Omakase Burger @ The Grandstand

The wife and I love burgers and when we hear that there's a new place for burgers, we will find some time to go try it.

We heard that "Omakase Burger" that's located at The Grandstand (previous Turf City) has opened so we thought we would give it a try. Since it's located not too far from my in-law's place, we asked them along too!



We were there around 12:15 pm and the place was not as packed as we thought it would be.



The menu that was at the entrance. Yes, it's the higher priced gourmet burgers.
You can click on the photo above to see the full version, or you can visit Omasake's website to see the menu too.



After placing our orders, we got this buzzer that's getting popular everywhere!

It's self service here.
We were told to collect our drinks after we order at the food and drinks collection counter.
You collect your meal at the counter again when the buzzer vibrates.



We had all our meals 'upgraded' to a full meal, i.e. with drinks and fries. Some drinks and fries have different prices, so you top up accordingly.

The coke here comes served in the glass bottles. For those who can taste the difference between canned and bottled version, you will be glad. The less metallic tasting coke. ;-)

They used the double wall insulated glasses. We have quite a few of these glasses at home, so we know it does keeps the drinks cold for a long time. Don' think they are Bodum ones, usually Bodum ones have Bodum brand printed below it. This was some unfamiliar name, but it works. (yes, the geek in me again).

I do hope people don't break the glasses, expensive to replace!



FIL and MIL has the coffee and they say it's quite decent.

A note though: The food takes a long time to arrive, so either you finish your coffee while it's hot, or you probably need to order another one after your meal arrives.



I had the Omakase Chicken Sandwich with Truffle Fries.



It's a piece of fried chicken that was really oily though.

I wonder why the chicken sandwich has to 'wrapper' like the rest of the beef burgers we ordered, so my fingers were really oily after holding up the burger.



Since we had 4 people having lunch, we ordered 4 different kinds of fries.
The truffle fries are good. The fries were hot and crispy, but if there's more truffle oil it would be nicer.

Oh yes, the fries comes served in a Bodum glass.



MIL has the Bacon Cheeseburger with normal french fries.

Normal french fries was normal. :-)
We wondered how the onion rings would be like, we could have ordered that instead.



While we thought the chicken sandwich were not nice, the beef burgers were excellent. You have a bite and you would come back again.

If we order anything with a slice of bacon for MIL, she would be very happy with her food.



FIL had the Omasake Cheeseburger. We ordered it with Sweet Potato Fries.
Oh, these Sweet Potato Fries were excellent. They were sweet and had a nice bite to it. Something that you can munch piece after piece after piece.



There's nothing Omasake about it. LOL....
The ingredients were all described. The special thing is the Omasake sauce it seems. The wife says maybe they should always put a secret different ingredient in it, that would make it more fun.

Dad loved the burger. All the burgers were done a very nice 'medium' doneness.



The wife ordered the Deluxe Cheeseburger with Cheese Fries.

Oh, these cheese fries were so nice. Just like the sweet potato fries, we would keep picking more and more to indulge.



The Deluxe Cheeseburger had grilled onions and mushrooms. The wife ordered it because she loves mushroom. She asked if I wanted to have a bite and I said yes, and ended up with 3 bites!

Compared to my chicken burger, this cheeseburger were so much better. Both of us thought it was really juicy. A bite into it and it's minced meat just crumbles in your mouth. There's no hint of dryness in it. Together with the cheese, tomato slice, onions and mushrooms, it was full of flavour. The few leaves of lettuce gave it a slight crunch as you bite into it.

Oh yes, the buns were really soft and had a nice aroma to it.
Something that we will be back for!




Above, our fried veggies! (potatoes are vegetables right?)
Different style of fried veggies. Our favourite, cheese and sweet potato fries.

Below, our fresh veggies!



MIL says we need veggies, so here's the House Salad, full portion for us to share.
We had it with Sesame Soy which was quite nice.



Oh... when I was picking up the drinks, we realised we should have ordered the fresh orange juice.
I call this the 'Holiday Inn' orange juicer. I see them in Holiday Inns when I travel. You drop oranges on top and it will automatically cut and press the juice out.



The damage. The receipt is to show that you will have to wait some time for your food.
Arrive around 12:15pm, orders taken at 12:21 pm.
Still new, so they will take some time to take your order and you pay for it at 12:27 pm.


Our buzzer vibrated at 12:49 pm.
So it's not a fast food place. It was a 20 minute wait, we were with parents to catch up, so time passes rather quickly. As we were leaving, the place was so packed and we saw a foodie friend from HGW. He said he was told the wait time was around 40 mins.

We might be back to try the Oven Baked Parmesan Chicken that we heard from another friend who says it's good. Hmm, the Omasake Chicken was quite disappointing so should I try that chicken again? The beef burgers were all superb!

We like this new burger place in our neighbourhood.

Omasake Burger
200 Turf Club Road
#01-05 The Grandstand
Singapore 287994

Tel: +65 6763 2698
Hours: 11 am to 10 pm daily

Ruth's Chris Steak House Singapore @ Marina Mandarin Singapore

More steak houses are opening in Singapore! You would have read about the new ones either online or offline. Since it's the season of the US Elections, everyone's excited about all things American, here's a restaurant from the United States of America, or more specifically, one that originated from New Orleans.



In August this year, Ruth's Chris Steak House finally opened in Southeast Asia. If you have travel to East Asia, eg Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, you would have seen Ruth's Chris there. The Singapore branch is the 133th location of the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse chain of restaurant worldwide.

Thanks to Ruth's Chris and MSL Singapore, a few of us were invited to a taste of Ruth's Chris famous steaks. Oh, it was a wonder night of meat dining with TheHungryCow and Camemberu.


There's something about bread that's wrapped in white linen that facinates me. It's good that they were nice and tasty too!

If you are like me trying to remember whether it's Ruth's Chris or Chris' Ruth, the short story will help you remember. The founder is Ruth Fertel. She was a single working mother who had to mortgage her home to buy a neighborhood restaurant called Chris Steak House. One day her original restaurant suffered a devastating fire and Ruth made a decision to open nearby. It was also then that she decided the name change to Ruth's Chris Steak House.

Now with that story, you would remember the name ya?



Sizzlin Blue Crab Cakes ($35 for 2 crab cakes)

Crab cakes are American Classic. It's such a classic that there's even a book titled "I love Crab Cakes!" Yes, you can take a peep at it online here or borrow a copy of it from the NLB!


They stuffed so much crabs inside their crab cakes you probably have eaten a whole crab in there!

OK, I exaggerated a little, but there's really a lot of crab meat in it. It had a nice little crust outside and it was moist and soft inside. It was also well seasoned. The photo above tells it all. You should be able to imagine it in your mouth now.

The liquified lemon butter that you on the plate enhances the flavor further.



Barbecued Shrimps ($35)

If you have a soft weakness for shrimps and also creole butter sauce, this is it. Prawns (or Shrimps as the Americans call it) were juicy and succulent and the creole butter (it's butter mixed with different types of herbs). The few of us felt that if we left the sauce untouched it would be such a sin. So we mopped it all up with the bread that was served earlier! It had slightly acidic, savoury, slightly sweet and slightly garlicy taste. It was just very addictive sauce!



Ruth's Chop Salad ($23)

This is a Ruth's Chris original. Be warned! There's something smelly about it. Look through the list of ingredients below and see if you can spot it!

Julienne iceberg lettuce, baby spinach and radicchio are tossed with red onions, mushrooms, green olives, bacon, eggs, hearts of palm, croutons, bleu cheese, lemon basil dressing and then topped with crispy onions.

It was a very delicious salad. Crunchy and full of flavour. If you are not a blue cheese person, you can ask for it to be omitted! The blue cheese was quite strong!



Seafood Gumbo (Soup of the day, prices market rate)

A soup that's said to originate from Louisiana, the birth place of Ruth's Chris.
The soup had an interesting texture. If you are a person who likes texture in your food, you might want to consider this. It looks so simple and yet it was packed with flavour. It's something that you grow to love it more with each mouth.



Lobster Bisque ($28)

My tastebuds was attracted to the more textured soup, the lobster was taking back seat for the night! Yes, we get fickle minded sometimes.

This is your type of soup if you like smooth soups.

You will see the above when you salivate through the menu.
The meats are broiled at 980 Celsius! 

You know your meats are ready when they bring out 260 Celsius hot ceramic plates and lay them in front of you. If comes with butter and it smells so so so good! Since it's served on a hot plate, the recommendation is to have your steak done a nodge lower than you usually have it.

The following 3 pieces of steaks were shared between 4 of us. It's too much meat for 1 person to try it all!


New York Strip (12 ounce, 340 grams, $85) There's also the 16 ounce, 450 grams at $120

USDA Prime Cut of meat. Oh just look at that! Won't any meat lover fall in love with it?
The butter sizzling (you can see the bubbles on the photo above can't you?) the meat.
We could not wait to take a bite at it!

It has been broiled at 980 Celsius heat. That heat instantly sealed the juices inside.


Here's proof that it's still juicy and tender inside! Tempting isn't it?

I prefer mine to have less bloody and the fats more cooked, so I quickly turn the meats  on the 4 sides to slightly cook it a little more.


Petite Fillet (8 ounce / 230 grams, $85)
 
Guess what? As I post these photos up, my mouth's salivating! 
Petite size for those who loves meat but not too much of it.


More photos to tempt you...
The meat looks so succulent and read for you to cut and put it in your mouth right?


Ribeye (12 ounce, 340 grams, $85) There's also the 16 ounce, 450 grams at $120

Any rib eye fans?


Oh just take a peek at the inside! It's so juicy. The plate's hot so flip the meat on the sides a bit more and it's perfect for me.

This blood O type person loves beef and reports say that beef is beneficial to Blood O people like me!

I know they are all different cuts and people have their own preference. At that moment and with the correct amount of salt and pepper, we asked each other what each other liked and we had to make a decision. I preferred the New York Strip most, followed by the Rib Eye then the Petite Fillet.

There's no accompanying sauces here. You eat the beef in their natural flavours here. 



Steak Fries. ($18)

If you like huge potato wedges, here's your order. The wedges were tossed in fresh rosemary, roasted garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. I tell you, the roasted garlic were so so good. I sneakily ate most of it!



Fresh Asparagus with Hollandaise ($23)

I would have skipped the veggies but both mummies that I have read the blog and they would say, why no veggies for that night?



Cheesecake ($25)

This cheesecake was decadent! It looks so simple ya? Thick nice buttery, flavourful crust and the cream cheese all inside.


Want some? Tempted by the layer of sweet sour cream over the cream cheese?

I know some people love crust and this is the one to order for the crust doesn't just stop at the bottom. It goes all the way up! You should take a bite! (and would probably finish it all up yourself)



Chocolate Molten Cake ($25)

If we were asked if we wanted another dessert, we know we can't eat anymore, but the thought of chocolate molten cake made me want it!


The moist chocolate cake with warm ganache in the centre served with vanilla bean ice cream!
I was a happy man!


A big thanks to Chi Tran from MSL Singapore for hosting us, and also giving us all a cute Ruth's Chris Mardi Gras beads with the stress cow/ball.


Ruth's Chris Steak House
Level 4, Marina Mandarin Hotel
6 Raffles Boulevard
Singapore 039594

Tel: +65 6336 9093
Hours: 11.30am-3pm; 5.30pm-11pm daily.


Oh.. if you are not a meat person and if you are around the area at 9 or 10 pm at night, I recommend this place to have the two desserts above! Your partner will be quite pleased!