missus was OK with it. Nothing to comment about, really.
And there you have it. Service was nice; the staff were all quietly friendly without wanting to engage into conversation. This is, after all, a romantic setting and there were a few other tables with couples celebrating birthdays and other important occasions.
I have to add that my Whiskey Infused steak came out well-done and after informing a member of staff, they quickly made me a new one which was perfectly done when I pressed on it with my knife- I didn't need to cut into it to know. They were very polite about it.
Bonus: since it was our anniversary, the staff made us a chocolate souffle. It was HUGE. It didn't stop me and my missus wolfing it down. It was that good.
Will I come again?
To be brutally honest, no.
I liked the place for its romantic ambience, setting and views of the harbour, it is second to none.
The steaks... well, I paid handsomely for their best but I'm going to say that there is one other place that is the place to beat. It was close, don't get me wrong but I just happen to prefer another place slightly more.
The crab cake was a tad bit of a disappointment for me, too. There's another place that REALLY makes THE BEST crab cakes but who goes to a steak eatery just for crab cakes, am I right?
Please do come and try it at least once. It's not cheap, but if you're looking for that something "extra" to celebrate, to treat your nearest and dearest or you're a carnivore like me and YOU MUST TRY THEM ALL, then I would recommend you to come. I'm always on the lookout for the ultimate steak. You'll be looked after VERY well in this fine eatery and it seems to me that most, if not all the staff can speak English and a majority of these can also speak Cantonese.
I hope this review gives you a clearer picture to your decision making.
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