A Cut above*

*Didja see that?  I made a funny!

Yeah anyway.

They had made a good first impression and I wanted more.  In fact, I’d liked it so much that I brought my best girlfriends with me!

Dress: alice+olivia

Oh, and most of the photos here were provided by my beech.  I hate to admit it, but her Leica takes better nighttime pictures than my Canon.

At 9:30pm, Cut was packed.  We ordered ourselves some cocktails and took pictures while waiting for our table.

And we waited.  For our cocktails.  JUST for the cocktails.  So that by the time our cocktails arrived, it was time to be seated inside.  *facepalm*

We were very quickly cheered up.  There is something on the cocktail menu for everyone.  Leanna was happy with her Samurai Sword, a potent whiskey concoction; my beech liked the Crouching Tiger that I ordered last time so much that she ordered it for herself!  I ordered the Show Me Love, a sweet lychee cocktail.

It didn’t take long for the charming boys at Cut to bombard us with appetizers.  (To think we had already snacked at Ku De Ta!)  The exquisite Ahi tuna tartare made a repeat appearance, as did the Kobe sliders (this time with less salt – perfect!)  We were also introduced to tiny cheese gougères (served cold and a little chewy) and the crunchiest Parmesan cheese sticks.  All cheese sticks should be made that way – freshly made and with Parmesan baked right on top and all over.

I took a little intermission to visit the prep kitchen, which was just on the other side of the wall of our booth.  I had a little chat with Chef Russ while he assembled a few appetizers.  I was also introduced to Chef Lee, a man of few words and many hand gestures.  Once inside the main kitchen (Chef Lee: “The kitchen has never been this quiet.”), I watched the staff (Cut is one of the most well-manned restaurants I have ever visited) cook, cut, clean, and carefully carry out prepared dishes.  Chef de Cuisine Joshua was pointed out, and the bald fellow next to him was in charge of cooking our steaks to perfection.  On the other side of the wall, a baked Alaska and a banana dessert emerged from behind various shiny doors… and then Alex, our tour guide, mentioned chocolate soufflés.  Soufflés! I was skipping on the inside as we returned to our booth, though I would’ve been happy to observe the kitchen for another five minutes.

You can’t go to Cut and not help yourself to a cut of meat.  Thankfully, both my friends are not vegetarians.  (Otherwise, I wouldn’t have invited them!  Fancy going to a steakhouse and ordering a salad.)

We were shown the various cuts of beef; these are Australian and American beef, if I recall correctly.  Look at all that marbling…  Holy crap y’all.

I read menus like they’re novels; good menus are poetry.  I made a meal of two appetizers, which were our main server’s best recommendations; one was the Kobe steak sashimi with not-so-spicy spicy radishes; the other was described like so:

Maple-glazed pork belly, Fuji apple persimmon salad, spiced almonds, sesame-orange dressing.

Both were excellent.  I like the fresh greens to add a clean flavor to each bite.  The steak sashimi was tender, fresh, meaty.  The pork belly wasn’t too heavy; the flavors were balanced and creatively composed.

My companions went with what they came for: STEAK. I present to you the filet mignon and the dry New York strip (with a side of Bordelaise sauce).

They’re the strangest shapes of their respective cuts of beef I’ve ever seen, but then again, I don’t eat steak but a few times a year.  The filet mignon was a tad dry.  (I didn’t taste the NY strip.)

To accompany the big slabs of meat and with some suggestions, we also ordered the asparagus with warm bacon vinaigrette (come to think of it, where was the poached egg?), soft polenta with Parmesan (THE best polenta I have ever eaten – of the finely-milled variety, gooey, and so cheesy!), and the roasted fingerling potatoes with smoked bacon (huge chunks of it!) and pearl onions.

Already about to explode, those boys at Cut were not about to let us go without dessert.

Actually, two of them.

The banana and chocolate dessert was so exquisite.  Layers of banana slices, hazelnuts, banana and vanilla creams with a dollop of chocolate sauce make for a winning combination.

The chocolate soufflé was positively dreamy.  Perfectly light as a cloud and rich with dark chocolate, hot and spongy on the inside (perfect for soaking up the dark chocolate sauce!), and accompanied by a tangy creme (creme fraîche, perhaps?), I was swooning.  It was heavenly.

As if that wasn’t enough, we were presented with some parting gifts.  The cheeky server (or perhaps it was Chef Lee!) had arranged our little post-dinner sweets in such a way (so Alvin claimed) that each bar was in front of the person it represented; apparently, he (or they) thought I’m a little nutty.  HAR HAR HAR, GUYS! Leanna’s chocolate bar was dark and smooth, while Beech’s lemon bar was bright and tart.  Definitely leave room for this trio…  It’s very difficult to!

Adam, the general manager, wasn’t around this time, but we did get to meet Wes.  Finally, a restaurant in Singapore with excellent service and, perhaps more importantly to me, friendly and charming staff!

As far as value goes, I think this restaurant is worth the price.  It is comparable to any good restaurant in the SF Bay Area and you get service that is extremely rare in Singapore.  I, personally, enjoy chit-chatting with charming staff and I have a soft spot for the way Americans do it.  If you’re not a beef person, go for the cocktails and tuna tartare!  You are not likely to be disappointed!

Tags: alice+olivia, singapore