Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Fat Cow @ Camden Medical Centre

On a rainy Saturday night, we decided to avoid the maddening crowds in Orchard Road and opted for a less crowded place for dinner. Fat Cow, located at the ground floor of Camden Medical Centre (near to Tanglin Mall), is just the place for us.

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We opted for the Lauquen Sparkling Water bottled in Patagonia, Argentina. The water was soft and tasted clean.

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Fat Cow is a high end "beef" restaurant. Opened by the people behind Kinki and Marmalade Pantry, diners here first choose their choice of beef (Japan VS Australia), the choice of cooking they want for their beef, and then some appetizers while the beef is being prepared. Fat Cow also offers seafood for those who cannot take beef.

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After some recommendations by the chef, we decided on both the Japanese Beef (Shabu Shabu) and Australian Beef (Grilled). The chef showed us the Australian Beef Grade MS A8+ (S$104 for 200g) before grilling it, and it's from Stockyard Ranch. The chef told us this Australian half-blood wagyu had a balanced marbling and strong beef taste.

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Started our proper dinner with the appetizer of Tai Carpaccio (S$55) - Thinly sliced snapper with white truffles and shio konbu. We really enjoyed this appetizer, and everything from the snapper, truffles and the konbu salt had a nice texture and even better taste in the mouth. It's pricey, but worth every cent.

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The Heart of Palm salad (S$18) was nice, but bordered around being pretty much ordinary. Crisp Japanese onions, shaved heart of palm and Mizuna.

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I was surprised by the next appetizer Zucchini Blossom Tempura (S$38) - It's basicaly tempura zucchini blossoms stuffed with Hokkaido scallops and Kegani. What surprised me was that when i bite into the crispy outer tempura crust, what awaits me was this burst of yummy juices and stocks inside the zucchini. It must have came from the scallops and crab meat.

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We were not very impressed with this Alaskan King Crab (S$60 for 200g). It's fresh, but we had better ones before at Waku Ghin.

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Abalone & Kyuri (S$28) - Braised Abalone with golden grain whole miso. We like how they played with the texture here. The fresh and tender abalone with crisp cucumber sticks and the very intense golden miso.

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The Yuzu Grilled Unagi & Kyurri Gelee (S$29) - Charcoal-grilled freshwater eel with shaved cucumber gelee, had a slightly spicy taste.

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After all these appetizers, you would have thought that it was the end. But the best is yet to come. Presenting the 1st main course - Australian Wagyu beef which has been charcoal grilled. During the Edo period, beef is grilled with Binchotan (Japanese white charcoal) that creates a pure heat with a distinctive smoky and flavourful charred crust. The end product is a juicy medium steak which is very tender and had a nice crisp outer crust.

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Comes with garlic fried rice, Japanese cabbage salad with crispy shallots, citrus soya sauce and ginger soya sauce.

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For our Japanese beef, we opted for the Shabu Shabu style where the beef is quickly immersed in a delicate simmering broth which retains all the natural flavours.

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The beef we selected was the Japanese Beef Grade A5 (S$114 for 120g) - From Kagoshima Prefecture, this beef has won many awards for its intense marbling and sweetness + tenderness.

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The Shabu Shabu came with a serving of fresh vegetables which we could cook outselves.

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After a few seconds, the beef was cooked. The marbling was excellent and the entire beef slice had a nice buttery aroma. Beef lovers must come and try this A5 grade beef cooked by Shabu Shabu style.

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After our Shabu Shabu, the chef brought the stock back to the kitchen and made us this Shabu Shabu Porridge made with Shabu Shabu stock. As the stock has been cooked with the beef and vegetables, it was full of sweetness and flavours.

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After our dinner, we decided to skip desserts and opted for a cocktail at the cocktail bar. The bar had lot's of unique cocktails which was new to us.

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Kyoho Sour (S$25) had a refreshing floral taste to it.

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and their signature Hot Buttered Ume (S$25). What was unique is that a piece of butter will be added into the warm cup of Ume + rum mixture. Cover the lid for a few minutes and then savour the rich buttery taste with the warm ume rum drink. It's strange but works well.

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Fat Cow
1 Orchard Boulevard,
#01-01
Camden Medical Centre

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