Celebratory Steaks

It was my Birthday Eve and Mr Greedy Glutton had arranged to take me out for a slap-up carnivorous meal at famous steakhouse, Morton’s, The Steakhoue at the Mandarin Oriental, what a lovely surprise!

I started off with a ridiculously-priced Pomegranate Martini in the bar, which certainly looked impressive and, once I’d managed to suck through the thick layer of froth, packed a powerful punch.

We then headed through to the restaurant itself. This has a very different atmosphere from the outset from most other restaurants we’ve been to in Singapore. The windowless room with, low ceilings, comfy seating and walls adorned with photos of past patrons gives a definite flavour of North America, which is of course the home to the original Morton’s.

The service too is more akin to a North American restaurant than to your typical Singaporean one. As we all know, Singaporean waiters can be somewhat lacking in attentiveness, and often friendliness – but here we were welcomed like long-lost friends and made a thorough fuss of the whole meal… even if it hadn’t have been my birthday, I should certainly have felt like it was.

As soon as we were seated a waiter appeared with some bread. However, this was no small bread roll to nibble on while we perused the menu –oh no at Morton’s they serve you an entire loaf of freshly baked bread!

We were even warned by the Maitre D’ not to eat to much or risk ruining our steak appetites… so they obligingly parcelled it up so we could enjoy for breakfast the next day!

The fun really began when our waiter arrived to explain the various cuts of steak. He carried with him a tray filled with lifesize (Read: enormous) versions of these hunks of meat to illustrate his banter – which was quite theatrical in delivery as he talked us through how he envisaged each being prepared and cooked.

All theatrics out of the way, we were finally allowed a peek at the menu, although the Sommelier wouldn’t assist with the wine choice until we had chosen our steak, as obviously each different cut merits a different accompanying wine! So obviously we made a quick decision so as to get our hands on a bottle of red quickly! Although the wine list was long and comprehensive, with the majority being in the very expensive range, I am pleased to say that the Sommelier was more than happy to help us choose a suitable wine to fit our still-expensive-but-not-ridiculously-so budget.

So, to the food… as we were obviously going for fully carnivorous main courses, we looked to the ocean for our starters, with me opting for the Colossal Shrimp Cocktail and Mr Greedy Glutton choosing the Lobster Bisque. The Lobster Bisque was very tasty – rich and creamy and garnished with large lumps of lobster tail.

I was a teensy bit disappointed with my Shrimp Cocktail – mainly because the dipping sauce was loaded with Horseradish, which happens to be a bit of an aversion of mine – and without the dip the Shrimp was left a little lost.

Never mind, onwards we went to the main reason for being here – the Steak. Having taken note of the ridiculous size of the cuts of meat on our waiter’s tray, we both opted for the “Slightly Smaller Steaks” – a New York Strip Steak for Mr Greedy Glutton, served with a Peppercorn Sauce (yes, this really is a ‘Slightly Smaller Steak’ despite the fact that it takes up the entire plate!)

And I opted for the Filet Diane- a filet mignon with a mushroom, cognac and mustard sauce. It was delicious… and cooked exactly how I like it. Whilst I normally order my steak rare, the waiter warned me that it would still be cold in the middle, so I upped my order to medium-rare, and it was perfect.

We threw in a side order of fries and some garlic sautéed green beans to pretend we were being healthy and we had ourselves one ginormous feast.

We were completely and utterly full to the brim by the end of the steak course… but it was a special occasion, and everybody knows that special occasions merit desserts… What did look particularly special was the soufflés that were being carried to other people’s tables – but these need to be ordered at the same time as the main courses, and we wouldn’t have had enough room anyway… so we shared a Crème Brulee instead.

Well those lovely waiting staff only went and stuck a candle in the dessert and accompanied it en masse to our table where they all sang Happy Birthday to me (in harmony, no less!) – they then took our photo and turned it into a dated birthday card signed by all the team…

So yes the food, and in particular the steaks, was delicious… but what really made the evening was the enthusiasm and energy of the waiting staff… who made me feel like a very special birthday girl indeed…

Morton’s - http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hotel/509000168.asp