Hooha over Steak

....at Hooha! cafe, which brands itself as having "the best beef in the region". This restaurant has a out in the boondocks feel to it, given its location, and is done up in the American diner style. We sat outside in the balmy night air for the very prosaic reason of keeping an eye on the car which was parked illegally by the roadside (there is a frustrating lack of parking spaces in the area), although there was not much ambience to talk of.

There was a hugely astonishing variety of food on the menu - ranging from local items like laksa, satay, fried rice, to western dishes like pizza, pasta, steaks ... etc ... which made me a little suspicious of the quality since I always feel that restaurants that specialise in a smaller number of dishes can focus better and do those well, rather than stretch themselves too thin.

Anyway, on to the food. I ordered what I had come for - steak! 200 gm of tenderloin, done medium rare, with black pepper sauce on the side ($34.90). This included two sides of stewed vegetables in a tomato based sauce, and mashed potato. The grilling skill of the chef was simply superb! My steak was very juicy and succulent and done perfectly medium rare. However, it lacked the depth of flavour and sweetness that comes with properly dry-aged meat and was not salted. This might not have mattered much to most of the diners around me who I observed to be dunking sauce over their steaks, but since I eat steak neat sans sauce, the quality of the meat did make a difference. Can't beat Morton's ... by quite a long way.

Nevertheless, above average food with fairly reasonable prices. An option to consider if you're in the region.

Hooha! Cafe
220 Pasir Panjang Road
Pasir Panjang Village
www.hoohacafe.com