The Prime Society, Dempsey Road

Wow - I didn't even know that there were so many restaurants sitting back here! The only things that came to mind with Dempsey Road before were Samy's Curry plus some wine bar in the back that I'd never been to. That, and wooden furniture stores, which was actually what I came out here this afternoon for, only to discover a huge number of restaurants all lined up, most of them moderately upscale (and even an outlet of Harry's and Margarita's). The one that really caught my eye though was The Prime Society (10 Dempsey Road #01-20, 6474-7427), which ran with the tagline, "Dedicated to the Upper Cut." A steakhouse? Cool...I'm going in!

It was a surprisingly posh place, but they also dangerously flirted with being unnecesarily gimmicky, as evidenced by envelopes sitting on each placemat labeled "Inauguration Kit" (they contained silverware). Actually, I would have been fine with that and the mildly amusing placemats describing the various cuts of meat, but they also went a tad too far with verbiage like "Dear Esteemed Guests, by Decree of the Prime Society..." and "Districtus Commandments: Thou Shalt Not Consume Inferior Cuts..." and so on (they have a big long list of "commandments" at their website). Well, even if it were borderline tacky, I suppose that it did work. The interior decor was pretty darned nice, not to mention very fitting for the locale and cuisine.

Anyway, I grabbed the ribeye, which generally turned out favorably, despite being shockingly thin and mangled in appearance (I suppose that did allow them to serve it more quickly though). While certainly not Morton's, the meat was tender and tasty enough (it didn't even need that optional blue cheese butter on top). The piping hot fries were crispy yet light, and almost done to perfection.



Oddly though, the center of the grilled tomato was cold, suggesting that perhaps it had just come out of refrigeration (?). And the steak was a bit overpriced at S$36 (US$24) for such a small portion. But by and large it was better than I thought it would be, so much that I wouldn't have any qualms about returning. I just have to remember to order more food next time (that was the bigger cut of steak that I got today too!).