The arrival of this restaurant should be a bliss as well as warning to its peers, in just the count of days, precisely next week April 23rd 2017, A new Korean steakhouse: AB Steak by Chef Akira Back is ready to MEAT you and make sure all the GRILLS gone wild! Pun intended.
First of all, thank you Astrid Suryatenggara (aka my dearest loveliest sis) for inviting me to the bloggers and media pre-launching lunch just earlier today where I got introduced to some of the food highlights and signature menus that will be available here, yes this was an invitation but this honest bitch right here will defo give 100% honest review about the restaurant.
AB Steak is located at the M (Mezzanine) level of MD Place in Setiabudi. Didn't know where it came from but I had this picture in mind that the restaurant's going to be bright just like Akira Back on the day but the restaurant was actually super dim with mainly black details applied to the design elements and way less spacious compared to Akira Back but good thing is that it's giving me this private vibe that's comfortable. Upon entrance you'll see this little space where they dry-aged the beef here with a connecting-access to the main kitchen, and of course they're not joking around with the quality of the meat here, when they say dry aged they actually really mean they dry aged the beef here!
My favorite Chef Andri Dionysius is backing up the kitchen here in AB Steak and if you've been to Akira Back before you'll understand why he is just pure genius and I have never laid a single complaint towards his food, even onthe slighest detail, like he would put dead fly in your food and that would make perfect sense, but of course he wouldn't!
Ok enough yakking let's tour the restaurant.
Paper birds on the wall, it might be a simple touch but it actually looks pretty cool as in overall.
I was fortunate to be able to sample wide range of menus here hence had a lot to share my thoughts here! Kicked off the lunch with some appetizers then followed by three steaks and two desserts! Being a steakhouse of course everyone should expect steaks to be the main star here but quick scan of their menus and they also had various options of salads, starters and signature menus!
On the left side of the picture collage below you'll see five kinds of salt that you can pair your steaks with, or...had it just like that like I did, the truffle salt was my favorite, it was very fragrant (smells extremely truffle-ly which I loved) and ironically the salt itself tasted more savory instead of salty. The other four was yuzu salt, garlic salt, kimchi salt, I forgot the other one.
Truffle salt close up!
Dining utensils specially crafted for this steakhouse. Love the materials they're using for the spoon and fork, they were like iron fork if that makes sense, I don't know just go and check them out for yourself.
Foodporns coming!
Aside from the salts, there are also five kinds of dipping sauce that you can also pair with your steaks, they were sesame oil & salt, chimicurri, local chili & bulgogi. Didn't try the rest of the sauce and went straight to the good old sesame oil because that's what I love the most!
Chimicurri sauce
Amberjack Carpaccio - IDR 195k
The raw Amberjack fish was incredibly fresh with beautiful blood orange soy dressing, topped with orange jalapeno salsa that's sour yet very refreshing, definitely a good kickstart to warm up my palate.
Steamed Bun - IDR 150k
This was one of my personal favorites from the appetizers, fluffy bun topped with perfectly cooked & seasoned duck (the meat was so tender) and pan seared Foie Gras for that extra texture and more kick of flavor! I recommend you to eat this as a whole in a single bite for that beautiful harmony of flavors!
I think people's main worry about beef tartare is about the freshness of the beef because you'll be having raw beef, but again, if it's by Akira Back and I am having beef that's not fresh then bitch we got a problem, but of course they won't let it happen here because the Wagyu beef tartare was very fresh sitting gracefully on top of the creamy, fragrant and buttery bone marrow!
Another personal favorite of mine! The black mussels were very meaty and fresh and paired with deep fried tteobokki and meatball, ingredient wise, this was very simple but it was really all about the flavor and seasoning that really did all the talking! The creamy buttery gokjujang sauce was the one that really enchanced all the flavor here that I'd be more than happy to have the leftovers with warm bread (gonna roll the bread on top of the sauce and let the bread suck all the juice). I really like the fact that the fried tteobokki was firm because it's giving a nice touch of texture to the more chewable mussels & meatballs.
MY FAVORITE ONE IN THE BUNCH!!! This Shitake Croquette was so good I can't! Beautifully deep fried croquettes surrounded by smoked potato foam, topped with fresh sweet shrimp Kejang (the shrimp was seriously naturally sweet due to its freshness) and topped with one of my favorite things on earth: UNI aka sea urchin and CAVIAR! It was just so creamy with a hint of crunch from the shrimp and a hint of salty flavor from the sea urchin. LOVE!
Ok now it's time for the GRILLS GONE WILD!
The range of Premium Wagyu cuts that are available here starts from Hokkaido Snow Rib Eye A5, Hokkaido Snow NY Strip A4, Flat Iron Steak, Chuck Eye Steak A4, Rump A4 and Knuckle A4 with price ranges from IDR 185k-IDR 850k/100 grams, the Hokkaido Snow Rib Eye was the most expensive.
From their House Aged Beef you'll find selections like Whiskey Aged Bone-In Wagyu Rib Eye MBS +6, Porterhouse, T-bone, Bone-in Rib Eye, Kiwami Wagyu Top Sirloin 9+ and Belgian White Tongue with price ranges from IDR 123k-IDR 185k/100 grams, there's a minimum 500 grams purchase for the Porterhouse, T-bone and 300 grams minimum for the Bone-in Rib Eye.
It's hard to decide which one was my favorite because the steaks were equally beautiful and generally very tender, but I found the Flat Iron Steak to be the most tender with less fat but great marbling among the three in my opinion, the Flat Iron Steak really melt in my mouth and I barely waste a single calorie chewing the uber tender steak!
Porterhouse 200 days Grain Fed - IDR 185k/100 grams, minimum 500 grams purchase!
Sweet closure to the delicious lunch, sweet desserts like the following:
Mochi Cake
Molten Souffle
Never a big souffle fan but this one was actually pretty decent, it's very chocolaty and nicely sweet
I honestly don't have anything to complain, the lunch was pleasant and so far one of the most impressive this year: food was incredible, service was super attentive, and I am really hoping that they would keep up the good experiene that I had here earlier today right from the very first day the restaurant opens and not just because this is an exclusive preview. I hope you won't be experiencing any bad experience because if you do you can tell me and I'll forward everything to them.
Make sure you book your seats now because I have a good feeling that they would be uber packed on that first day!
You should be getting what you paid for because WAGYU pay is WAGYU get, ok gotta stop with the pun kthxbye! Thank you for reading!
AB Steak by Chef Akira Back
MD Place Building M fl.
Jl. Setiabudi Selatan No. 7
Jakarta Selatan 12910
0877 - 7227 - 8325 / 2966 9272
Setiabudi, South Jakarta
Average spending for two: IDR 1 mil
Dresscode: smart casual
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Map for MD Place