Sunday, July 22, 2012

Fat Cow's Foie Gras and Wagyu Donburi FTW

When my friend, Tim, shared Timeout's Best International Dishes in Singapore for 2012 on facebook, we shortlisted two places to try. We love Ippudo - Timeout's best ramen place, so we figured that if they applied the same standard to everything, then it follows that the other places will be good as well.

One of the places we wanted to try was Fat Cow, which was listed for their Foie Gras and Wagyu Donburi as the Best Japanese Rice Dish. 

Foie Gras and Wagyu Donburi SG$56 (Php1,860)

Tim knows I love Foie Gras so he told me about it so we could try it on a pig-out day. Since our days in Singapore are numbered, I convinced Tim we should try it this weekend so that if we liked it, we had several days to come back before we had to leave for good.

Fat Cow is at Camden Medical Center on Orchard Blvd.
It's a bit odd that it's located in the ground floor of a hospital.
You know you're there when you see this.
Reservations are recommended.
There is a bar where you can wait for your friends to arrive.
You can also wait at the lounge where they bring you the menu while you're waiting.
We were directed to our seats in front of the cooking station.
The Foie Gras and Wagyu Donburi is part of the lunch menu
(so come at lunch if you're coming for this).
Though you can also order from their à la carte menu.   
Tim wanted us to order one bowl each of the deadly donburi
but I managed to convince him otherwise.
They offer you pricey still or sparkling water.
The lunch menu all come with starters and dessert.
This mystery bowl is tofu skin that they claim is good for your skin.
It's good when you eat it with the soy sauce
but I didn't realize there was wasabi which I didn't like.
Tim got salad as part of his starter.
I don't like salmon so I gave my portion to Tim.
I normally don't like Chawan Mushi but I thought it might be better in a pricey place.
I still don't like it though. 
I like sharing food with Tim because he gets all the things I don't like.

I convinced Tim that instead of ordering one Foie Gras and Wagyu Donburi set each, we should also try the Wagyu salad. However, we thought it would not be enough so we ordered the Ox Tendon and Foie Gras starter from the à la carte menu.

Ox Tendon and Foie Gras SG$26 (Php865)
The ox tendon was so tender and so flavorful.
The dish went really well with the salad I got from Tim.
The Foie Gras was so good. Tim says it's the best Foie Gras he had.
The Wagyu Salad Lunch Set SG$48 (Php1,595) was quite a rip off.
I expected more than just slivers of meat for the price they are charging,
but in fairness to them, the wagyu slivers were very flavorful.
But I also thought it odd to have jelly in my salad. It felt like an extender.
The foie gras and wagyu donburi was everything we imagined and more.
I could not complain that much about the salad because it was my idea to try it.
Tim organized the meat on one side so he could eat the rice
because there was just so much meat.
I must have looked like a hoarder since I had the salad and part of Tim's food.
Say... Foie Gras!
Tim felt like he was getting a Foie Gras induced headache while we were eating
so he was forcing me to eat more.
He Said: "Just imagine it's tofu!" Bwahahaha.
The lunch set also comes with dessert.
They have us some sort of fruit salad with yummy fresh mangoes,
sour peaches and the  jelly extender again and peach ice cream.

Tim and I were kidding that the restaurant was strategically located to allow us to eat all the foie grad our heart could take because if we had a heart attack, they just needed to bring us up to the hospital.

I really enjoyed our lunch even if it was on the pricey side. I think if we went back, I would still order one deadly donburi to share, but maybe we could get a less expensive salad and more side dishes from the à la carte menu because the wagyu salad was just not worth the price we paid for it!

To make the most of your visit there, you should have the correct mindset on a few things.
1. You are paying for quality and it's quality that you get.
2. When you pay a high price, you just assume that the cleanliness standards are the best.

The chefs at Fat Cow touch the steaks while it's cooking
and use ungloved hands for food preparation.
If you see it anywhere else you'd cringe! Tim and I tried not to, but can you imagine a guy making Roti Prata using his bare hands to make the prata... and then give it to you. Ewwwww right? So obviously there is a double standard here, an expensive restaurant gets a free pass because people just assume that if you pay a high enough price for it, it should be the best and clean is a minimum requirement. But is it really??? (They don't use hairnets too). Just saying.

FAT COW
1 Orchard Boulevard
01-01 Camden Medical Center
Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner
Call 6735 0308 for reservations

On another note, Tim and I were comparing the amount of Foie Gras we ingested and why he got a headache and I didn't. By my count, I had 2 slices from the starter and at least 4 pieces from the donburi and I felt fine. My theory is that's because I ate it alternately with vegetables for the whole meal, my net damage was zero! By Tim's count, he had 1 slice from the starter and around 2 and a half pieces from the donburi and it made him feel sick. My theory at first was that he counted wrong. Hahaha. Then I started to feel my stiff neck, and I couldn't remember if it was already stiff when I woke up or hypocondriac that I am whether it was induced by too much foie gras. Hahaha. The logical part of me still thinks that it's just a stiff neck. Oh, and did I forget to mention that dinner was Foie Gras too????  Yummmy...  But let me leave you with a health warning. Indulge at your own risk, or indulge at Fat Cow because it's within hospital premises. Just Saying.

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