If you have no inkling what a ‘feather blade’ is, now is the time to find out.
The Feather Blade, the Tanjong Pagar steakhouse known for alternative, less popular beef cuts has now unveiled its second outlet over at East Coast. The difference in this new outpost is that it offers an exclusive surf and turf experience, with a seafood bar menu that is befitting of its new location.
The Feather Blade’s East Coast outlet. Photo © Fen Chia.
Lesser-known in Asia, the feather blade or flat iron steak is a lean cut from the cow’s shoulder blade and I was trying it for the very first time. Back when Chef-founder Sheen Jet Leong was a student in the UK, he came upon the flavourful yet well-priced £10 steaks in London’s Flat Iron steakhouse and decided to bring the concept back home.
The Feather Blade can be said to be a pioneer in the local dining scene, focusing on that one cut. This gamble has paid off so far for Chef Sheen.
The Feather Blade’s signature complimentary free beef fat and thyme popcorn. Photo © Fen Chia.
We kicked off our meal with bar bites, slurping down French oysters with Ponzu Ikura (S$12 a pair) and Salsa Taquera (S$7.80 a pair). The oysters are also available naked (S$7 a pair). They were fresh, though a much better deal would be to get the naked ones during Happy Hour (S$2.50 each for a maximum order of six, with every drink purchased before 7pm). While this was going on, we were also sipping our cocktails (S$15, but S$12 during Happy Hour for spirits, beers and cocktails from 9pm onwards)–the drinks list is reasonably-priced and comprehensive, which makes the place a great chill-out venue for booze alone.
Oysters. Top: Ponza Ikura, Bottom: Salsa Taquera. Photo © Fen Chia.
Other items from the Seafood Bar include a refreshing Hokkaido Scallop Carpaccio with Shiso Lime Glaze and Salmon Roe (S$16), a Norwegian Salmon Carpaccio with Lemon Molasses (S$14) and shrimp with house cocktail sauce (S$18.5). These crowd-pleasing appetisers were zesty and light on the palate, though not a big deal to shout about. This is a good thing, for they leave your tastebuds primed for the star of the show, which are the hot sides and mains.
From left: Scallop, Salmon and Shrimp.
One exclusive mains offered at the East Coast outlet are the sandos. We tried the swordfish belly (S$32) and Cheesy Egg (S$21). The swordfish belly was a star, with swordfish being one of the fishes that is firm enough to have a steaky texture, and it came in thick juicy slabs grilled in a smoked katsu sauce, sandwiched between toasted Japanese milk bread.
Cheesy Egg sando (S$21++). Photo © Fen Chia.
Swordfish sando. Photo © Fen Chia.
As an uninitiated beef lover who has not tried the feather blade cut before, eating flat iron steak is an experience because it is not a cut you can find often. We were advised to choose medium rare for doneness. Do not compare it to a premier ribeye with melt-in-the-mouth fat though. In spite of that, the flat iron is still a very flavourful, well-exercised steak that I found chewy yet tender with a little bit of fat. It is known as a cut that offers a lot of taste and value, and this is reflected in the price here (S$24). The portions are 200g, glazed with tare and grilled on Binchotan (an additional S$4). Equally delicious was the 150g steak portion of swordfish (S$28).
Bincho Feather Blade. Photo © Fen Chia.
Swordfish is a 150g swordfish belly steak with tare glaze. Photo © Fen Chia.
The Feather Blade offers multiple sauces to go with your steaks and sides like fries, such as Miso Mustard, Wasabi Cream, Truffle Mushroom and Sansho Peppercorn (S$2.50 to $3.50 a portion), and all are good. Get all of them if you can, especially since you have the Triple-cooked Beef Fat Fries (S$7.50) to go with.
Sauces to go with your fries, sides or mains.
Among the sides, a highlight for me was the Aubergine (S$7.50), Australian eggplant with feta cheese, miso glaze, balsamico and cashew nuts. I thought the charred white corn (S$8.50) could have come with more of the smoked paprika oil and tarragon cream which were barely discernible, while the king oyster mushrooms (S$8.50) with mushroom garum and thyme were unremarkable. Indeed, I might just pop by sometime to get double portions of the fries with the addictive sauces.
Aubergine. Photo © Fen Chia.
White Corn. Photo © Fen Chia.
The Feather Blade keeps its food menu and mains relatively simple, comprising variations of the few items, but it does them very well. Besides sandos and steaks, the restaurant also offers sushi rice bowls (S28 with steak, S$24 with seafood and S$16 with mushrooms). In the same way, it currently offers only one dessert, Tiramisu (S$14). Cute cascading cream cheese aside, my table agreed that it was probably the best tiramisu we had tasted in a long while.
Tiramisu with a cascading cream cheese, pistachio nuts, kahlua and coffee. .Photo © Fen Chia.
The Feather Blade is offering 15% off lunch when you order from the a la carte menu until end of the year. On top of that and the Happy Hours, it also has kids meals, wallet friendly set lunches and other attractive deals on weekdays like the following:
- Munchies Mondays: free-flow fries with every Feast of 2 ordered
- Tipple Tuesdays: let you enjoy two tipples for only $22 (cocktails only)
- Wine Wednesdays: made for wine with 1-for-1 on all house pour wines by glass as well as free corkage for your own bottle
- Toddler Thursdays: let kids eat for free with every main course ordered (for children under 7 years and orders from the Kids’ Menu only)
With that, as a work-from-home east sider I can only say, welcome to the East Coast!
The Feather Blade
225 East Coast Road
Singapore 428922
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday – 12pm to 3.30pm; Monday to Friday – 5:30pm to 11pm; All day dining on Saturday and Sunday from 11:30am to 11pm
