COCONUTS HOT SPOT — Not content with having a rooftop bar starring inherently gorgeous views and a culinary hub featuring five restaurants dedicated to a different cooking style each, Andaz Singapore has also launched a modern steakhouse that should satiate all meaty appetites.
It also helps that the hotel’s new upscale eatery — 665°F — is located right next to a gym on the 38th floor, a polite reminder for patrons to work out after their carnivorous feast.
For the curious, the steakhouse’s title is named after the optimal cooking temperature of its Pira charcoal oven, which spits out beautifully chargrilled meats of various quadrupeds and marine life right in the heart of an open kitchen. Sample from the likes of the USDA Prime Sirloin ($69, 340g), Australian lamb chops ($55) and, for the truly raptorial, the Wagyu Tomahawk ($160, 1.2kg).
A word about the red-blooded delights: they’re all actually halal-certified. The chefs take great effort to ensure that all the meats are halal-sourced and that their cooking methods refrain from using anything haram, such as alcohol and pork products.
The only reason why 665°F is not fully halal-certified is due to the fact that the restaurant serves wine, beer, and other spirits to go along with the meal, but (not-so-conservative) Muslim patrons can enjoy steaks without worries.
This is actually really great because, by golly, some of the fully-certified Halal steakhouses here know absolute jackshit about cooking and serving proper beef cuts. But that’s a story for another day.
Aside from its range of beef, lamb and chicken, 665°F’s chargrilled oven also adds a sumptuous smoky oomph to its sustainable seafood fares and vegetable dishes. Take, for example, the succulent Patagonian toothfish fillet ($60), or the Boston lobster ($80), which goes perfectly well with the baked mac and cheese ($14) and the delightful garlic mashed potatoes ($12).
We jumped the gun though. The appetiser range is as worthy of attention as the mains; one simply must tuck in on the likes of Hokkaido scallop ceviche ($39) and the prime beef carpaccio with truffle ($39). For our money, the jumbo lump crab cakes ($32) is a total winner — an all-killer-no-filler offering of crab flesh that comes with a spiced pepper dip and lemon for taste.
If there’s room for dessert (hard to resist, anyway), the Ivory and Bitter Chocolate Mousse ($28) and Baked Alaska with raspberry sauce and vanilla mille-feuille ($28) provide a sweet end to the meatsweat-inducing experience.
All this can be enjoyed amidst the rich interior aesthetics influenced by classic Savile-Row tailor shops and an elevated dining experience with direct views of the Singapore skyline.
665°F is at Andaz Singapore, 5 Fraser Street, Level 38, 6498-1255. Tues-Sat 6pm-10pm.
