Carnivore: The Anti-Vegetarian Buffet
Butterfish Sir?
I know a lot of Vegetarians do go for buffets (where there is a nice salad bar), but I wonder if a Vegetarian would actually go to a restaurant called Carnivore where the main attraction is "all-you-can-eat" meats that are carved right on your table? Even if they do, wouldn't the sight of so much celebration of meat be a turn off for those who choose to be Vegetarians for the love of animals?
Anyway, when the Channel 8 producers asked me to recommend a buffet to film for their upcoming Channel 8 series, I picked Carnivore as the more interesting choice. I seldom go for buffets nowadays because Calories are precious and rather than going for quantity, I prefer to go for quality. So for me, I'd rather spend my money and calories on a nice steak rather than on a buffet. However, Carnivore was a bit more than your run-of-the-mill buffet, I thought it would be a bit of a fun dining experience for the family.
Beef Hump (This guy quite drama!)
Carnivore does have a ring of authenticity about it. For one, their passadours (the guys cutting the meat) are really from Brazil, and they also have stuff like Beef Hump which you is a cut of meat that is common in Brazil but not found in our usual Aust or American beef. The Beef Hump is found in the Zebu breed of cattle which the Brazilians rear but not on the Angus which is the common breed in America/Aust. It is essentially a hump of muscle just behind the neck of the cattle.
Sliced Beef Hump
This is the first time I am trying beef hump and I must say that it is quite nice. You can see from the picture that the meat is quite fat and it has been roasted over a slow fire for 6 hours. So you can imagine how juicy and melt-in-your-mouth the meat is. It has got a little of that "Corned Beef" kind of taste. 4/5
The other meat that I was quite impressed with was the Butterfish which was smooth and buttery without any hint of fishiness. 4/5
Having so much meat is a tad heavy, so the roasted pineapples was a nice interlude between meats. You must admit that the sight of wonderfully charred and caramelized pineapple can be quite inviting even if you consider yourself a staunch carnivore!
Conclusion
Personally, I would rather have a nice steak rather than all-you-can-eat meat. However, I can see how this place can appeal to a platoon of national servicemen who have just been eating combat rations for 2 weeks. I must say however that the beef hump was interesting enough if you have not had this cut of meat before and it would be an interesting family outing if they have never been to this type of restaurant before.
Postscript:
Carnivore will be featured in the first episode of Buffet Buffet which will be aired on 2 Oct, Channel 8 at 8pm. I really hope that they will do a good job editing my spoken Mandarin which many have already said was "CMI" (Cannot make it) the last time.
Carnivore VivoCity
Lunch $28++ Weekend $32++
Happy Hour (5.30pm-6.30pm) $36 Weekend $39++
Dinner $42++ Weekend $45++
29 comments:
I ate here lots of times before! First time I'm disagreeing with your rating though, no way is the butter fish only 4/5! But yeah it is a little expensive because no one can actually eat so much meat, but it is SO good! Recommended! =D
Have not tried this but had my first dig of brazilian churrascharia in Rio de Janeiro with all the samba shows and also at Brazil Churrasco Sixth Avenue.
Agreed that meats comes non stop by the passadors but there is so much a stomach can take not withstanding that it is always an enjoyable meals at these joints.
At least their beef hump looks good.
The one I had at Vibe @ Pan Pacific Orchard was all dry up.
Ahhh..nothing beats a meat buffet!
wow! first episode of "yong yuan chi bu fei" ah?? must catch must catch.. esp it's buffet!!! hee hee
Khim, how do u manage to have your kind of appetite and still stay so svelte? I'm so envious!!! I have a Brazilian classmate here who ever asked me if we have Brazilian food in Singapore and I mentioned this to him. I have not personally tried it cos' I'm usually a veg person. (Though now I crave some real meats and fish cos' it's so expensive here!) I shall go for this when I am back. bwahaha! Will show him pics of this and ask him if he thinks it looks authentic. :)
Last ate there 5 months back. enjoyed it a lot. The pineapple was my favourite, and everyones' favourite as well. Every time the pineapple comes out from the kitchen, it runs out before everything else.
But eat here have to fast the next few days. Very very sinful but shiok. Jaws also chew until ache.: )
Ok after my O's I am coming here!
hello.. can i know where is the best place to have a birthday dinner ? budget is around $40 per person ? =)
I love the beef hump.... I also kept asking for the crunchy chicken hearts. :) The pineapple is so sweet and appetising.
I can eat once a year only, too much meat!!
The whole family's going to be on TV? I have to watch, just to hear you speak Mandarin. haha....
Carnivore @ Vivo gets my vote for its absolutely marvellous pow wow butterfish and the free flow salad bar and desserts like choco fountain...
I had a totally different experience from His Food Blog altogether @ Pan Pacific Orchard's premium meats extravaganza. They had, amongst the most tender kobe and wagyu cuts, the juiciest beef hump I've tasted - as compared to Brazilian @ Sixth Avenue and Samba @ Katong Village - and my gf and I were instantly hooked to this novelty cut. Tasted so much like sio bak, melt-in-the-mouth fats oohlala! Needless to say, too much good meat until overkill liao, bunny ended up in toilet =x Excellent night though, tt was.
Pineapples were coated with cinnamon to add that zing... very good contrast to all the meats in between~
Lucky you! I kinda swear off from meat buffet after that. :(
ping: got a few reasons lor.. first, my family genes. second, my high metabolism rate & lastly, my stomach got worms!!! =p hahaha
it seems a feast for the eyes as well watching the guys cutting the meat before the feast for the stomach!
omg i just watched it....
and the beef look soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!
Argh!!! Omg...
And leslie btw, I was at Seng Kee this afternoon! hahaha! And your signature stethoscpoe could not be missed either!
Caught a glimpse of it on TV too. Awesome!
I hate this place. Sure I'm a staunch carnivore but I have a small appetite and an even thinner wall. So the 50 bucks or so amount to about 15 minutes of meat for me.
The meat was delicious but I found my mouth getting all dry and felt sick after a few servings. And spent the next 2 hours watching my friends eat, while shooing away the Brazillian servers. I much prefer the Hanabi Japanese buffet, though ala carte menu ordering is always better.
someone i know happened to be one of e "judge" in e Carnivore recommendation.
This place is the pits! Don't be fooled by the pictures. The meats are mostly dry and the time I went, the so-called butter fish was very fishy! Plus the service sucks! Passadors are surly and wait staff are rude!
I have been frequenting Brazil Churrascaria for the past 12 years and their meats have always been consistently succulent and delicious. And I think their Snow Fish with lemongrass beats this place hands down! Service is also always excellent.
My experience at Vibes wasn't as good as it was at Brazil's but at least their servers are friendly and the char siew was something different! Still better than Carnivore!
I really had a bad experience with this place. And I think this is the first time I am disagreeing with ieatishootipost! And the first time I am posting a comment because I couldn't disagree more!
Apologies to fans of this place :P!
dont really like this place..
meats are usually overcooked, and variety is also limited.
but obviously the price is also at a discount to brazil churrascaria at 6th avenue.. which has wider variety but also more costly.
I'm honestly puzzled as to why people don't like this place, I still think it's fantastic! Alright only thing I don't like about this place is that you have to eat the pork shoulder and ham asap because it'll dry out fast, but the beef is still really good! And there's lots of variety to me!
sam - the one at 6th avenue has chicken thigh, chicken breast wrapped in bacon, chicken heart, lamb, beef ribs, pork ribs, beef topside, beef rump, sirloin, prawns, pork sausages, gamon ham, seabass and salmon.
and they serve it all.. whereas, carnivore may skip a few of the meats..
but again, i say.. Brazil churrascaria pricing is more ex... $47 or 50 something like that..
"Do you know why he write a review? Because he got nothing to write."
If u are not passionate about food here why stay on and continuously "bark up the tree" on heritage food.Wrong Channel !!!!!
We just want to talk and review Churacharias..dont bother about heritage food here please. We dont want to hear about it. Wrong channel again.
Wow okay the one at 6th Avenue does sound good! Guess I couldn't say much since I've only ever been to one meat buffet haha.. Where is it? Would like to try!
Sam, it's located at 6th Ave, Bukit Timah there. my bf n i passed by & he told me he tried it before or heard from people said it's good, but we haven't got e time to try yet. but it seems tat they only open for dinner & reservation is required?
went to the old joo chiat police station today where the east coast branch of carnivore is.....
and guess what... they are closed!? i was just there 2 weeks ago... the whole outlet is gone, and everything has been ripped out...
guess they didnt last long - 1yr?... food was so so and guess they must have suffered from having aston's in front of them across the road.. constantly having long queues...
Yeah Katong Village is quite dead, save for Waraku. Even Samy's curry also gone...
Sumo, btw the one at Katong Village was not under Carnivore but Samba - used to have one more at the former Big Splash too. Now totally defunct.
ok my bad - samba. and samba certainly wasn't very good..
yesh. The very popular Mr Teh Tarik which used to be there is now at China Square - expanded from a small stall to a outlet with lots of seats.
i think that area, the competition is very keen. people go to Katong Village for the parking, but otherwise bypass the eateries there and go to the more popular row of eateries in the row of shophouses along the main road.
only waraku is still popular.
Hi, actually I tried Carnivore last year with my French colleagues. I didn't really like it though. I still think the one at 6th Avenue is the best. The only thing I liked about Carnivore were the chicken hearts. The other cuts of meat were too dry and not very interesting. The Brazil Churrasco at 6th Avenue rocks! (but yes, all that meat makes my face turn green at the end of the meal. Thank God for the grilled pineapple! Yum yum...)
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