It was Saturday night and we were due to meet some friends at the Screening Room on Club St. The Screening Room provides five floors of food and entertainment venues – the very cool basement Lounge; the ground level Bistro, which we have yet to try; a Studio available for private hire; the Film Theatre – a cosy little cinema room with comfy sofas; and our choice of venue for tonight – the Rooftop Bar.
The Rooftop bar is the perfect venue for alfresco drinks, with what they describe as “East meets West” views – offering a birdseye view of nearby Club St and Chinatown, with the skyscrapers of the CBD looming in the background. Add to this comfy sofas, a great cocktail list and chilled, laid-back tunes and you’ve got yourself a right little evening get-together hotspot.
We were running late and didn’t have time to eat before we got there at 8pm, so needless to say we were fairly hungry and immediately made for their food menu (ok, perhaps we ordered a mojito each first…) On the roof terrace they only serve their ‘Snack’ menu, which consists mainly of finger food and nibbles, so we both went for the one thing that looked capable of satiating the appetite – the Wagyu Beef Burger.
Now I don’t know about the rest of the world, but it seems that Singapore is obsessed with WAGYU. I’d never heard of it before I moved here, but now you can’t open a menu or read a restaurant review without the words jumping out the page at you (that and its porcine equivalent, Kurobuta Pork).
So Wagyu is known for its intense marbling, which not only gives a better flavour, but also improves the ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats – so it’s apparently better for you. From a foodie’s point of view, it is famed to be the most tender, succulent and tasty meat in the world… I don’t know about that, but what I do know is it is always way more expensive than any other type of beef on the menu. This little bad boy set us back $25.00++ and that didn’t include the fries (an additional $11.00++).
Unfortunately I didn’t really see how they could justify this price tag – the burger was pretty bland, not that juicy and not that big either. I’m really struggling to understand – for a burger on a snack menu, why use Wagyu at all?
This was my first time to try Wagyu and I wasn’t all that impressed – but I realize that a burger may not be the best vessel on which to base my judgement. So I shall obviously have to sample a wider range, before I decide for myself whether it’s worth all the hype... or a restaurateur’s licence to print money…
The Screening Room - http://www.screeningroom.com.sg/
Posts
Wagyu is Japanese for 'japanese beef'.
ReplyDelete'Wa' is a kind of weird word, it basically means Japanese but it has connotations of 'quitessentially japanese' and is only used with very positive things such as this delicious steak.
Wagyu I guess is the same as 'kobe beef' which is perhaps how it is better known by westerners.
Wagyu should not be eaten in a burger bun!!! Thats like frying sushi or eating raw tuna drowned in mayo. shame on the restaraunt for serving it in a bun.
Wagyu have grades. Most if not all places that make them into burgers do not mention what grade of that beef is being used. I often suspect is the lowest or cut from the least fatty region.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it should be enjoyed as a steak, shabu shabu or sliced into strips at the most, not chopped up into a meat patty.