Mighty Meat at Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse

Posted: December 6th, 2012 | Author: LumDimSum | Filed under: A Day In My Life, Foodies & Dining Scene | Tags: Alan Wong, Morton's of Chicago, Morton's Steakhouse, New Restaurant, Regent Hotel, Steak, Wine Locker | 6 Comments »

Mighty Meat at Morton’s

The famous American Steakhouse chain, Morton’s of Chicago, just recently opened in Beijing in the Regent Hotel on Saturday, November 17, 2012 with a pretty impressive grand opening party.

As you can see from the photos below, Morton’s was not holding back in their efforts to impress. I wasn’t in Beijing on the weekend of Morton’s opening, but I sent a trusty, undercover investigator to go in my place and report back her findings.

Apparently, there was quite the crowd, which doesn’t come as a surprise considering it was an open bar and generous buffet.  Free fancy drinks and food for all will draw a decent turn-out, but consequently, there was a long wait at the open bar to get any kind of cocktail (I hear they have a good “Mortini”).

Drinks were slow to churn out, but there was plenty of food to go around.  The report said that the quality was as high as the quantity, which says a lot considering the abundance that was being served for all – I’m talking endless flow of fresh oysters, lobster, steak, salmon, the works.  And their dessert table of chocolate mousses, fresh mixed berries, and the cheesecake in particular, left a deep impression on both my LDS investigator and her plus one.

Morton’s – you’re off to a strong start!

Snapshots from Morton’s Grand Opening:

(Photos Courtesy of Jennie Kang)

With 80 branches all over the world and successful branches already in Hong Kong and Shanghai, many of us Beijingers have been counting down the days for Morton’s to arrive in the capital.

“Morton’s Beijing is the culmination of our long-held passion to bring our trademark values — Quality. Consistency. And Genuine Hospitality — to the Chinese capital. We are very excited to be serving our world-famous American fine dining and offering our legendary service to the cosmopolitan and distinguished diners of this great and historical city.” – Stephen McCrimmon, Regional Director of Operations – Asia.

Although it would have been nice to attend Morton’s opening party, I have been much more excited to sit down for a steak feast together with my foodie family and taste our way through their selection of famous grain-fed aged beef steaks.

After drooling over so many adverts of Morton’s signature steaks, it was finally time to fulfill our desires and eat our heart’s out.

Signature Porterhouse Steak (Photo Courtesy of Morton’s)

Ribyeye Steak (Photo Courtesy of Morton’s)

Let’s begin with Morton’s venue layout:

The restaurant is an interesting space. Located on the 2nd floor of the Regent Hotel, the left side of the restaurant is the reception table while the bar is conveniently located on the right side, a perfect place to wait for the rest of your party to arrive and enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail.

The restaurant has a spacious main dining room with an open kitchen and also 8 separate private dining rooms including one corporate ballroom that can seat up to 44 people!

In between the main dining room and private dining rooms (no minimum fee) is an impressive wine cellar and similarly to the other Morton’s branches in China, they also have personally labeled, temperature-controlled wooden vaults for members to store their own pre-selected, pre-paid wines from Morton’s cellar – ready to consume at will.

Although I do not anticipate my name showing up on any private vaults in the near future, this is already a huge draw for the wine geek community (including Alan Wong, massive wine geek and founder of the Hatsune Restaurant Group).

Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse in the Regent HotelPrivate Dining RoomMain Dining RoomOpen KitchenWine CellarsBar Photo Courtesy of Morton’sMain Dining Room Press Photo Courtesy of Morton’sFirst things First: Alan Wong’s Wine LockerAlan’s Choice Wines on Reserve at Morton’s

I may not be a die-hard wine fanatic just yet, but I know good steak and Morton’s is premium, top-grade beef at its best. A classic steakhouse, you can expect to see everything from the center-cut filet mignon, bone-in rib-eye and their signature giant porterhouse.

But more than just beef, Morton’s also has a wide selection of soups, salads, fresh seafood and all the sides you crave alongside your steaks as well.

“Morton’s Beijing is offering a finely-crafted menu serving the best available aged grain-fed beef, as well as fresh fish, Maine Lobster, lamb chops and chicken entrees. Guests can enjoy generous portions of beef, including a 48-ounce (1300g) Porterhouse, a 20-ounce (550g) New York Sirloin, and a 12-ounce (340g) Double Cut Filet.”

Dinner Menu at Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse

A nice (and unexpected) touch of Morton’s service is that while you’re looking over the menu, a waitress will push a trolly over to your table and begin explaining everything from the different steak cuts to the fresh seafood and vegetable options on the menu.

While I will give our waitress an A++++ for effort, her menu introduction was very long (a bit too detailed and drawn out) and she had a very thick accent which made it difficult for any of us to understand what she was trying to explain. In the end, we found ourselves nodding along for about 10 minutes, while only comprehending about 20% of her total speech.

A Personal Menu IntroductionRaw Products Trolly

In spite of the fact that none of us understood what was said in the menu introduction, we are no strangers to Morton’s menu.  We all knew exactly what we wanted to order and we didn’t hold back.

Here is the full feast in photos…

LDS Snapshots of Morton’s of Chicago Menu Dishes:

Morton’s Signature Big Onion Bread Ball

This big bread ball comes complimentary to every table. Since we had 7 people, we got two! Topped with onions baked into the top of this big, soft bread ball, it’s hard to keep your hands from continuously tearing off chunk after chunk of this tasty bread.

Since each of us ordered our own steak, we figured we ought to balance out our meat intake with some veggies to start. We ordered the Center-Cut Iceberg Salad (RMB 118) and Morton’s Caesar Salad (RMB 108) to share between the group along with one of my favorite seafood dishes – the Jumbo Lump Crabmeat Cocktail (RMB 188) served with a side of Mustard Mayonnaise.

Half Portion of Center-Cut Iceberg Salad: Morton’s version of the Wedge, with Chopped Egg, Tomato, Bacon Bits & Morton’s Blue Cheese Dressing (RMB 118)Half Portion of Morton’s Caesar Salad with Classic Dressing (RMB 108)Jumbo Lump Crabmeat Cocktail with Mustard Mayonnaise (RMB 188)

Time to talk Steaks.

I prefer quality over quantity so I went for one of the smallest steaks on the menu, but still quite a pricey option – the Center-Cut Filet Mignon 170g (RMB 538), which was about half the size of my fellow foodies’ Porterhouse Steak (RMB 688) and Signature Cut New York Strip 340g (RMB 598).

After sneaking in a few bites of my neighboring steaks, I can confidently say that my filet was the most juicy and tender of them all. And although my portion was much smaller, I still had plenty and after piling on spoonfuls of the crazy amount of side dishes we all ordered, I barely had stomach space left for dessert.

Half Portion Porterhouse Steak 650g (RMB 688)Center-Cut Filet Mignon 170g (RMB 538)Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse: Signature Cut New York Strip 340g (RMB 598)

Between 7 foodies, we ordered 6 side dishes, which is quite ambitious in retrospect. We clearly didn’t strategize very well, but hopefully lesson learned for next time. We all thought the Asparagus Side Dish (RMB 90) was odd as the balsamic glaze left a sour, unpleasant taste in our mouths, but we were all pretty gungho for the Bacon and Onion Mac&Cheese (RMB 100) and Creamed Spinach (RMB 90).

Next time we’ll have to go back to Morton’s famous Homemade Mashed Potatoes (which are AMAZING!).

Side Dish: Bacon & Onion Macaroni & Cheese (RMB 100)Side Dish: Grilled Jumbo Asparagus with Balsamic Glaze (RMB 90)Side Dish: Steak Fries (RMB 100)Side Dish: Sauteed Button Mushrooms (RMB 90)Side Dish: Creamed Spinach (RMB 90)Side Dish: Sauteed Spinach & Button Mushrooms (RMB 90)Snapshot of Steak Feast at Morton’s in Beijing

As our waitress did with a trolly to introduce our options for mains, she was back with a nice silver tray of our dessert options. All the desserts we ordered are RMB 98 (as are most of the desserts available), but that price excludes a couple hot desserts including a Hot Chocolate Fondant (RMB 138) and a Chocolate Sundae (RMB 188).

Introducing Dessert MenuPlatter of Dessert Options

Since sharing is caring, we split three desserts between the 6 of us (not counting one, who wasn’t allowed to have any dessert due to new dietary restrictions in his diet).  We weren’t very impressed with the handful of Raspberries with sprinkled powdered sugar and cream (RMB 98), but the Chocolate Mousse (RMB 98) served in a martini glass was lovely and we went bananas for Morton’s Strawberry Cheesecake (RMB 98), which is probably the best cheesecake I’ve had in Beijing.  I remember ordering the cheesecake in the Morton’s branch in Shanghai and being very disappointed, but this Strawberry Cheesecake in our new Beijing branch is spectacular.

Believe it or not, we couldn’t resist the urge to also order a Morton’s Carrot Cake (RMB 98) to take to-go as well. We definitely didn’t have the stomach space to eat it then and there, but we knew we’d be regretting it if we didn’t take home for later!

Chocolate Mousse (RMB 98)Strawberry Cheesecake (RMB 98)Raspberry Dessert (RMB 98)

Family Dinner at Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse

Review of Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse: Next to the Legendale Hotel, Morton’s is on the 2nd Floor of The Regent Hotel, 99 Jinbao Lu, Dongcheng District 东城区金宝街99号 北京丽晶酒店2层; Tel: 6523 7777. Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 5:30pm-11pm, Sunday 5pm-10pm.

Best Part:

• This is a premium, trusted American steakhouse brand famous around the world (over 80 branches) for serving high-quality aged grain-fed beef.
• A massive wine selection with the option to get your own personalized, temperature-controlled wine vault to store your own bottles. So gangsta.
• Best strawberry cheesecake of my life.  It’s rich, creamy with a creme brulee caramelized top layer and strawberry sauce and fresh fruit. Phenomenal.
• They have lots of different dining table options from seating in their spacious main dining rooms to different sized private rooms including one that can seat up to 44 people!
• Location in the Regent Hotel makes Morton’s a very accessible venue for both Beijingers and visiting tourists.
• Definitely an upscale venue, it was nice to dress up for dinner for a change, but just make sure you wear something loose/not too constricting on the waistline!
• Take note: Mondays-Fridays from 5pm-7pm is Morton’s Daily Happy Hour which means discounted prices on their famous “Mortinis” and complimentary Filet Mignon Sandwiches. Definitely worth checking out!

Comments:

• It’s very pricey.  Each steak is between RMB 500-800 with the double porterhouse at RMB 1,376 (which could probably feed an entire family). Between 7 of us, we each paid RMB 1,000 which only covered the food since Alan used bottles of wine he pre-purchased in his own personalize wine vault.
• I can’t fault Morton’s service staff for not trying because we had so many lovely service staff take turns looking after our table, but it was all a bit amateur. They get big points for effort, but at times it was a bit over-bearing and although it was a nice try for our waitress to try to recite her introduction of all the main dish options and desserts to us on two separate occasions in our meal, we honestly could barely understand her heavily accented English and it was very forced. As it was already Alan’s second visit to Morton’s in one week, they already knew our table well and should have been able to gauge how much they needed to explain to us. Again, nice effort but not well executed.
• The Center Cut of Filet Mignon I had was delicious but I was not very impressed with the other cuts I tried- from the Porterhouse to the New York Strip, I thought the meat was quite dry and chewy.  I very much enjoyed my meal at Morton’s, but I think there is better steak available in Beijing for a lower price. That being said, I already know that I’ll be a frequent customer of Morton’s based on the fact that Alan Wong already has his personalized vault of wines which means he will be bringing our foodie family back more often than I’d probably like to (or my wallet will allow me to).

Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best)

• Food: 9
• Atmosphere: 7
• Service: 7

• Overall Experience: 8

Other Suggested LDS Articles:

• Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse is Opening in Beijing

• New Winter Menus: Try Mosto’s Wicked Wagyu Burger

• Barolo in the Ritz: Fine Italian Dining Worth Price Tag

• The Pavillion Grille: A Restaurant, Bar & Grill in Gongti

• Savvy SWITCH! Grill at New Dongsishitiao Location

• The New Niajo: Renovated, Updated & Better Than Ever

---