Beef that makes the cut at Meadesmoore

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Meadesmoore 21A Boon Tat Street Singapore 069620 Tel: 6227-2247 Open for lunch and dinner Mon to Fri: 11:30am to 3pm; 5:30pm to 10pm. Dinner only on Sat. Closed on Sun.

THE world according to an entitled wagyu eater is one where a cow is made up of only two parts – ribeye and sirloin. In this world, you don’t live to eat, you live to not chew. A cow has no right to have sinews, nor access to yoga classes. Its meat must be silken and soft from a life free of activity and mental stress, not unlike the wagyu eater who only has to count up to A5.

Meadesmoore is not a place for this breed of diner. Not only do you have to huff up the stairs to get to this restaurant, you need an expanded meat vocabulary and, yes, teeth.

Unlike the street-level restaurants that dot Boon Tat Street, Meadesmoore sits above ground – up creaky wooden steps into a dim, speakeasy-like space where human shapes bearing plates hustle past in a blur during the lunchtime rush. It feels like recess time for corporates – huddled together exchanging money talk as the kitchen buzzes non-stop to push out set lunches before the trading bell rings.

Meadesmoore styles itself as a champion for off-cuts – rump cap, flat iron, tri-tip and the like, on a mission to remind you what beef used to taste like. Granted, it’s not telling a new story. Secondary cuts have already been making the rounds, as people tire of pan-seared fat and finally catch on to the fact that if the prime cuts from a quality cow already taste so good, so would the rest of it. But in Meadesmoore’s case, it’s a good peg for an all-rounded menu that doesn’t break new ground but features consistent, solid cooking that hits the spot.

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Props to the chef Victor Loy, who cooks Western that’s tuned to the Asian palate. There’s not a lot of choice, but everything is well curated and tweaked for an extra level of interest. The ubiquitous Spanish polpo, for example, is reworked into baby octopus piperade (S$24), a plate of bouncy little squid cousins that escape the mushy fate of its slow cooked tentacled relative. They sit in a Basque-inspired braise of silky roasted peppers and onions, and a giant puffed chicharron that on its own tastes like someone ripped off a slice of cupboard and deep-fried it – but soften it in the piperade, and it all makes sense.

Even the standard broiled bone marrow (S$28) gets an unexpected boost from chopped smoked Japanese clams. This otherwise one-dimensional broiled fat gets crunch and bite from the clams and a bonus chunky garlic-tomato sauce. Toasted sourdough is on hand to scoop up the delightfully greasy mess.

You don’t normally think of biting into pig’s ears (S$18) especially if the pig is still wearing them, but here, Loy turns them into the Asian answer to French fries. Strips of gelatinous cartilage are tossed in chilli powder and flour and deep fried into spears of multi-textured crunch and gooey-ness. Avoid spontaneous icky recoil by dipping each stick into garlic aioli, followed by a bite of house-pickled cucumber.  

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Incidentally, secondary cuts don’t translate into cheap cuts, because they’re served here as “large format” plates for sharing – a euphemism for purposely cut big steaks at three-digit prices. One of the cheapest is tri-tip from Australia (S$160). But it’s also our pick of off-cuts (and chuck flap tail if you can find it) as it has the best marbling, with a better chance of achieving wagyu-like tenderness without the greasiness. As expected, this doesn’t disappoint with its juicy bite and beefiness (almost bordering on gamey but in a good way). 

It’s charred medium-rare for good reason, and is gristle-free so all that chewing pays off in the end. Your choice of sauces (Bordelaise and salsa verde in our case) are worthy accompaniments, but  a few flakes of sea salt is the best condiment.

The sides are no mere distractions. Maitake (S$18) is seasoned with house-made fish sauce for a good whiff of charred savoury funkiness that is muted by a rich egg yolk sauce. And the mac and cheese (S$22) holds its own as a creamy cheese sauce shrouds al dente ridged pasta that emits a whiff of truffle under its gratinated topping.

The consistent cooking holds up right through to dessert, with a fat and creamy tiramisu (S$18) trying to distract you from some rather dry sponge, and burnt stilton cheese cake (S$16) – a soft, lava-centred Basque baked cheesecake with a distinct hit of blue cheese that’s served with tart raspberry sorbet that you can dive into when the cheese over-asserts itself.

Meadesmoore does its job in giving the wagyu eater a meatier perspective, but even more so, it’s an all-rounder that proves that ultimately, diversity is the best world view. Rating: 7