Birthday edition 2: Wooloomooloo Steakhouse

Yes, the name's quite a mouthful. We came across this name in an article together with Ruth Chris. Both restaurants were touted as great steakhouses comparable to Morton's and Cut. And we enjoyed Ruth Chris so much on my birthday, we were so excited to try Wooloomooloo for Lynn's birthday. I sourced for their menu online before making reservations, and I was drooling just reading through the menu. They had all of our existing favorites such as crab cakes, iceberg lettuce salad, lobster bisque, and foie gras. On top of that, they had several potentially exciting items such as mushroom soup with truffle oil, beef salad with truffle oil and beef wellington with foie gras! And this was before any recommendations from the servers!

We had discussed and decided on a few items beforehand. We agreed that we'll order the beef salad, since Morton's had sort of spoilt the market for iceberg lettuce salad. Then since there's already truffle oil in that, we'll settle for the lobster bisque. Foie gras is a must, of course, as is the crab cakes. Then we decided that we'll let the server recommend the beef. And for dessert, I've been told beforehand that there'll be a complimentary cheesecake for the birthday girl. So we looked through the menu and finalized on a passionfruit souffle, thinking that the sourness of the passionfruit will be perfect for cutting through the richness of the cheesecake. Sounds like a plan.

Then we arrived at the restaurant, and saw the next table eating gorgeous oysters served on a bed of ice. Lynn said she wanted oysters. Then we looked through the menu and started to wonder if we can finish all that we planned to order, plus the oysters. Then the server came along and made two recommendations for the starters. He recommended the Sauteed Garlic Prawns, served with a dash of lobster bisque (drool), and the Colossal Crab lumps, cold lumps of crab meat served over cold lettuce. Hm... both sounds good. More deliberation to do. And he also recommended the Wooloomooloo steak, which we were quick to agree on.

So after another 10 minutes or so discussion (so much for the beforehand planning), this was our final order: Pan-seared Foie Gras, Colossal Crab Lumps, Lobster Bisque, Wooloomooloo salad, Wooloomooloo Steak and a Passionfruit souffle. We decided against the oysters because it really seemed like too much (on top of the bread). We decided against the crab cakes because we thought we'll try something new, since Morton's had set the benchmark for crab cakes.

The bread was quite passable. We cut it into quarters, and only ate one quarter each. The butter was salty and went well with the bread. One of the few places we actually didn't finish the bread! The foie gras was... a disappointment. It wasn't very melt-in-the-mouth. It wasn't very livery either. At least to me. Lynn thought it was ok. Maybe my craving and deprivation was so huge that it couldn't satisfy. It just wasn't quite blissful enough. We didn't care for the caramelized apple, but we did love the 4 little piles of different salt and pepper served with the foie gras. Lynn tried to keep them on our plates, which was unfortunately cleared away subsequently, much to my amusement and her chagrin.

Onion bread served with whipped butter

Pan-Seared Foie Gras

After the not-so-exciting first two dishes (bread counting as one), came the Crab Lumps. Oh my goodness. Those were to-die-for! Fresh, sweet, juicy lumps of crab meat, served cold on a bed of shredded lettuce. The whole bowl was balanced on a tub of ice to maintain the coldness. A dash of lemon made it perfect by itself. It didn't really need the two dips at the side. But both the Louis dressing and the mustard mayo went well with the crab. I'm really missing the crab now. And it's not just me being seafood deprived post-surgery. Lynn went gaga over it too. I can come back just for this. Really. (And maybe several other things along with it. Haa...)

Colossal Crab Lumps

Then came our soup. The serving is smaller than Morton's, but good and bitter (from the cognac). We loved it. Just wished there was more of it. The salad, on the other hand, was ginormous. I tried to put my fork in the picture to show the size of it, but the picture really doesn't do it justice. Chargrilled filet mignon served on a bed of fresh produce in a mustard vinaigrette and truffle oil dressing. It didn't impress as much as Steakhouse's salad, and the truffle goodness came and went.

Lobster Bisque

Wooloomooloo salad

The Wooloomooloo steak is a 12-ounce ribeye marinated with a Cajun spice. That's roughly 340g. We usually share a steak this size quite comfortably. Their steak was another wow. The meat texture was PURRRRFECT~~ And the spices made it really aromatic. It was a tad bland on the salt, which was easily solved by requesting for some sea salt (to replace those that they cleared away. Haha...). This was served with a row of 4 sauces. Seriously, that was ALOT of sauces. Cajun, pepper, red wine reduction and mushroom (order from the right). I didn't like the pepper, I found it too sweet. I did liked the other three. So between the sauces and the salt, I had a really really good beef dinner.

Wooloomooloo Steak

Sauces for the steak

Finally came our desserts. The passionfruit souffle and the complimentary cheese cake. The souffle was by itself generic flavored. The passionfruit flavor was in the sauce. It was actually very good, tangy sauce. I only wished the flavor was in the souffle itself. Like Laurent Bernard's. The cheesecake was a light version, which was a really good way to end the meal. And it was served with a cheesecake flavored ice cream. Yum. The dessert portions were comfortable, and we managed to finish all our food. Yes!

Passionfruit souffle

Complimentary Wooloomooloo cheesecake

We really really loved the crab. And the beef. The rest were nice too, just not as impressive as these two. And the crab made us think that the oysters will be equally good too. And while we're back here why not try the prawns and get the lobster bisque. And maybe the iceberg lettuce salad will impress. How about the crab cake, seeing how great the crab lumps are. AND they have a crab lump salad! See Lynn, there's no way we can come back here and just order the steak. We're just not capable of it.


Wooloomooloo Steakhouse
2 Stamford Road
Level 3 Swissotel The Stamford Singapore 178882
Tel: 6338 0261