“Celebrity Steak, but overhyped”
I finally had the pleasure of fine dining at Marina Bay Sands, CUT by Michelin 3 star chef Wolfgang Puck, touted one of Singapore’s best steakhouse (if not -the- best). I had to entertain a couple of overseas business associates, so this was my choice of awe. Try to book in advance, CUT by Wolfgang Puck Singapore, despite the very premium price tag, still gets fully booked regularly by rich yuppies and business executives. As you’ve noticed, photos are all pretty pixelated due to the lack of light in the cosy warm restaurant where every customer seems to walk with their wallets perpetually wide open.
Dark wood furniture, dim lights, heavy steak knives, CUT is a modern revamp of the American Steakhouse with a steep price tag slapped on. The menu was just a piece of white paper with a long list of words that made up food names. It’s probably a very long thought out menu for simplicity, but I didn’t like reading it with such little spacing in between lines in the dim light; the typography really irked me.
As I’ve always believed, any good restaurant will first wow you with their breads. There were 4 different home-made starter breads presented, and we immediately regret eating so many. So heed my warning and not go wild on the breads, especially the foccacia.
For starters, we had the Bluefin tuna tartare ($37) with avocado and wasabi Aoili, as well as the heirloom tomato salad ($28) with goat cheese, anchovies and aged balsamic. Somehow fine dining restaurants just like to name their dishes with the exact ingredients used. Frankly I wasn’t really a fan of salad (we’re in a steakhouse, how am I not eating meat?), the heirloom tomato in the salad could have been any other tomato and it would probably taste the same to me.
I really liked the goat cheese and anchovies, but this dish seems to crumble apart and you can’t really eat every single component in 1 taste. Very individually pieced together in my opinion. The balsamic was probably to tie everything together, but it was quite sparse for me to taste the link.
The blue fin tuna tartare on the other hand, was really fresh, soft and just blended so well with the avocado. Eating it with a fork was a real bitch though, with pieces of tuna just falling apart, and the problem with fine dining is that everyone wants to eat in a glamorous and classy fashion. I couldn’t bring myself to scrap the last pieces of tuna off the plate no matter how much I wanted to.
But on to the real reason why we’re here and my 1 true love: Steak. My associates ordered the USDA Prime New York Sirloin steak ($72-$98), while I got the 395g Ribeye steak ($98). We also had the popular sides like Cream Spinach and Yukon Gold Potato Puree ($18 each). A word of caution though, the sides are meant to be shared so don’t order 1 per person.
The cream spinach was yummy, not overly heavy with the cream and quite light. Yukon Gold, an excellent starchy potato choice like the Russet, makes a chunky, fluffy hand-mashed potato. Yes, the restaurant calls it potato purée but we commoners call it mashed or whipped potato ala KFC. Very creamy and smooth, these sides were the perfect traditional pairings with an American Steak.
The USDA steaks- flavourful, beefy, marinated nicely with salt and pepper and rested after grilling so the juices circulate. Our steaks were broiled then charred nicely from the special brick grill, something you can’t normally achieve at home. Also, CUT has a special arrangement with it’s American Steak supplier for first pick of the meat imports, so their quality will definitely be better.
Choice of fresh quality ingredients and minimal other flavours, that’s the main style at CUT although they do provide mustard and some other sauces ($5) if required. Not too bad at all. If you want even fattier and juicy cuts, the Wagyu would be a good choice. I do like marbling, but not to that extreme of melting with a bite though, so I typically stick with the american cuts. Ribeye cap, if available, has really good balance too.
In my opinion though, I have to say that Bedrock Bar and Grill or Morton’s Steakhouse still does a better steak, comparing USDA prime beef to USDA prime beef. The steaks at CUT were just not as juicy as I liked it at Bedrock, and they cost a good 20% more in price. Bedrock isn’t cheap, but still more value for money. Conceptually similar styles too, believing in quality ingredients and filtering out excessive unnatural flavourings.
I think it’s a given that at fine dining restaurants, service is the highest priority. Needless to say, CUT by Wolfgang Puck’s service was as expected.
Damage: $150-$180/pax
CUT by Wolfgang Puck: 10 Bayfront Avenue, The shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, B1-71 | Tel :6688 8517 | Website
*Recommend Reservations
