Finally got to try the world-famous Lawry's--Brother promised to bring me a few years ago--on Mother's birthday (: I'm sorry, I have no photos. I was ravenous! Also, lighting was poor and my parents are anti-snap-happy. (Ok, maybe I'm just
It was very, very good. Better than Black Angus by about a hundred times. Hahaha. We all had the Lawry's cut, quite a generous portion by itself--you can have the smaller Cali for the ladies, and the heartier Diamond Jim for the men--I think it was 285g? We had two medium rares, one medium and one medium well, all cooked and cut to perfection. There was a little tendon in one or two of them, but it's hardly avoidable.
Before dinner, bread was served. Two kinds--one wholegrain and the other plain white (wild guesses)--one light, one dark. I didn't eat any, but was told that the butter was very nice. It was served in cute dollops--the kind squeezed out of a pastry bag, like icing--perfectly melted and easy to spread.
The steaks all come with spinning bowl salad before and Idaho mashed potato on the side. The former is very delicious, and quite a decent serving. The dressing whet your appetite and the vegetables were cut to a convenient size and evenly coated after tossing/spinning. The latter was normal, a little on the chunky side but saved by pretty good gravy/beef juice mix. Haha.
I had a medium rare, which was quite tender and very juicy (: it kind of almost melted in your mouth, yet 'twas firm and had nice soft-but-chewy texture. The fats (which none of us removed)--mine consisted of two thin stripes running through the slab--perfectly balanced the robust flavour of the meat. It provided a little greasy goodness which Father found a little too much, and even for myself. I resorted to ordering an a la carte side of cream spinach (yum!). It was definitely pleasing and I savoured each mouthful of beefy goodness, pausing between bites. I made sure to cut a little fat for each piece, and the tiny nub of fat melted a little when you put it into your mouth. Those little bits of sin were so very delightfully smooth and not slimy, and sooo full of flavour. AHHHHH. I'm salivating already \: the meat came with two types of horseradish, the cream horseradish being their signature condiment. I did prefer the non-cream over the cream, and none at all over the non-cream. The beef on its own is perfect.
The cream spinach on the side, yet another signature, was very soft and tasty. At first it seemed like the bacon flavour was a bit overwhelming, but when I began to alternate the meat with the vege, all was good. They really complemented each other perfectly. The vege, despite being "creamy", balanced out the richness of the meat, but was good enough on its own and not unsatisfying; and the meat helped to contrast with the taste/texture of the vege, which wasn't too much like baby food. However, I didn't enjoy as much having them both in the same mouthful. They were better on their own, for me.
Brother had a white to go with his meal. It was quite pleasant. I don't usually like wines, but this one was actually not bad! I didn't really like the smell--quite acidic?--but it tasted pretty good. I don't know if it really complemented the meat, but I imagine it would.
After dinner we had desserts. Brother had a set because the dessert of the day was creme brulee (infra)--the main reason he promised to bring me to Lawry's. The set also came with a coffee or tea. He chose the latter, being a non-consumer of coffee much like yours truly, and got to choose from a fairly large selection of teas--black/green; breakfast, duchess, darjeeling etc. He chose duchess gray--which was like earl grey--and had no complaints. We also order a crepe suzette to share. It's recommended for 1-2 pax, which is quite a reasonable suggestion. It was cooked in front of us and served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and a maraschino cherry for each plate/serving. I only had a mouthful (and the cherry, which was delicious) because I was having the creme brulee, but it was quite nice. Not too sour, not too sweet. The grand marnier was not excessive. On the whole, it was a well-balanced dessert.
Token picture: creme brulee with crepe suzette in the background (:
Brother forced me to take a picture of the creme brulee, claiming it was the piece de resistance and not available everyday (so I got lucky!). Hence, it had the good fortune of being the only photographed dish of the evening. It was really quite lovely. The portion was, again, generous. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I would've if it were warm creme brulee. This one is served cold. The melted/caramelised sugar on top was a little thick, but rather tasty. It was not overdone at all, and covered the custard evenly. The custard itself was creamy and very satisfying, but was not cloying or sickeningly sweet. It was smooth and contrasted frightfully well with the burnt sugar both in terms of flavour and texture.
Brother remarked at the end of the meal that it used to be considerably better. I can't quite imagine how, since it's already really quite good and it's difficult to find institutions as immutable as Lawry's. Also, inflation is quite crazy. I think the damage was well over a hundred per head, when previously you could feed two people for the current price of one main course. Would I go back there even without a discount coupon? I would have to think very hard about that and I think I just might (: birthday month promo? (; hehe.
xx
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