A Bloody Good Lunch : Two Hands Restaurant@Cliq Damansara (CLOSED)

Literally bloody, I'll get into that in a bit. Sounds scary? hah..hah... My brother and I had been talking about experiencing the dry aged Black Angus Tomahawk Steak at Two Hands Restaurant@Cliq Damansara after I read the reviews on Kris' and Sean's blog. 

We never got round to that until last weekend. 

We were rather curious as we have never tasted dry aged steak before. We got to the restaurant later than planned, at around 1pm. I made reservations (just in case) for 12pm but we were held up at the optician's.

Walking into the small restaurant, we found the place empty (except for a table at the al fresco area). I guess most diners probably visit in the evening. 

After checking the menu, we made our orders.

No prizes for guessing what the two coffee addicts had for drinks.

We chose one appetizer, which was the Fried Calamari. Wah! Very nice! Well seasoned, crispy of the outside and tender on the inside. None of that chewy rubbery texture that we experienced elsewhere.

The yogurt and dill dip was a revelation. It was just so good. I am usually wary about yogurt but my fears were allayed once I tasted this tangy and flavorful dip.

My brother loved the dip so much that he scooped it up (long after the calamari were eaten) together with the crispy bits of batter. That was how good it was. 

After a short wait, the much anticipated tomahawk (done medium rare) was served in all its glory.

It does not look very big in this photo and you will need to get up close and personal to appreciate its size. The server asked us if we wanted to carve it ourselves or if we preferred the kitchen to do it for us.

Obviously, Chef Vic was not in the house or else I am sure he would have done the honors for us at the table. Ah well, can't expect the good chef to be there all the time. Of course we needed assistance and the server carried the platter back to the kitchen.

And so the carved tomahawk was returned to the table shortly after. It was served with 4 croissants (the best we have tasted, light and crispy) , three types of butter, roasted cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic, wholegrain mustard and flaked sea salt.

Now let's take a closer look at the sliced tomahawk.

Gorgeous, eh? But I found the slices at the center too rare for my liking. I know this is done medium rare and I am OK with the pinkish meat but not the raw ones. There were bloody juices that seeped out from the steak (photo below).

So I revisited Kris' and Sean's blog and peered closely at their photos of the tomahawk. Yes, I did see some pieces that were very rare.

OK, enough about my squeamishness. Now let's talk about the taste. At first, my brother ate his piece of steak with the accompaniments (roasted garlic, mustard etc) and so did I. We were both quiet for a moment.

Then we just simply seasoned the meat with the flaked sea salt and I heard an audible "MMMMM!!!" from my brother.

This is all you need. Salt. Don't mess around with anything else. That's when we appreciated the intense depth of flavor of the dry aged steak. You don't get this taste with regular steak, that's for sure.

I'm afraid there were two pieces of meat that I had to discreetly spit into the serviette as they were sinewy and chewy. 

My brother loved the roasted tomatoes and said what they needed was some pasta. Yes, this would be great as pasta sauce.

The three flavored butter were lost upon us as the croissants were already so tasty on their own.

Both of us were struggling to finish the tomahawk. My brother was clearly doing much better than me as I threw in the towel. This portion of meat would be better shared among three persons. 

My brother and I agreed that the taste of the dry aged tomahawk was simply awesome, those pieces of steak that were "more cooked" tasted better while we did not appreciate the ones that were too rare.

We will come back to Two Hands Restaurant again to try their other dishes. As for the tomahawk, will we have that again? Of course, but not so soon. Maybe we should find out if Chef Vic is in before we eat our next tomahawk to ensure that we have an even better experience.

Total damage? 

Cannot eat rice for the next few months wahahaha!! Just kidding.