Food Review: The Market Grill at 208 Telok Ayer St, Singapore 068642

The Market Grill has been around for a while on the busy Telok Ayer Street, but are probably overlooked as time went past because of so much F&B competition around the area. Still, this bistro/restaurant by The Unlisted Collection do have a good repertoire of dishes that deserves mention. When I spoke with Executive Chef Kenneth Lin, he mentioned that while in the past people come by for the Lobster Roll, nowadays there's also good steak and burgers on the menu. And that's no surprise to me, since those things do very well on the charcoal grill, which is the best way to go and what they use.

The decor of the place is typical of a shophouse restaurant and is well-ventilated despite the open kitchen, which I liked.

Fresh live lobsters in the tank greet you (along with the friendly waiters) just at the entrance, which is also good. 

I really like the decor of this mirror with cuts of the cow on it. If I have a kitchen or dining room area of my own, I would love to hang this there.

There's Suntory Premium Draft beer, which goes for $10 half pint during happy hour and $13 during dinner, which is not too bad! It's really fresh too.

Here's the menu as of April 2018 (from their website), with seasonal items written on the chalkboard in the restaurant.

On to the food! We tried, for appetisers, Pan-seared Scallops (S$26), which consists of bacon wrapped scallops, eggplant puree and battered covered baby corn. To be honest, the scallops themselves were a little cold and old when we ate it but I appreciated the charcoal grill effect! For the price though I wouldn't really order this. 2/5

We also tried something from the brunch menu, which I couldn't find online - it's like potatoes with minced meat with some greens and a poached egg. Even though it was dinner time, this was strangely not out of place. I liked the way everything was put together to complement each other, without being too over the top or sinful. 3/5

We then tried another brunch dish, the Lobster Benedict. If you taste something herby in there, it's probably the kaffir lime in the dressing, which I thought was a nice touch to cut through the intense, sweet flavour of the lobster claw (no complaints there though). This was probably my favourite item so far from what we had. 3.5/5

But then, we ascended to the climax - a beautiful, medium rare Wagyu Tri-Tip (S$49 for 200g). This was marvellous on a few levels. Firstly, you could really see the fat running through the steak, which melted in our mouths together with the beefy juice, as the meat was just lightly seared on the outside. Next, that potato mash that was probably laced with so much butter, because it tasted great as well. For the price, you're getting a really good amount of well-executed steak so props to the chef and the team! 4/5

So beautiful.

As a casual bistro with elevated prices, I think The Market Grill does some items really well but you will need to know how to order, because not all items are good. To me, just go for the jugular - the steak, or the lobster roll, and you won't go wrong. Otherwise, I'm thinking their burgers and mac and cheese will probably be decent as well!

The Market Grill
208 Telok Ayer St, Singapore 068642
Chope reservation // +65 62213323
11.30am-2.30pm, 6-10pm, closed on Sundays