Lawry’s opened their first outlet in 1938; Beverly Hills Los Angeles and came to Singapore in 1999 opening doors at Paragon Shopping Mall. With their signature grand decor and servers dressed in brown gowns with pressed aprons and headbands, Lawry’s quickly became the place to go for a good steak dinner. I remember passing the restaurant on many occasions in envy and not being able to afford a meal there in my studying days and it has remained my dream to eat there at least once in my life.
Finally, I managed to fulfil my forgotten childhood dream last December as my friends celebrated my birthday at Lawry’s. The restaurant relocated to the Mandarin Gallery in 2010 with the same opulent furnishing style
As I visited during December, the festive atmosphere was great and you can immediately almost imagine yourself celebrating Christmas in a foreign country with the traditional red velvet chairs and white crisp table cloth
The main dining hall itself seats about 20 groups with a couple more private dining rooms with full floor windows. The main dining hall also houses a huge wine chiller since most of the diners would pair their steak with a glass of wine
We were served bread rolls and butter after we placed our orders. The bread rolls were soft and quite generic and would have been nicer if they were warm
My friends ordered the set which included the famous spinning salad. It is basically a side salad dressed in vintage dressing in a huge salad bowl spun on a bed of ice. Not too sure if the spinning did much for the salad but I guess the bed of ice kept the vegetables fresh and crisp and this provided a rather interesting service display by the servers
They were very nice to spilt the salads included in the 2 set dinners into 3 portions as I did not order the set but they wanted all of us to have the salad. I am surprised that the portions were huge even after splitting into 3 portions. The romaine lettuce was fresh and crisp and the sauce was nicely coated evenly on each piece of vegetable. In terms of flavours, it is very light but nothing too out of the ordinary
My additional order of foie gras also came with a side salad with minimal dressing and a slice of bread
The foie gras was well pan-fried with the centre tender and juicy. The serving size was not so generous as the dish was slightly steep at SGD 40. I definitely had better ones elsewhere
Since I do not take beef, I went for the next closest which was the truffle rosemary crusted lamb which was served with seasonal vegetables, potato wedges as well as baby carrot puree. The lamb was priced at a premium price of SGD 85 with only 3 lamb rack pieces
I was initially disappointed as I was expecting a lamb steak and the portions on the plate was rather small but when I cut into the meat, I immediately liked the fact that the lamb was done perfectly with a pinkish middle and crisp crust. When I bite into it, it was so succulent and hardly any gamey taste of the lamb was tasted. The sauce complement the lamb perfectly without stealing the thunder and overall the dish was so good I only wished there was more
One of Lawry’s iconic furnishing is the silver cart which was designed by the late founder Mr Lawrence Frank who believes that customers deserve top quality food and exemplary service. The carts were designed so that the beef can be carved at the table side in front of the customers. When serving the beef, they asked my friend which cut she preferred and carved it in front of us. The cart also housed the sides for the beef and kept them warm in pots
Her standing rib came served with mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and whipped cream horseradish. According to my friend, the beef was as usually up to standards and very delicious
My other friend had the chicken parmigiana which was breaded chicken breast topped with mozzarella cheese and cajun sauce. The chicken breast itself was on the dry side and the dish was quite lacklustre compared to the beef and lamb
In terms of dessert, as they came with the set and the servers also gave me a free cake for my birthday, I can’t really recall what was each item. There was a green tea swiss roll, a berry compote of sorts and a rather creamy sponge cake. In terms of taste, the cake was too sweet for me, the green tea sponge too creamy and my flavour was the raspberry one which has a nice tangy flavour to balance off the oil from the meal
Overall, I totally enjoyed the meal at Lawry’s as the service was fantastic and the food was good. Most of the dishes were on point but with a hefty price tag. However, with the opulent decor, it is a great place to splurge on during one of the special occasions. If you want one of the window view tables, do book early
Address: 333A Orchard Rd, 04 – 01 / 31, Singapore 238897
Operating hours: 11.30 am to 10 pm ( 10.30 pm on Sat and Sun)
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 