When you talk about the Dining Concepts restaurant group, the first thing that comes to mind is steak. And plenty of it too. Recently, they’ve opened up yet another new outlet in Times Square, offering steak done the traditional Italian way.
To start, we ordered the baked eggplant with mozzarella and tomato ($98). The three classic ingredients are served sizzling hot in a cast iron casserole, seasoned nicely by fresh leaves of basil. The aubergines are baked until they become meltingly tender with the stretchy mozza cheese adding a lovely dimension to the wonderful appetiser. Next up, roasted veal marrow ($158) is served together with sliced toast on an iron plate. As a marrow lover, I couldn’t wait to greedily scoop the runny bits out of the bone and slather them onto the crisp pieces of toast. Unfortunately, the marrow was lacking a pinch of sea salt, which could’ve elevated the dish to a whole different level.
Of course, steak is a must here and we decided to go with the pure wagyu sirloin ($688). Ordered medium rare, the 11oz meat from Oakleigh Ranch, Australia, was grilled just right with a lovely, crusty char on the surface that yields to a moist and bloody red centre. The marbling on the wagyu provided a flavourful taste and an extremely tender and near melt-in-the-mouth texture. All beef lovers should be satisfied with this steak. We tried the top sirloin rump ($178) as well – a select US Department of Agriculture angus that was a bit chewy and rough, but still provided a juicy and tasty meat flavour.
We opted for the olio d’oliva cake ($68) to end the meal since we were told that it was one of the restaurant’s most popular items. The orange cake has a nice spring to it but, unfortunately, doesn’t carry much citric fruit flavour. Luckily, the hazelnut praline made up for that, and the rich and smooth chocolate ice cream on the side was also a crowd pleaser.
Being a steakhouse, the beef selection here is relatively inadequate with only eight choices provided on the regular menu. We were told that the restaurant will be adding more choices later on and we’ll definitely come back for a taste when that happens. KC Koo
Shop 1104, 11/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson St, Causeway Bay, 2735 2980. Mon-Fri noon-11pm. Dinner for two: around $1,100.