The return of the steakhouse: Here are the newest places beefing up Singapore’s food scene

Steak is back. Good, old-fashioned, meaty meat — no foam, no foraging notes, no need for a glossary.

After years of tweezers, tasting menus and things described as “a study of textures”, Singapore seems to have rediscovered the simple pleasure of a well-seared steak – and the restaurants are stepping up to meet the moment.

Beef, of course, is only as good as its fundamentals. Sourcing is gospel: grass-fed, grain-fed, wagyu, Angus, F1, full-blood, and even hanwoo. Then comes the ageing – 30 days, 60 days, sometimes longer – coaxing out funk and tenderness. Finally, the fire, with specialty charcoal, specialty wood and custom-built grills roaring at face-reddening temperatures. Mastery over heat is non-negotiable; so is a chef who knows precisely when to flip and how long to rest.

The cooking part is complex, but the eating part is refreshingly unapologetic. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe we want to dine more uncomplicatedly. Or maybe we’ve just missed the primal joy of chewing. Whatever the reason, Singapore’s dining scene is going in a carnivorous direction.

Three of the city’s newest temples to beef offer everything from a specialisation in top-grade Japanese wagyu to an updated classic steakhouse experience, for everything from a family meal to a date-night splurge.

STAG’S HEAD STEAKHOUSE

This newly opened restaurant at the Pan Pacific Singapore brings back that old-school steakhouse experience, but with playfully modern touches in the maximalist decor and a menu of comforting British classics.

Properly cooked steaks are the main characters here as the restaurant is opened by the team behind Bistecca and Artemis, who bring their wealth of experience on the grill.

Front-and-centre are large‑format cuts for sharing, including wagyu tomahawks (S$22 per 100g), porterhouses (S$238 for 900g) and bone‑in sirloin (S$168 for 600g). The meats are Australian-sourced and butchered in‑house, and both wet and dry ageing techniques are applied. Steaks are cooked over applewood and binchotan charcoal, and served simply and unfussily with bone marrow jus.

Sides of crispy potatoes roasted in beef fat, roasted mushrooms and mac 'n' cheese are just as satisfying.

There’s also an extensive menu of traditional British favourites including many you’ll be hard-pressed to find here, like Cock-a-leekie Soup (S$20), Bakewell Tart (S$16), cheeses from Neal’s Yard Dairy and a fantastic rendition of an Eton Mess (S$16). 

For a proper feast, there’s The Roast, a contemporary interpretation of the quintessential British Sunday roast (from S$158 for 400g, pre‑order required), featuring chateaubriand, beef‑fat roasted potatoes, braised red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Yorkshire pudding and beef‑dripping jus. To pair, there’s also a selection of English wines rarely seen outside the UK.

The bar snacks here aren’t perfunctory either, with substantial bites like baked bone marrow (S$30), beef tartare (S$24) and complimentary Fish Finger Sliders at happy hour with the purchase of drinks.

Stag’s Head Steakhouse is at Pan Pacific Singapore Level 3, 7 Raffles Boulevard.

54 STEAKHOUSE

In an Amoy Street shophouse, you’ll find the classic charm of a New York steakhouse experience, but with sleek and sophisticated updates.

54 Steakhouse is named for the temperature of a perfect medium-rare steak, which serendipitously matches their address.

You are in experienced hands with Chef Andrea De Paola, who also oversees sister restaurants Altro Zafferano and Griglia. Flame-grilled meats are his specialty: The secret is never to rush the cooking and resting process, says the chef who insists on “always cooking on an open fire grill” because “from 1,000 years ago until now, it’s still the best technique.”

Steaks here are Chicago-style: caramelised until nearly black on the outside, perfectly pink inside. They are first seasoned with a house blend of herbs and spices that includes wattleseed, thyme, rosemary and paprika, before being cooked first on Australian ironbark, then on white binchotan, on a custom-made grill. They are served with a fun array of sauces, including chimichurri, Cafe de Paris butter, bearnaise and pepperberry with brandy.

It is charming to find classics on the menu, like a good old Caesar salad (S$24) or a Parisian beef tenderloin tartare (S$28). But, there are also dishes with light Japanese and Korean touches, like pan-seared Hokkaido scallops (S$32), yellowfin tuna with nashi pear and smoked ponzu (S$24), and a soul-warming welcome broth of beef and white miso.

Exclusive to 54 Steakhouse in Singapore are the Porterhouse (S$288 per 1kg) and T-Bone (S$248 per 900g) cuts of Black Market Beef by Rangers Valley. Other options include signature cuts like striploin and rump cap from Black Onyx Angus by Rangers Valley (from S$78 per 250g), Sanchoku Wagyu (from S$48 per 300g), Satsuma Wagyu striploin (S$98 per 170g) and USDA Prime Linz Heritage Angus (from S$88 per 250g). 

54 Steakhouse was also one of the first restaurants here to offer prized Korean Hanwoo beef in its mission to showcase great meats from around the world.

Pair your steak with a glass from the wine list, which has several American labels – although the cocktails are also surprisingly delicious.

54 Steakhouse is at 54 Amoy Street.

NIKUYA TANAKA

For a very special occasion, this place is worth the splurge, because it’s true meat theatre. Here, you surrender yourself, like a ready slab of beef, into the hands of a master. Every stage of the meal, every dish progression, the timing of every rise and fall, is carefully planned and orchestrated in true Japanese kappo fashion.

The whole enterprise is an elaborate celebration of rare, purebred Tajima wagyu, which makes up less than 0.1 per cent of Japanese beef. The restaurant selects female cattle aged for over 30 months in Hyogo prefecture, aka Kobe beef.

And it never gets boring as the wagyu is showcased in a host of different ways, from pairing it raw with white fish sashimi to kelp-curing and flash-searing it, as well as serving it shabu-shabu style and as steak flame-grilled over binchotan charcoal. There is even a mind-blowing wagyu tempura course, which is a study in delicious textures.

Even the in-between courses, designed as elegant flavour pauses to allow the next plate of beef to shine, are no less stunning, like a dish of somen served in a bowl carved out of ice right in front of your eyes.

It won’t be easy to score a reservation as this is the first overseas outpost of Nikuya Tanaka in Ginza, ranked top in Japan and No 27 in the world by The World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants. 

Helmed by Chef Satoru Tanaka, who runs 20 meat-focused restaurants across Japan, Nikuya Tanaka acquires only whole cattle personally selected by Tanaka himself, whose father was a butcher and grandfather a wagyu broker, making him a meat master nonpareil.

Although he visits only occasionally, head chefs Yosuke Sekiguchi and Chef Masaya Yano are skilled at the art of bantering while cooking, making Nikuya Tanaka a rare unicorn of good food and good service. Prices start from S$350 for nine courses for lunch.

Nikuya Tanaka is at 1 Teck Lim Road.