I can't remember exactly when the conversation came up among some of the NB runners about Grill Bar, but I think it was some time during MR25 2012, when I was telling Jasmine Chan about the steaks served at the place and how the bunch of us (Then Din, Neo, Eve, Jasmine and Calvin) should go try it out.
Over a year later, and after much procrastination, a trip was finally organized, and though not all the original persons could make it, the group grew bigger to a size of 10pax making our way across the border to try check out Gary's awesome steakhouse.
When we arrived, I had made reservations prior to showing up and Gary had informed the staff to wait for him to come so that he could meet the guys.
And meet the guys he did! Lunch at the restaurant started with Gary giving the guys a quick 101 on Wagyu beef as well as some of the meats served at his restaurant, it was quite the VIP treatment and I was pleasantly surprised and wasn't expecting it!
It was quite amusing yet fun to see everyone tune their ears towards Gary as he explained the marbling, cuts, and his recommendations for his different selections. I think even the staff were listening from behind to take notes on how to sell the steaks.
You can say Gary is a natural at selling his steaks and his passion really won the group over, we initially had about 3-4 people wanting to have beef that day but in the end a total of 8 of us took the steak selection, some wagyu, some filet mignons. Eileen and Lanie took the lamb rack as they didn't take beef.
Surprise number #2 came when Gary whipped up something special for the lot, a mini appetizer of bagel burger and mushroom soup, it was really good and I think it helped whet the appetite for some of the guys, the bagel was fresh, Al had mentioned to me about it just a night before and I was looking forward to it, glad to have a small bite size to munch on and wow, love it!
Of course, the main attractions were the steaks! The grade 7 wagyu was fantastic, I decided for rare this time round instead of medium rare, and I think I'll be making rare my default setting from now on, comparing it with Li Jin's medium rare wagyu, you can really taste the difference!
The filet came as a surprise, I am normally not a tenderloin person cause I believed good steak was made flavorful by the amount of fat content it had. I was rather blown away by this cut.
Apart from taste preferences and slight mistakes with doneness, for the most part the steak was really good, and the guys who had it really enjoyed it.
The one that really took me by surprise was the lamb rack, it was DAMN TENDER! I'm not much of a lamb person, and quite frankly try to avoid it from bad experiences. However, the cut was really good, and despite the doneness being wrong (The ladies ordered a rare but I think we got a slight medium to medium well), it was really soft to the bite, and still very juicy!
The Grill Bar wasn't just known for its steaks, despite not being a dessert restaurant, the desserts here are really well made, the banana pancakes which Gary whipped up for our review was pretty good though as he had personally felt (as well as the guys who tried it) that the pancakes could be better.
The lava cake was to me the highlight as always, and yesterday I learnt that you could try requesting for doneness! The one served was a "medium" more cooked cake to lava ratio. The outside skin as usual had a nice chewy crust, and the inside had a thick chocolaty center. We should try a Rare or Medium Rare one day, just for photography sake to see the lava oooze out when cut open. =)
Overall, the luncheon was a great experience, not only was the food really good, I would like to think the other thing that won the runners over was Gary's passion for his food. After the meal, some of the guys were talking about how they'd like to come back again cause they were really won over not just by the food, but by Gary's passion for constantly improving on his dishes, as well as the staff's attentiveness.
I'm really thankful that the guys had a blast at the restaurant yesterday, thanks Gary for being an awesome host!
The next few hours was spent having coffee and a quick massage near KSL, I didn't really grab photos then, my main reason for bringing along the camera was just for the Grill Bar experience.
Not long after though, it was almost dinner time, and we headed off to Tebrau Market for a taste of Hiang Kee Seafood.
There was nothing particularly special about Hiang Kee, I think the main selling point was that it had very cheap cze char compared to Singapore. Butter Crayfish was a must on the menu though not everyone was as much a fan of it as I was.
For around S$9-10 though, we had 2kg of Crayfish, 2 small vegetables, a medium sting ray, a large hot plate beancurd, and one begger's chicken. Worth every penny. =)
We also had 2 plates of oyster omelette which was ok, I still prefer the Singapore version. RM6 a plate
Dinner was great, and by the time we were done, it was almost 8:30pm. The guys got up, some took the car while the rest hoped onto a cab, and we whisked out was out of JB in under an hour thanks to the really smooth traffic that night.
Overall a Sunday well spent, really glad Gary's restaurant was a hit, and that the guys had fun. Will plan again next time if time permits, need to make time and head down too with Tier 0 for another go at the food as well! =)
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