Our Family Morton's Experience - The last I believe

In my opinion, there is just way too much hype on Morton's. Must be Sis L's over-zealous for their 5pm cheap martinis and free steak sandwiches. Quite frankly, the best items of the night, were the enormous freshly baked onion bread and the chunky crab cakes. The steaks...supposedly what they are famous for, well, lets just leave it as this sure was not one night of fine-dining.

The private dining room did add a little touch of class for the evening.

Ah! My first star of the evening. The accompanying slabs - and I literally mean slabs - of butter were an appetising sight. Most are probably aware of my irresistible weakness for freshly baked bread. Never has the evil forbidden carb tasted so good and satisfying.

A visit to Mortons is most definitely not complete without hubby and my sister indulging in their much necessary evil for every meal - alcohol. She had her must-have chocolate martini while hubby had a chic appletini. B and I both had exotic choices - he, a passionfruit martini and me, lychee. Mum had her usual classic red and dad, a mocktail.

With our drinks in hand, the barrage of appetisers began. Considering we ordered most of the entire menu, its surprised they were actually supposed to be starters to dinner.

The Maine Lobster Cocktail was a nice sight, with inviting chunks of lobster atop a fresh bed of greens. But the invitation took a quick turn for disappointment. Though firm and juicy, the lobster meat was clearly those of the frozen and not freshly flown.

The tuna tartare with tomato and avocado was again an interesting sight when set in it's net of Thai sauces and alfalfa, but was only ok for me.

Thankfully there was a saving grace. The jumbo crab cakes - referred to unabrashly by Morton's themselves as "lumps", the humble definition does every justice to the home-made 'feel' to these crab-cakes. The second best crab cakes that comes close would be my mother's.

The last set of appetisers were the fresh Oysters and broiled scallops wrapped in bacon. Nothing much unusual.

Next came the standard presentation of the main offerings. A silver tray filled with various cuts of fine quality meats, a fat live lobster on show and huge vegetables that scare the life out of me complete the scripted presentation. I wonder how long it takes them to memorise the presentation and if the chef decided to try something new on a whim and fancy, will that throw all the wait-staff in a frenzy and a tongue-twisted mess! That would be an interested sight.

Among four of us, we ordered the porterhouse, avoided the prime rib like the plague and ventured towards the lamb chops for variety.

By the end of the evening, I had sadly come to realise... all red meat can actually taste the same. The Porterhouse was lovely, soft and tasty. Unfortunately the fillet Mignon and the other single cuts that we had, just failed to add depth and dimension to our red meat buffet. The lamb chops were also a tad over cooked - translate: dry and tough.

The sides we ordered also failed to impress. The salad was literally the entire iceberg lettuce heaped with bacon bits and egg. No-frills, just exactly what you ask for - vegetable, vegetable, vegetable. The Idaho potato, sadly, didn't impress me either, though sis had been drooling for them since the night before.

Probably the highlight of the evening was the desserts we ordered to share. The lemon souffle was heavenly. Incredible light and fluffy, they really hit the sweet but not overbearing spot required after every heavy meal. The light crispy sugary fluff with hints of citrus lemon is maybe the only thing other then the bread I will come back for.

The upside down apple pie was au contrarie, way too sweet. Without the crust, the apple filling just tasted wrong. Even the ice-cream couldn't help to sedate the sugar rush.

So after tallying the number of hits and misses, it was only natural that we concluded, the entire family didn't really like Morton's. Maybe for martinis and snacks, but ironically, famous for their steaks, this is clearly something I will never come back to Morton's for. And for the kind of premium they place heavily on their meats, I doubt this place will score anymore points with us.

Morton's Singapore
Mandarin Oriental, Singapore
5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square, Singapore 039797
+ 65 6339 3740