Expensive Rice-bowl Lunch @ The Black Cow
I have heard a lot about the Black Cow at South Beach but did not have a chance to try it. The restaurant serves Japanese Wagyu beef and I am a big fan of Japanese Wagyu beef. So when a friend suggested lunch here two weeks ago, I agreed.
It is a small restaurant with several tables and a counter and a private room which can accommodate 6-8pax. Min spending in order to book a private room is $1,200 for lunch and $1,600 for dinner if I recall correctly.
For lunch, they have an executive set menu consisting of rice bowls and sukiyaki.
I decided to go for the Premium Wagyu Don which included Japanese beef, foie gras, uni, truffle and onsen egg. I chose the $85++ Joshu A3 beef and could not bring myself to pay $108 for the Kagoshima A5. I had a choice of fried rice or white rice and chose fried rice.
The rice was really flavorful. The beef was extremely tender and grilled just right at medium rare. The truffle and foie gras really brings out the flavour of the rice bowl. Really yummy! I loved it. But I must say that for $85, portion was small and I was not satisfied after my meal. Felt that one corner of my stomach was still empty.
My friend decided to have the Signature Truffle Don which cost $45++ and add on uni for another $15. After this add-on, her rice bowl had all that mine had except foie gras which she did not like. This rice bowl came with plain rice only. No option for fried rice. But the rice bowl comes with a sauce.
The Signature Truffle Don is of a slightly more substantial portion compared to my Premium Wagyu Don. Since it was served in a round based bowl compared to mine which was served in a cone shaped bowl. Portion was about right for my friend. She liked her rice bowl.
Each set lunch came with salad and choice of ice-cream. They had the usual Japanese Ice-cream flavour, namely matcha, black sesame and yuzu. I choice my favourite yuzu.
Overall a delicious lunch but was not satisfying due to the small serving. It was extremely expensive but I must admit that quality was good. Will I come back again? I’m not sure. The rice bowl was delicious and I liked it, but I’m not sure if I’ll be crazy enough to pay so much for a bowl of rice again.
We went to Lady M nearby for cake and coffee after lunch to fill the remaining corner of my stomach.