MOVED: Wakanui has moved to 5 Straits View Marina One The Heart West Tower, #04-02 Singapore 018935, Tel: +65 6384-2665

Huccalyly cautioned, “Let’s go Wakanui at Boat Quay before it closes down. It’s always so empty.” The Japanese steakhouse uses Kishu’s bincho charcoal to grill the NZ grassfed Angus beef, that is aged in-house, displayed by the front of the shophouse.

The restaurant positions itself in between expensive steakhouses and Aston’s (I love Aston’s by the way).  For the quality of the meats, and the tourist trap location the restaurant occupies, the steaks are pretty reasonably priced.

The best thing here was the complimentary trimmings, or known as the scrapes of beef that are usually discarded. I like it that there is no waste. Some pieces were crispy like chips, some fat as lard, some chewy like bak kwa, all of which were darkly charred and greatly salted–I couldn’t stop eating them.

The Canterbury lamb (full rack $54) didn’t rest long enough and red liquid oozed out. It didn’t have the distinct gamy flavor of lamb, so to me, this could have been beef for all I know. But the ladies had fun sucking off the bones.

The ribeye (500g $82) came theatrical, with the server dissecting it in front of us. It had a nice bite but wasn’t as flavorful as Australian or American beef. It got cold very quickly and when cold, the fats coagulated, making it rather disgusting. But it was a decent beef for the price.

The house specialty pavlova ($12) wasn’t as light, fluffy, and crisp as I’d like it to be.  Although it appears that the desserts were an afterthought, not at all exciting, we three were stuffed from the food. Paid $65 per person.

Wakanui Grill Singapore

70 Boat Quay Singapore 049860
T: +65 6438 6321
M-Sat 12pm-2.30pm, 6pm – 11pm, closed Sun
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Service: 7/10
Value: 6.5/10
Food: 6.25/10
Decor/ Ambience: 7/10
Rating: 3.344/5 stars

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.