I last came to Tavern for a meal slightly under two years ago, and I decided to make a trip down for lunch with a friend. We both had the executive set lunch, priced at $40++ where you get a choice of several dishes over three courses.

Stepping into Tavern, the dimly lit, slightly cluttered interior lends a sort of old world charm to the restaurant. Adorning the walls are the various awards garnered by Tavern over the years. A surprising dearth of diners also means the quiet interior is very conducive to conversation. This is definitely a place for dating couples to visit!

After we were seated, a helpful waiter pulled over a chalkboard with the menu written on it. Upon indicating that we would be having the set lunch, the chalkboard was wheeled away and we were presented with the set lunch menu. At this point, I would like to mention the professional and practiced wait staff. There was an obviously experienced and well trained senior waiter (named Joe, I think), who took our initial order. We were then served by a succession of different waiters. This was due to the ample wait staff in the restaurant having only one table (us) to wait on. Although the wait staff didn't hover over us in a tiresome fashion, it was slightly disconcerting to see 4-5 waiters lurking in the background at any one time.

After our orders were taken, the ubiquitous complimentary bread was served. At tavern, they served a bread roll which seemed rather fresh. Warm and crusty, with a fluffy interior, the only issue was a personal preference for white bread. The butter could also have done with a trifle more salt, but the bread was really quite good.

For starters, we had the Home Made Gravlaks (raw salmon cured in salt, sugar, and dill) and the Mushroom Vol-au-vent. The first dish definitely wasn't smoked salmon being passed off as gravlaks, like some establishments tend to do. It came with a light salad, instead of the usual bread or boiled potatoes, and when eaten together with the accompanying sauce (I believe it was gravlaxsås, a dill and mustard sauce), it was delicious. I cleaned the plate, even forcing down all of the evil vegetables.

We had both ordered Grilled Australian Black Angus Rib Eye Steak for our main courses. My friend and I had them done medium and medium-rare respectively. Both steaks were almost done to specifications, just that mine was slightly on the rare side of medium-rare, and my friend's was just a tad pinker than normal. Beyond that, however, the steaks were excellently done. Although my rib-eye could have been a slightly better cut (there was some connective tissue, but not enough to be annoying), the flavour was excellent and the steak was juicy and tender, with just enough chewiness to make its consumption more enjoyable. The steak was served with grilled vegetables (very fresh), and a cheesy mashed potato gratin (delicious!).

I had a tiramisu cake for dessert. Usually I prefer my tiramisu slightly denser and richer, but after a hearty meal like that, the tiramisu served, which was light and served with some whipped cream, was a great ending to an excellent meal. There was nothing really exceptional about it, but it was nonetheless very good. My friend's pistachio ice cream was good too, but the scoop was the size of a ping-pong ball.

The coffee served with dessert was very bitter, and I had to remedy this with copious amounts of raw sugar. This was relatively minor, however.

This is one of the best value restaurants I have visited. Charming practices like having food served to you from a wooden trolley by a waiter (server brings the food out to the trolley from the kitchen) are entirely unnecessary, but very amusing nonetheless, adding a touch of class to the dining experience. I will definitely return, perhaps to try the dinner menu or the $17 nett tapas lunch offered at the adjacent outlet run by the same management (with food from the same kitchen apparently).

Also, certain credit cards (I think amex, dbs and uob) entitle you to a 1 for 1 set lunch promotion. From the outset, this review was written in view of the full meal price, which I would definitely be willing to pay here. Having the set available at half price is quite unbelievable for a restaurant of this quality, and I would strongly recommend it to steak lovers! Not too many though, I don't want it to become troublesome to make reservations.

I tried Morton's and I tried Tavern. And there's always this question mark in my head. Why oh why is Tarvern so under-rated and morton's so over rated? Looking at the review here, it is a 100% definitely will go back review. But there are only FOUR miserable reviews for this place! How can it be? Definitely do injustice to this place.

The restaurant is very nicely furnished with very european style decorations. Was there on a Sunday and there were very little customers. According to my friend, Morton's is an American steak house while Tavern is more European style. That explains why this place is classier. Morton's is really too noisy for my liking.

The waiter will first bring out the menu for the main course, which was written on a blackboard. He would push it to your side and you can choose what you want for main. They will also show you all the beef that they have, pretty much like Morton's and Lawry's. We both decided to have Wagyu steak 200 g each. Pretty pricey, but it's wagyu so no complaints. The waiter cut through the wagyu beef like hot knife on butter. And with great precision, he weigh it to us. 200g each. We also ordered Pan Seared Foie Gras for apetizer.

They first served us bread rolls. Freshly baked. Very yummy. Unlike mortons where the bread served was ginormous, this was just nice for one person. Not too much, just the right portion to make you want to crave for a little more.

Then came the apetizer, pan seared foie gras. It was crispy on the outside, soft in the inside, cooked very nicely. I'm a big fan of foie gras and I had tried foie gras in quite a number of places and I must say the foie gras here is generous in serving and very creamy and delicious. One of the best I ever had. The foie gras is placed on 2 pieces of toast, which I think is used to suck the oil from the foie gras to prevent it to be too oily. Anyway, I ate the toast. Sorry to be so unglam but me and my friend simply can't resist cos the toast is sooooooo delicious with the essence of foie gras! (note: OIL of foie gras....)

Then came the main dish, wagyu beef. No seasoning was used before they cook, just lightly season with pepper and salt to bring out the taste. The wagyu is grilled and has a really nice beefy, smoky taste. Very juicy and fresh. The generous serving of vegetables are also very yummy. I understand from my friend that they buy the beef from Culina, which air flown wagyu beef every twice a week. That explains the freshness and the fats in the meat simply melts in your mouth. The cut is just nice, not overly fatty, at least no lumpy fats inside, but marblised nicely throughout the whole steak. Best, no kidding, best steak I ever had. I wish they would import in some kobe beef, cos I know it would be simply heavenly if this is a piece of kobe steak.

For dessert, we had baked alaska. They will pour brandy on top of the white creamy top and it will catch fire!! I love it to bits. The sweetness, together with the burnt crispy after taste is really fantastic.

This place is a fine dining area, so obviously, it is going to be pricey. But compared to morton's price, here is like 20% lesser yet have better food. So pretty value for money.

So if you love steak and love fine dining in a quiet environment, do try Tavern

Everyone would have this happened, where they feel that they have over paid for a mediocre dinner and making the comment that they would pay good money for good food?

Well, I have.

I'm quite a choosy with food if I want to and I tried to do the same here too... But there I couldn't really find anything that I disliked about this place.

Before the starters came, they served freshly baked rolls. (Not the type where you can get in half dozens in a plastic bags) But they made the rolls themselves! Impressive.
It went really well with the Olive oil with finely ground / chopped Basil and herbs.
My wife and I had 2 rolls each.
:)
I mean, how often do you get fresh warm rolls??

My wife and I started with Mushroom Soup & Lobster Bisque.
God knows why I chose Lobster Bisque coz I was super allergic / sensitive to the "fishy" taste in seafood when they are not fresh. Well, maybe I was partly "trying to find fault" here.

But to my surprise, the soup was anything but "fishy".
It was the best Lobster Bisque I have ever had!
The Lobster meat in there were "chewy" (In a "fresh way") and the soup was... divine. I added just a dash of freshly grounded black pepper and nothing else...

My wife loved the Mushroom soup and her only comment was... "Def freshly made... Not from a can"

:)

Anyway, we also had the Raclette with Air-dried Beef...
My only problem with this dish was... why was there so little of it??
With the pickled onions & something that looked like baby pickles.
The combination of Cheese and Air-dried Beef was a wonderful partnership. A must try.

For main, I had the Tournedo Rossini.
It was a chunk of Tenderloin (Medium well)with saute Goose Liver(foie gras).
1. The medium well was indeed medium well. Not too raw, not too cooked. Perfectly done.
2. The saute foie gras made it hard to decide which is the main... Tenderloin or Foie Gras.
3. All I can say about the brown sauce was... It's oohhhh so good.

My wife's main, Baked Cod Fillet.
Her comment.
1. Nice, fresh and juicy.
2. Yummy.

I had a couple of bites but couldn't really tell coz I was still trying to savor the Tournedo Rossini.

I was told that the Wagyu was also to die for... maybe next time.
:)

But one thing that did put me off though...
Which was the fact that some of the waiters were "grumbling" about something... Which did put me off a little.
Other than that, the service was great!

Also, as it was my wife's birthday, they made sure she felt "special" with that "extra mile".

A Home-made Tiramisu Cake.

Its my third visit here and it never fails to be a quiet and relaxing lunch in this quaint little joint. The decor brings you miles away from the coffeeshops situated just outside and stepping in immediately transports visitors to another feel altogether.

Appetisers and desserts are always my favourite parts of the meal here.

For appetiser, we had Mushroom vol-au-vent and Home Made Gravlaks.
The mushroom vol-au-vent was light and crisp while the cream sauce was so smooth and silky.
Gravlak was yummy, just the usual.

Main courses were the Grilled Australian Black Angus Rib Eye Steak and the Pan Fried Hokkaido Scallops & Tiger-Prawns on Curry Sauce.
Steak was fine though could be juicier. As for seafood, I guess I'll always prefer asian styles of seafood though the prawns were really crunchy.

Dessert was tiramisu. It. Was. Yummy.

A cup of fresh coffee and my lunch was complete.

Will I be back? The tiramisu alone is worth my visit.
(Note: price is for 1-for-1 promo on executive set lunch. see website for details http://www.tavern.com.sg/)

I agree with Icez Queenz comment about the knife cutting through the meat like butter. It is a sight to see. The Australian steak simply melts in your mouth it is so delicious.

I was excited when I saw the German dish, Wiener schnitzel on the menu and I must say, it was just as good as in Austria. Make sure you squeeze the lemon on top of it.

The appetizer of Raclette was very good too, although they should give more potatoes to enjoy it with, so you may want to ask for extra. This is not a dish for someone on a diet considering it is melted cheese, but it sure it yummy.

The service is decent, but a bit chaotic since they had 4 different people serving us. I am eager to go back and try the Fondue... and don't worry, I'll let you know how it is :)