Sublime Rib Eye Cap Steak at Privé Restaurant

We're huge advocates of cooking your own steak at home rather than going out to eat at 'budget' steak joints - you get much better taste and quality for your money. Having said that, though, the grill pan method we use at home does have big limitations when trying to cook a proper, proper steak - the lack of any sort of flame or wood/charcoal smoke makes it impossible to do it the same way the (higher end) restaurants do.

Privé Grill over at the Marina at Keppel Bay is one such restaurant that has the specialty kitchen equipment needed - a Josper Grill. They're so proud of it that they've made this Grill the selling point of the restaurant. No celebrity chef, no house specialty dishes. The Josper is essentially a white charcoal-fired oven, and is advertised as the "hottest indoor oven available."



So anyways, we take our seats, browse through the menus, and munch on some bread served with butter and shaved salt crystals (!) on the side. Novel concept, but I found it was hard to properly control the amount of salt I put on my buttered bread without having to resort to using my fingers.


The amuse-bouche of grilled watermelon was ... a little weird, to be honest. I'm all for experiencing new flavors, but grilled watermelon isn't something that I appreciate, apparently.


Moving on to our first Starter of the night - the Citrus Hokkaido Scallops Carpaccio (SGD22). Tossed in Ikura (Salmon Roe), Avruga, Smoked Paprika, Chives and Crème Fraîche, we ghought that the relatively stronger taste of the other ingredients overpowered the taste of the scallops, such that it was no longer the "main star" of the dish but rather just the base.


No such complaints about the Pan-Seared Foie Gras (SGD24), served with Roasted Figs, Celeriac Slaw and a Mixed Berries Sauce, which was delicious. Especially love how the Figs added sweetness to the liver. Oh, and that leaf isn't really a leaf, it's a Mustard Leaf Cracker (with chocolate as the "veins" of the leaf). Awesome stuff.


Our main courses are served with a bunch of different mustards - English, Dijon, Horseradish, and some other condiment. After asking twice we still couldn't understand what the foreign waitress was trying to tell us so we gave up.


On to the main courses! First up is the U.S. "Creekstone" Angus 280gm Rib Eye Cap (SGD80), ordered and done medium-rare.


The steak was absolutely sublime. Perfectly seared and crusted on the outside, moist, juicy, tender on the inside. I dare say that this was the best steak I've ever eaten, even better than the ones I've eaten over the years at Prime in KL.

If like me you've never heard of Rib Eye Cap, it's the "top" muscle of the entire rib-eye and is apparently the new Holy Grail of steaks. Skip to 1:40 in the video below to find out where exactly the cut of meat comes from.



After that mouth orgasm, the U.S. "Snake River" Kurobuta Single Rib Pork Rack ($52, 280g served with Apple Puree) was both a let down and a disappointment. I was expecting more - this chop turned out a bit too dry and tough for my expectations.


For desserts, we try the Tiramisu Parfait (SGD14), which we enjoyed very much! Privé's spin on the dessert may look rather unconventional but it's great stuff.


By this point in the night we were stuffed, so when we got a complimentary slice of Strawberry Cheesecake on the house (I had totally forgotten that I had ... mentioned to the restaurant that this was an anniversary dinner), we did have a little difficulty in polishing it off.


The night ends with a take-home goodie bag for the ladies :)


Overall we had some absolutely delicious food mixed in with some "eh nothing special" dishes. Service was a mixed bag, too! I very much liked that each table is provided with a cushioned stool to put your bags on. On the other hand, the two foreigner waitresses who served our food had an extremely hard to decipher accent.

Privé Grill is located in the Marina at Keppel Bay complex. It's best if you have a car. You can reach here by Taxi easily, but when the night was done we couldn't get a taxi to come pick us up so we had to walk 25 minutes to Harbourfront MRT to get home. Non halal.