PUBLISHED December 7th, 2014 04:00 pm | UPDATED February 2nd, 2016 05:23 am
At the new, swanky American steakhouse Sear, there’s something on the menu in bold red font that jumps out at you – the Certified Kobe Beef Rib Eye 2kg (A4), 300 gm Sturia Vintage Caviar Surf & Turf. What’s not to love about the flesh of pampered cows, or sturgeon eggs that, gasp, have been sitting on the shelves? Throw in a killer city view, plush chesterfield couches, cool marble tables and a penthouse so spacious that Kobe cows could roam freely without hitting a tray jack, there is little in the way of a perfect dining experience.
Except that the price to pay for the aforementioned hunk of meat is $6000.
To be fair, not everything at SEAR is priced as vertiginously. A stacked platter of seafood (from Sear’s adjoining oyster bar, Angie’s) parades an army of shellfish fit for a king. At $68 and meant for 2, the Maine Boston lobster is reason enough to order it. Amongst the selection, the Jumbo Shrimp and Alaska King Crab pirouette above all, with that precise hue of pink that hollers ‘Eat me!’ and that exact level of chill that brings out the flesh’s sweetness and bite.
As far as steaks go, you honestly don’t need a month’s paycheck to dine at Sear too, and when the earnest but over-rehearsed server boasts of the Barcelona-imported PIRA charcoal ovens that fire up your steak at 300 degrees Celsius to medium rare, you can almost feel a patina of sophistication instantly descending over the bedazzled punters at the table.
Star billing goes to the Wakanui 21-day dry-aged Sirloin Steak ($88, 300g), with a generous amount of even marbling that imparts a creamy mouthfeel. The 450-day grain-fed Jacks Creek Wagyu Rib Eye ($70, 250g) is a tender and slightly more fatty cut that’s seared to a pitch-perfect doneness, while the Canadian Western Countries Cross Angus Tenderloin ($66,180g) is a little uneven in its fat distribution but nevertheless still juicy, smoky and visceral. The sideshows of sauces, flavoured salts and mustards – if the server isn’t already drained narrating the provenance of the meats – seem like excuses for some theatricality. None are really needed to bully the subtleties of the well-executed quality meats. Having said that, if you absolutely must, Sear’s peppercorn sauce and cumin-caraway salt are worth the adulteration.
A couple of sides deserve mention for departing from steakhouse prosaicness. The Homemade Lemon Rosti ($15) can’t be described without conjuring the ‘crispy on the outside, soft on the inside’ cliché, with an interesting tang that lifts the greasy potatoes. It’s one of many ways Group Executive Chef Claudio Sandri shows his skilful ability in playing with textures and in balancing flavours. Cubes of decompressed watermelon and a sour persillade serve as flavour foils for orbs of unctuous Split Bone Marrow ($18), just like how popcorn kernels and heavily-whipped corn cream provide textural contrasts in what could have been a lifeless Creamy Sweet Corn with Corn Kernels ($16).
Desserts were a hit or miss. On the Tasting Dessert Plate (chef’s selection, $48 for 4 persons), dry chocolate mud cake and stodgy cheesecake share the same stage as a refreshing yogurt sorbet on honeyed crumbs (somewhat like a deconstructed yogurt parfait) as well as slices of exciting, mildly spicy grilled pineapples soaked in gula melaka. No one really comes here for dessert only anyway, so Sear is forgiven.
Heck, no one even comes here wholeheartedly for the food, if we might venture. It’s about basking in the feeling of having arrived, sipping $200-a-bottle housepours, 45 storeys above the Lau Pa Sat-thronging hoi polloi. It’s the feeling of ordering Kobe showered with caviar to the gasps of flattered on-lookers. In some way, it’s the feeling of your pocket being seared as you enjoy exquisitely seared steaks at the same time.
Have you been to Sear Restaurant? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comments.