Lawry's Prime Rib

We like beef a lot, so if there is a place where they offer good quality steaks, we will make it a point to give it a try. There is this restaurant called the “Lawry’s Prime Rib”, and after doing some research and finding that their prices are not too crazy, we decided to give it a shot!

(source: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/lawry_s_the_prime_rib_singapore_mandarin_gallery/review-photos/#d4c40000)

This place was initially recommended by a colleague. He said he went there once and thought that they offer very nice beef cuts. Looking at its name which says “Prime Rib”, we thought that the experience there will at least be a rather pleasant one since we love prime rib cuts. Well, who doesn’t?

The restaurant has a very classy look. Walking into it makes you feel like Bruce Wayne heading back to his huge mansion. The restaurant is impressively decorated but kinda intimidating. The waitresses wore “classic maid’s dress”, quite an eyesore, hmmm.. doesn’t really matter.

We both ordered The Lawry's Cut which include:

• The Famous Original Spinning Bowl Salad
• Yorkshire Pudding
• Idaho Mashed Potatoes
• Whipped Cream Horseradish

This is what we had for appetizer. Basically its some salad, but you get to see a waitress wearing an awful outfit to perform some spinning maneuver to the salad. Basically they are just mixing it by spinning it. The salad was good! When it was just being served in front of you, you’ll get the adrenaline, that “feeling” that “hmmm.. this must be quite a thing”. Presentation is good, taste is distributed nicely and evenly, vegetables were fresh and crunchy. Simply refreshing, it kinda tickles your palates making you think that the main course must be good.

Tada~

The salad: crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, watercress, shredded beets, chopped eggs and croutons, tomato, tossed with their exclusive Lawry's vintage dressing. 

That's the guy cutting our prime rib. A waiter will ask you about the doneness of your steak. We personally think prime rib is best eaten rare! :)

Whipped Cream Horseradish! One is spicy and the other non-spicy. It taste like wasabi to me though. :o

Here comes the show! Just look at it, stare it for 5 seconds, and you’ll begin to wonder if this was a dream. Look at that steak! It’s just simply GORGEOUS. (Some people may find this disgusting because of the doneness but we prefer it rare) So how did it tasted like? How should it be described? Very very very good! It was just awesome. We liked it so much that even when we were writing about this made us salivate over it. You know? You get that hearty nice warm feeling of a good prime rib cut. The steak was beautifully prepared. Upon serving they will “bathe” the steak with their tasty soupy steak sauce. When you marry these 2 elements together, you’ll understand why it is called a “prime cut”. Because it is simply the best! A prime time from eating a prime cut!

Of course they will offer some side dishes. As you can see, we ordered creamed corn. Nothing much to say about it because we were all too distracted by how good the beef was. The rest just doesn't matter. Haha. NICE! WILL DEFINITELY RECOMMEND IT! Suddenly..... some James Bond walked out of the blue with this. A complimentary Birthday Cake! (It was the month of my birthdate and we get to enjoy discount... and this! haha).

That "James Bond" that I mentioned was the restaurant's manager. His name was William.

 

Overall it was very pleasurable experience. The bill was about $200++ for two mains of The Lawry's Cut and a add on of creamed corn. But there was an in-house promotion for birthday, Order 1 main course and 50% off on 2nd main course OR 25% off on main course with minimum 2 main course ordered if you pay by DBS / POSB Credit / Debit Cards. 
The staff was nice enough to calaulate which is the best deal (birthday promo or DBS promo), ended up payment by Debit card is cheaper which cost about $150 plus.

Well done, Lawry’s!

 

Located at:

333A Orchard Road #04-01/31 Mandarin Gallery,
Mandarin Orchard Singapore 238897
Tel: 6836 3333 Fax: 6235 0300
Websit: http://www.lawrys.com.sg/ 

Operating Hours
Sundays - Thursdays: 11.30am - 10.00pm
Fridays / Saturdays / Eve & Public Holidays: 11.30am - 10.30pm
(Last Order at 10.30pm)

Dim Sum: Royal China at Raffles

Well, we heard that there is this very good Dim Sum restaurant at Raffles Hotel. We decided to give it a try. We had good feelings about it because of the positive reviews and how people say that this restaurant made Dim Sum for the Chinese gods. And because it is always fully booked, we were sure that this place will certainly not let us down. We had our reservations made one week in advance. You can see how popular it is and its name, which says “ROYAL CHINA” made us awe even more. Ooooo, must be good!

 

Walking into the restaurant is like walking into a palace. Peaceful environment, soft spoken approachable staff, nice and neat table clothes and napkins, well printed HEAVY menu. In our minds, we were anticipating ultimate food pleasure that would mark our minds and souls forever!

However, it pretty much “stained” us with disappointment. Hey! What’s the big deal with this restaurant? Read on, Let me sayyyy…

To be honest, I am not satisfied with the food. There is literally nothing special about it. If you have tasted let’s say “char siew pau”, spend a moment to imagine how it tasted like… (5 sec). Yes that’s how their char siew pau tasted like. Nothing special at all! Nothing is unique about it, nothing is exciting about it. Everything tasted SO NORMAL. To be honest, quite a number of dishes are still below the “normal expected standards”.  After a few dishes, I changed this restaurant’s name in my heart to “NORMAL CHINA” instead of  “ROYAL CHINA”. You get “normal” food but paying for it at a “royal” price.

Now lets see what we’ve ordered. There’s really nothing special about anything. Looking at it is much better than tasting it.

Crab Roe Xiao Long Bao

This is not in the menu. So if you want to order it you'll have to order it from the staff. It came in just one Bao per basket, and the basket is smaller than an amoebae! It's not the usual sized basket we know that is used to contain char siew buns, so don't expect it to be big. It's just the usual xiao long bao size and it's not worth it at all! I think it's $7 or $8 for a xiao long bao, not worth it. Most of the time, when restaurants serve these small portion dishes, they will most likely be either very special or at least TASTY! (Well, they may have bought it from the food court nearby because all their cooks were on sick leave).

 Custard bun

These buns are one of those dishes that are below standard. The flour is stiff and scattered. The custard doesn't "flow" like what we've expected. When you eat it, it tasted like it has been in the refridgerator for a month and were not heated up enough. Absolute absolute disappointment.

Fried scallop with yam

The yam is at the bottom of the scallop. Taste normal to us. Nothing much to review about it. I guess many Tze Char stalls do it better.

Chee cheong fan in seseme sauce

Thick chalks that were soften by soy sauce and water.

Chicken feet

Taste a little normal.

Steam pork rib

This is bad. The best thing about this dish is the chilli toppings.

Cha siew bun

Just look at it.

Har gao

Steamed prawn dumpling. Taste: normal.

Siew mai

Doesn't taste anything special. Simply said: normal.

Apple Jelly

Taste too sweet! It taste like jam. Jelly is soft and there were some nuts and dried fruit in it. Wouldn't recommend it.

Gui Ling Gao

We were very disappointed. Initially, we thought that at least the restaurant provides good service. But in the end, when its near 3pm, the whole ambience changed. Its almost like their staff are hinting the customers that there is a fire burning down the restaurant and we had to quickly leave. After paying the "royal" bill, we quickly left this "normal" restaurant.

Address:

1 Beach Road

Raffles Hotel Arcade

Introduction

Hi, we are a young couple who loves to eat. Quite often during our meals, we like to discuss a lot about how good or bad it is. So one day, we decided to set up a blog to share our experiences we had on food. After a few initial posts, we decided to not just focus on food, but also our thoughts and reviews on a lot of other things that are worth commenting.

Before you begin reading our posts, we would like to say that all our posts are based on our personal opinions. You may feel some of our comments to be wrong or offensive.  

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