Review: Oca Grassa @ Bukit Pasoh - Steak Florentines

When the Six&Seven team heads out to explore new restaurants in Singapore, one of our greatest fears would be to stumble upon a restaurant such as Oca Grassa @ Bukit Pasoh. There is of course, good reason for saying so – don’t get me wrong, my dinner companion and I certainly had a most filling experience. Housed in a quaint shop house along Bukit Pasoh, newly opened Oca Grassa, headed by Chef Edwin Lau, is an Italian restaurant that specializes in its meat offerings. When asked, imagine my surprise when the waitress said the highlight on the menu was their Florentina ($158 for 1.2kg) - even as experienced food writers, you can understand that 1.2kg of pure carnivorous feed shared between 2 may be a daunting task. That being said, one cannot possibly ignore the restaurant’s signature dish when it comes to a review.

In preparation for the monstrous maincourse to come, we had the Octopus Salad ($20) to wet our appetites, and also tide through the long wait, as I doubted the Florentina was microwave friendly. While admittedly the chef was generous with servings of octopus, the salad seemed all out of sorts. Putting mangoes, potatoes, capsicums and lettuce together in a dish felt more confusing than the Matrix trilogy.

The char grilled Florentina was served on a large Himalayan salt disc to keep the meat warm, even cooking it a little, through the course of the meal. Arguably one of the better Steak Florentines I’ve had in Singapore, the meat’s flavour was intense and done to perfected medium rare consistency.

Chef Lau explains that the meats in Oca Grassa aren’t frozen; but instead, he uses a special technique that is a mix of curing and ageing to keep the meats. Curing helps to slow the ageing process of meats, and in that way also able to achieve the same results as aging the meat for 3 weeks.

If you’re looking to indulge your carnivorous nature, the Oca Grassa’s Steak Florentine is sure to give you a filling experience. Should 1.2kg sound a bit much for you, do note that the restaurant also serves an 800g option upon request – yeah, we were just being greedy here.

Oca Grassa 6 Bukit Pasoh Singapore 089820

Tel: 6534 9854

Opening Hours: Mon – Sat: 12pm – 2.30pm (Lunch) Mon – Sat: 6pm – 10.30pm (Dinner)