Marble 8 for Fabulous Steaks!

If you’re as mad about great steaks as I am, then you have to visit Marble 8.

On the right, dry aged beef; on the left, wet aged beef, served without sauce, only with a choice of 3 salts, sides of Asparagus & Baked portabello mushrooms garlic, chili salsa 

Tenderloin on the bone.. or Bone-In Tenderloin, has the tenderness of a tenderloin, but some of the fatty goodness of the ribeye, thanks to the bone being kept on the meat. Best of both worlds, and my favourite cut at Marble 8.

But as any wanton carnivore can attest, the folks at Marble 8 understand better than most, that KL has become a town smitten with reinventing the steak. Happy to report though, that instead of messing it up with contemporary sauces, Marble 8 is all about the naked steak, and boy am I glad that’s the way they play it out here.

the dry aged Ribeye

all you need is love salt!  (Himalayan salt, Hawaiian salt, Rosemary Sicilian Salt)

It is no surprise then that this swanky steakhouse, is under the Marini’s Group and owned by Modesto Marini. Nestled in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Marble 8 is a contemporary Australian style steakhouse with lavish décor combined with rich textures and colours adding to the contemporary feel, making it the ideal place for a chillaxed lunch, a hot dinner date, or just a place to have some drink with friends and colleagues after work.

What can I tell you? This latest steakhouse in KL is currently my “go-to” restaurant for great steaks. If you have not visited it, then you really should, before the year is up. You see, the restaurant only serves prime cuts of superior quality meat and these steaks can actually be seen hanging in Marble 8’s massive ageing cellar (kept at -2 degrees celsius). They are put through a tightly controlled dry-ageing process – either wet aged or dry aged, and for a specific amount of time, say anywhere between 15  – 40 days.

The resulting steak is more flavourful than you can imagine. Each mouthful an explosion of bovine flavour. If you ask me, I choose the dry aged version every time. With the water removed, the flavour in the meat becomes even more concentrated. It’s a steak lovers paradise out here. Believe it.

mine.. all mine!

And then there’s the matter of this rolls royce of steaks, that everyone should try. It is the Bone-In Tenderloin. This particular “bone-in meat” cut, dry-aged for 40 days, had amazing flavours and a deep, penetrating aroma of grass-fed beef. This was even better than the ribeye for me.

If you’re not trying to impress anyone (like some hot dinner date), then you should gnaw at the bone as well, as this part has the remnants of the fatty meat – insanely good!

But apart from great steaks, Marble 8 does other not red meat dishes too. Some of the must try’s include..

Smoked quails eggs – an lovely smoky aroma is imparted by Hickorey chip wood

dipped in salt to enhance its delicate flavour

delicious in-house baked breads 

Summer heirloom tomato salad, basil, burrata cheese and arugula

Free Range Rosemary Grilled Spring Chicken, rosemary, roasted potatoes and asparagus, chimichurri sauce

Madagascan Freshwater Prawn, pasta capellini, garlic and chilli

This pasta dish was the bomb. Cappellini is my go-to, almost-obsessive pasta of choice, and this one was perfectly al-dente and bursting with roe flavour. One could most definitely taste the oceanic zinc and minerals in the sauce. Coated in seafood sweetness, each mouthful was unctuousness and succulence personified. Nuts. This is a must order.

Cottage pie – slightly on the wet side, but the hearty flavour was intoxicatingly good! 

Generally, for what it’s worth, the steaks were priced appropriately. The Ribeye at 300gm was priced at m268, the Bone in tenderloin, 40day dry aged 350gm priced at rm390 and for the big eaters, or for sharing, check out the Tomahawk 1600gm, priced at rm1480.

Lunch came to an end, just about the same time the sky above KL decided to open up and unleash its pent up reserves upon us. No matter, we had Crepe Suzette to warm the cockles of our hearts, so we were good.

petits fours and completely satiated at this point.. what a lunch! 

There is also a bar and an outdoor garden for folks to hangout at – nice, white futuristic furniture on the lawn.. how on earth do they keep it clean?! And oh, of course there’s that stunning view of the Petronas Twin Towers that’s lurking at every corner you turn at Marble 8.

A plush lounge upstairs called the Privé, is a cool cigar and single malt lounge. Adorned with rich brown leather seating, oak wood panelling and vaulted decorative ceiling, it doesn’t get plusher than this.

A private wine room is the best place to host intimate wine tasting sessions..

I love this place, I do. This is definitely one of my Top Steak restaurants for 2014. Am happy to dine here every single weekend, or till the cows come home. Marble 8 has definitely hit the bull’s eye where steaks are concerned! 😛