Cote Steakhouse gives Korean BBQ a New York accent and party vibe

NEW RESTAURANT

Cote Korean Steakhouse Level 3, Como Orchard 30 Bideford Road Singapore 229922 Tel: 1800 304 7788 Open for dinner only Tues to Sat: 5 pm to 12 am

YOU know you’re not Cote’s target audience when you step into the restaurant and can’t see a damn thing. But we get it. This is party central, designed for the clientele who gushes: “Wow, this is so cool! Love the nightclubby vibe. It’s soo New Yawk City and everyone is so friendly!”

It’s not for those who worry, “please, please don’t let me fall and break my hip.”

And we agree that the folks at Cote are super friendly. So much so that you feel obliged to assert your own happiness at the door – returning their “HOW ARRRRRRRRE YOU?” with an equally forceful “I’M GOOOOOOOD!!” in your best American drawl.

If it’s been years since dining in the Big Apple was high on your list, Cote brings back major deja vu: the loudness, the frenetic energy, the slickness, the intensely convivial nature of the servers. They’re so overwhelmingly engaging, you instinctively want to calculate how much tip to give them in case they get violent later.

But then you remember you’re in Singapore. And the service is part and parcel of a New York-imported concept that wants to elevate the Korean BBQ experience in a way that your favourite ajumma in Tanjong Pagar can’t.

This is Como Orchard after all. That it comes after the highly-hyped Cedric Grolet patisserie/cafe gives you an idea of where Cote is pitched – as a place to be, first, and eat, second.

A place to be, it definitely is. Cue very dim mood lighting against pitch-black interiors split into a bar, dining area and a chiller where dry-aged beef glows red in the dark. At least those are what we can make out. There are other areas that we can’t see because we left our night vision goggles and other tactical gear at home.

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No worries. Dress up, have a drink at the bar while you wait for your friends. Have more when they come, then head to your table where you can eat S$48 bite-sized cubes of wagyu cooked for you on your very own smokeless grill.

An army of reinforcements from the New York flagship keeps things running smoothly and the tempo consistent. The dining area is such that tables are arranged in two rows with a walkway between them. So the servers constantly pace the floor like commuters at a busy traffic light crossing – they take turns to stop at our table just long enough to exchange “how’re ya doin’?” pleasantries, flip our beef and move on without breaking their stride. It’s a little weird but we’re impressed at how someone seamlessly steps in whenever our designated server leaves our grill unattended to chat for too long at another table.

Cote in New York is said to be known for its beef. No question there, given the level of USDA Prime easily available. Here – different story, different suppliers. There are just four US cuts, padded up with Australian and Japanese options. Cote pitches itself at the same quality level as Michelin-starred steakhouse Cut, but whichever way you slice it, those mark-ups look pretty eye-watering.

Think S$102 for a 30 gram cube of Kobe beef. (To put it in perspective, that’s over S$3,000 a kilogram). Or S$148 for just 100 g of USDA Prime 45-day dry-aged rib-eye steak. (Cut in turn charges S$132 for a 400 g Illinois corn-fed rib eye steak aged 21 days.)

Cote’s cheapest is S$62 for 100 g of Australian black Angus hanger steak (an off-cut), and you can get a 30 g cube of Kagoshima rib eye for S$48.

At those prices, it makes more sense to shell out S$98 for the Butcher’s Feast or S$295 for the Steak Omakase since they sound like bargain basement deals in comparison.

We get the former, because we’re not quite up to handling 10 cuts of beef in the steak omakase. The Butcher’s Feast offers a manageable four cuts – hanger steak, dry-aged ribeye, a vaguely described cote steak and marinated galbi.

Granted, you may need to upgrade to gauge what the pricier cuts are like. Ours are pretty average, ranging from passable to dry and chewy. The marinated galbi is the best of the lot – tender with crisp charred edges.

The Butcher’s Feast isn’t all about the meat but everything else in the package. You start with piping hot beef broth, before they fill up your table with a pile of lettuce and perilla leaves, a salad of shredded scallions and carrots in a sharp chilli vinaigrette, pickled vegetables and ssamjang dipping sauce.

The meat won’t be enough so it’s supplemented with scrambled egg “souffle” that’s fluffy and creamy at the same time. Two classic Korean stews – spicy kimchi tofu and a fermented soybean paste broth – hit the spot in a homey way, especially with a bowl of rice.

Dessert feels like they can’t stretch your S$98 any further, so you get a scoop of melting soft-serve ice cream in a paper cup that someone might have picked up from Daiso in a hurry.

If there’s one thing to bring us back to Cote it would be its Korean oyster “omelette” (S$28 for seven pieces) – the kitchen’s take on hawker food. These are flat discs of jeon (pancake) that are a perfect combination of crunch, gooeyness and intense oyster flavour. A quick dip in citrusy vinaigrette and that’s all you need.

If you want authenticity, Tanjong Pagar awaits. If you want experience, a new playground, a New York state of mind, Cote fits the bill. You decide. And watch your step.

Rating: 6.5