District 10 Bar & Grill @ Suntec City, Singapore

District 10 launches its latest flagship on the ground floor lobby of the newly revamped Suntec City Tower Two, with a strong focus on dry-aged meat. The small and neat 1,800 square-foot restaurant comes complete with a European meat showcase and chiller for its dry-aged meat, a fully functional show kitchen for its charcoal-grill cooking and a cozy 30-seater dining space for its gourmet loyalists.

The originally earmarked-café venue with space constraints was masterfully transformed into a contemporary and compact European butchery and charcoal grill restaurant. 

Dry-aging of cuts: This preservation method not only strategically controlled wastage, butchers and gourmets conclusively discovered that the dry-aged meat had a surprisingly higher concentration of natural flavours as the enzymes broke down the connective tissues in the muscles which softened and tenderized the meat.

Before moving to the main thing, we had some appetisers. Here's Butter lettuce salad with pancetta, hazelnut, Gorgonzola and egg $20. To be honest, skip this 20 bucks salad and spend it on the cuts instead.

Another italian snack, Puglia Burratina $26 with organic cherry tomato-basil bruschetta. Burratina is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. It is rich in cream and overly cheesy for my liking though.

Vitello tonnato $24, thinly sliced roasted veal loin with light tuna sauce, interesting mix but not for 24 dollars though. For modern gourmets who are not fans of grills, you can savor these Italian items. But I've to emphasize that the highlight here is the dry aging beef cuts. So go for that or never.

In the process of grilling the best beef cut while it crisp on the surface and juicy within. Chef Luca Pezzera recommends the traditional sizzling power of charcoal-grill.

With such raw, high-marbling, quality meat on bone like the 45 days Dry Aged Corn-fed Traditional Fiorentina Steak (S$22++ per 100 gram), this will satisfy any other steak lover. Juicy!

When the fine cut hits the scotching grill with salt, pepper, herbs and extra virgin olive oil, the steak sputters a burningly robust aroma while awakening its natural tastes layered with its tenderness and juice even when its crispy skin-crust is crackling to a perfection. 

Other sub-primal selection that is worth its weight in gold includes 45 days Home Dry Aged Grass-fed Black Angus OP Rib (S$18++ per 100 gram) and 30 days Home Dry Aged Irish Grass-fed Rib-Eye ($44++ for 250 grams). My personal favorite is still the Fiorentina Steak.

A refreshing beverage to go along with these delectable cuts,  Encanto Pisco Achlado $18. A mix of fresh pineapple, fresh lime juice, sage and soda.

What's a complete meal without desserts right? Here are some of the interesting dessert that are made in house, like this one - Profiterole $12. It is filled with chestnut and served with warm chocolate sauce. Unfortunately, I couldn't really taste the chestnut cream.

An interesting twist to the italian dessert panna cotta here. It's called the double espresso panna cotta with vanilla sauce $12. The cream is aromatised with a strong espresso flavour, like you are having espresso shots but in a thickened cream form. I quite like this one but I can't take too much caffeine in the night :s

Lastly we had the Bitter Chocolate $14, with cracker crust being the most bottom layer, followed by chocolate and torched marshmallow fluff at the top. Along the side were the caramelised bananas too. The chocolate didn't live up to it's name for being 'bitter', at least to me. Overall pretty average for this.

Decorated with customized tole with the feel of a raw, realistic and rustic little steakhouse that strongly aligns and complements its dry-aging food concept with wood-crackled-fired wall panels – a first in Singapore. 

A group photo together with Chef Luca Pezzera (co-owner and executive chef of Bonta Group).

With it's second outlet at Suntec City, Warren and team went the extraordinary length of obtaining relevant permits to design and build the one and only alfresco bar with a generous capacity for 60 guests and a series of movable and scalable cabana-like broad-seat open houses – a first in Suntec City. Not forgetting the perfectly grilled steak, every beef lover's heaven. Then again, just be here for the steak and nothing else :p

District 10

3 Temasek Boulevard

Suntec City Mall (beside Tower 2 lobby)

#01-514/515

Singapore 038983

Tel: 6822 2886

Opening Hours: 1130am-11pm

https://www.facebook.com/District10BarandRestaurant

*This was an invited media tasting.