Glorious Meats

The restaurant takes on a fresh new look [as opposed to the darker hues of its former resident], allowing beams of sunlight to stream through its floor-to-ceiling window panes.

What a lovely place to be on a Thursday arvo!

Stay tuned to Gourmet Adventures for more updates on this new establishment.

If rich hearty' your thing, New York style delicatessen Sacha & Sons is the place to be. I've got crispy latkes with sour cream and apple sauce, sweet matzo brei with house-made strawberry jam, meat platter of a variety of house-cured beef, pickles and slaw, and one of my favorites; chopped liver with sauerkraut! That's not all though, there's still bagel with gravlax, grilled reuben with pastrami and Swiss cheese... Yummy! Stay tuned to our review on GourmetAdventures.net!

Meat lovers will delight in the 35-day dry aged sirloin steak of perfect doneness, accompanied by chicken liver crostini, deep fried sage and (it’s back to Italy) with a sprinkle of Italian truffles. We’ve got our heart set on the lobster al forno, an Italian classic of absolutely fresh and succulent Boston lobster—its firm flesh crunching between our teeth like music to the ears, served alongside a piquantly robust handmade spaghetti pomodoro. What we truly love about the pastas here—spot on al dente, every single time. Full review of Jamie's Italian Valentine's Day menu on GourmetAdventures.net.

We finally made the trip down to Farrer Park to check out Hungry Heroes. Like its moniker, the restaurant was brimming with hungry guests and American superheroes along the lines of Iron Man, Batman and Captain America. The food journo in us wanted to order more dishes to sample, but thankfully our alter ego stepped in to prevent the aforementioned, opting for a sharing meat platter (serves 2-3) consisting of half rack pork ribs, 200g sirloin steak, 250g de-boned chicken leg, pulled pork and a side salad, corn and beautifully roasted potatoes.

We ravenously dug into the grilled chicken leg, which turned out to be disappointingly bland on its own, requiring the accompaning smoky mushroom sauce to up its palatability.

Mustering a little more conviction is the pulled pork—tasty; although a tad less salt would've been perfect.

Slathered with the house special "heroes sauce", the half rack ribs were sufficiently tender, the smoky barbecue sauce acting as a flavor enhancer.

The sirloin steak arrived just the way we ordered—medium rare, exuding a nice chargrilled smokiness to the meat. Our only gripe is the subtle bitter aftertaste of carbon (that was evident on the chicken as well) that might be have been easily missed by an untrained palate, suggesting its overuse of the grill.

In preparing the tsukune yakitori ($4), chicken meat is minced by hand before grilling over bincho-tan to achieve its smoky flavor, before dipped in house-made tsukune sauce. In Japan, izakayas are often graded based on their standard of house-made tsukune sauce. We're glad to say that Chotto Matte has passed the test—flavorfully enhancing the natural sweetness of the meat. The star here, however, are the chicken wings ($3 for two). Crisp and tender while being intensely moist and juicy, these wings are one of the best yakitoris we've had in Singapore. Grilled beautifully, it's meat is succulent and incredibly robust. Definitely a must order!

Juicy chunks of handcut Australian Black Angus beef lined with crunchy capers, cornichons, chives, and petite cubes of beet and onion, topped with a raw quail egg, served with toasted farm bread. An excellent cut of meat—exquisite textures, really—well balanced by the flavors of its complementing ingredients, I daresay this is one of the best steak tartares in Singapore!

This beautiful cut of meat doesn't melt in the mouth the way wagyu does, but it's buttery, creamy taste of the meat is amazing. We appreciate that the meat is served medium rare (as per our request) with two accompanying sauces: black sesame, and lemon and shoyu. We preferred the black sesame sauce that brought out the buttery creaminess of the meat while the lemon shoyu added a refreshing zest that cuts through the dense, meaty flavors. Seasonal Japanese Teppan vegetables like pumpkin, shiitake, asparagus, eggplant and red bell pepper, and fried garlic crisps a accompany the meat. We found the bell pepper (eaten after the meat) brings out a nice sweetness that cuts through the buttery meatiness, while enhancing it. Crunch up a few pieces of the fragrant garlic slices to fully savor the dish. Served with green salad, chawanmushi, rice, miso soup and ko-no mono.

Shelter in the Woods has re-opened, with Masashi Horiuchi as the new chef consultant. I'm no fan of meat, especially sucking pig, but this, this heavenly piece of meat, is another thing altogether. Shelter's signature suckling pig now takes a more refined route with an intensity of flavors that heightens one's taste palate. So where do I start? The meat; so moist, sweet and succulent, its juices literally dripping off from being slow-roasted over a flame, evenly cooking the meat in its natural jus to caramelize the juices within. The skin; crisp to a T, a provoking crunch was heard when my fork came into contact, urging me to make its demise swift and quick. I did, each mouthful with a bite of the beautifully smoky rotisserie pineapple that accompanied it, drizzled with a robust veal jus and onion confit that accentuated the sweetness of the meat, taking it to the next level. Rarely do I ever talk about meat like this, but you really have try it to understand.

Our favorite starter on Oxwell's "Oxmas" Christmas menu is this steak tartare. While it's not much of a looker, the petite cubes of beef are lusciously chewy, accented with a richly beguiling squid ink sauce (that's much too salty so don't mix it in too generously) before finished with herbs and cheese. Served with crisp chargrilled bread, this was one starter we couldn't get enough of!

Served on a bed of creamy mash in beef jus, garnished with shallots, parsley and spring onions.

Today we had the rotisserie chicken that's been coined by Epicure as one of the best rotisserie chickens in Singapore! Sweet, juicy and tender. And the skin... yummy!

Seared to perfection whilst still retaining its sweet juiciness, a touch of sea salt is all it needs for the flavors to blossom in the mouth.