prime time treats
It’s easy to glide past Prime’s dry-age beef cellar in your eagerness to claim your table – perhaps understandably, since their DX 1000 dry-ageing fridges sit quietly by the entrance – but this, you see, is where the magic happens. Take a closer look through the doors, and you’ll spot a tantalising display of Australian beef on its racks, all dry-aged in-house and waiting to be thrown on the grill and devoured.
Dry-ageing is an exercise of patience, requiring a minimum of 21 days to allow the meat to mature, soften, and rest, encouraging the beef’s flavours to deepen and become more concentrated. At Prime, the steady humidity and optimal air quality of their cellar do marvellous things to an extensive range of Black Angus and delicately marbled Wagyu, enhancing their buttery texture and robust character. Its 21-day dry-aged cuts include the Wagyu cube roll, sirloin, prime rib or a Black Angus prime rib, while a 31-day Wagyu sirloin is also available (prices vary according to individual cuts, and prior booking is recommended).
Just as impressive is the fact that Prime’s kitchen knows exactly how to handle them, waiting patiently for each steak or prime rib to reach the right temperature before seasoning it lightly and laying it onto a charcoal grill. Alternatively, ask for your beef to be cooked over red-hot lava stones, which produce an intense heat capable of searing a beautiful finish onto the meat. It’s a unique grilling method that truly does justice to, say, Wagyu beef that’s been lovingly grain-fed for 450 days and subsequently transformed into an aroma-powerhouse without even a hint of iron to it.
Partner your beef of choice with the restaurant’s considerable selection of homemade sauces and mustards, including cracked Sarawak peppercorn sauce, basil and orange marmalade mustard, and Argentinean chimichurri. Prime’s much-loved truffle mashed potato and sautéed jumbo asparagus make excellent accompaniments, as will a Rioja Orube Alta Expresión (RM450) from their range of Spanish wines, if you fancy a fine red to match the colour of your meat.
