Sizzling StoneGrill@Bukit Indah

There is a Sizzling StoneGrill restaurant somewhere along East Coast Road, with a chic black store front, but so I heard the price there is also chic, on the high side.  Recently, I found many restaurants bearing the same name mushroom'ed out in our neighbouring Malaysia, in Pelangi Mall, Bukit Indah Mall, and also Sutera Mall.  They all the this Sizzling StoneGrill restaurant.  The business seems to be ok, and so I decided to give it a try.

My lamb leg came on a white plate, with a sizzling hot square black stone in the center (that's why it is called 'sizzling' stone grill).  The raw lamb leg rests right in the center of the stone, 'burning'.  The concept is very much like the hugely popular 'pepper lunch' in Singapore.  You have to do your own cooking.  As a result, the reactions from customers can be vastly different.  Some say it is crap as you pay for the raw meat only, and still have to do the cooking yourself.  The restaurant offers no added value.  At the same time, some like it very much, otherwise the pepper lunch restaurants wouldn't have opened a few more branches.

Ok, back to our food.  The trick here is how you cook my lamb leg with the hot stone.  There is no button to adjust how much heat should come out, at what time.  It all boils down to your skill.  To do it well, you must know that the stone serves as a piece of heat storage.  It releases the heat slowly, gently so that you won't over cook your meat, you can choose your own rare, medium or well-cooked.  The key is to decide on how long you leave your meat on the stone, how often do you turn it over.

Many have the misconception that you need to turn the meat over constantly.  That's not true.  You can leave the meat on the stone, but don't turn it.  Let one side of the meat to harden, sealing off any escape of the precious juice the meat has.  Then you cut small pieces out and then do your turns with the small piece only.

I must say that it is a lot of fun, but then you are also very busy during the whole meal, as you have to keep tending to your food, before it becomes charcoal!  Definitely it is not ideal for a friends' gather where you want to have nice, cosy chats over the table.

My rating: 3.5/5

It is not too bad.  If you want to have good experience with your lamb, steak, it is a good choice.