Lawry's the prime rib

UPDATE: This is the old Lawry's at Paragon. They have since moved to
333A Orchard Road
#04-01/31
Mandarin Gallery,
Mandarin Orchard
Singapore 238897

Lawry's interior, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

Hubby sprang a surprise and said we were going to Lawry's yesterday night. Oh my, this is going to be a treat even if a little painful for the wallet. But once in a while, it's good to let go and enjoy life a bit.

The restaurant at Paragon occupies a small corner of the mall and has very high ceilings and artwork on its walls. I liked the cosy atmosphere but hubby had expected more for a place like this. Lots of waitresses in white and brown English maid uniforms. Most look a bit bored or tired but tried to be chirpy when serving you. However, their pronounciation leaves quite a bit to be desired, especially when they rush through their scripted lines.

Famous spinning bowl salad, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

This is their famous spinning bowl salad, included in the rib dinner price. The waitress spins the salad bowl on a bed of ice and tosses the whole thing together with dressing poured from as high as she can reach. Dressing tarik (pulled)?

Theatrics aside, it was an acceptably tasty salad. A blend of crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce and watercress, shredded beets, chopped eggs and croutons. I thought the greens had seen better days but it was still crisp and refreshing nonetheless. The beets added a nice sweetness. We were also served warm bread (sourdough and walnut bread, I think).

Meat wagon, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

We decided to focus on the signature prime ribs and not the other non-rib dishes. All the cuts come from a large meat wagon that they wheel to your table. You can take a look at the different levels of doneness and choose which you prefer. We opted for medium well (sorry, not fans of bleeding steaks). We upgraded one of our dinner sets to include a glass of wine, dessert and coffee/tea.

English cut, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

The English cut is three thin slices "deftly carved to heighten the rich beef flavor (200 grams)" as they say. I was quite hungry, so the three slices did not look like they would be adequately filling (except maybe for a small eater). However, this turned out to be our favourite for the evening. It tasted a lot better than its bigger cousins. The gravy is a wonderful complement. And the Idaho mashed potatoes are whipped nice and firm. They also gave us whipped horseradish cream but I thought the meat did better without them.

What your food looks like in the ambient light, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

I've also taken this picture without flash, so you can see what your food looks like in the ambient lighting. This is the Diamond Jim Brady cut, an enormous 420 gram serving of US prime beef. Now this looked like something we could not finish, certainly not alone! Oh well, volume-wise, it balances out the English cut!

Taste-wise, I reminded myself NOT to be critical because it would probably be a sin to be find fault with this extravagant dish when the millions starving around the world would be so eternally grateful to have this! Well, it certainly was a marvellous dish and each bite slowly savoured could send you to tastebud heaven. But as hubby said, you couldn't help thinking of other food that was equally or more delicious for a lot less money.

Bite of juicy, prime cholesterol, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

We really needed a while to whittle down the Diamond Jim Brady cut. Size alone wasn't the issue. The beef was so marbled with fat that almost every mouthful gave you a burst of rich fatty flavour. Wonderful, yes, but not in excess. If you eat too quickly, you can get satiated easily. So for best effect...eat, stop and rest between mouthfuls. Makes for a leisurely dinner that way too.

Yorkshire pudding, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

All the prime rib dinners come with Yorkshire pudding. We both hadn't expected this to be nothing more than a thin eggy crust. It was not particularly remarkable. But goes well with the gravy.

Strawberry Cheesecake, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

Hubby loves strawberries. We were quite full at the end so the single portion of strawberry cheesecake was enough for two to share. It tasted a little strange though, texturewise. The cheesecake was so smooth it resembled firm jelly. Cheese jelly? Yeah, weird. The strawberries and sauce were a bit too tart. They overpowered the dairy notes of the cheesecake.

So ended a lovely evening of sheer indulgence. But wait, it didn't end there. Half an hour after dinner, we felt a strange buzz that made us both slightly irritable. It faded after a while, but hubby reminded me that these days the beef is pumped so full of hormones, when we ingest them, we may get side effects. Later in the evening, I felt my heart racing a bit faster than normal and a certain palpable "heatiness". Well, according to the Chinese who believe in the yin (cooling) and yang (heaty) properties of food, beef is a relatively "heaty" meat, and boy did we have a lot of beef tonight.

Hormones and heatiness aside, I still want to go to Morton's.

LAWRY'S THE PRIME RIB
290 Orchard Road
Paragon #02-42/44
Tel: 6836-3333