Daniel Ong’s Week-Old Steakhouse Is So Popular, He’s Had To Turn Guests Away

Daniel Ong isn’t afraid of cutting to the chase. When asked for the reason behind opening his one-week-old F&B venture, a Korean-influenced steakhouse simply named Dan’s Steaks, the former radio DJ tells us candidly: “I’ve lost my income — I gotta find a way to make a living.”

The loss he’s referring to is the closure of his casual western restaurant chain Rookery as well as his renovation business, which has been suffering due to the pandemic and his ongoing Twelve Cupcakes court case. If you haven’t heard, Daniel is facing charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act linked to the cake chain he founded with ex-wife and former actress Jaime Teo. They were charged with underpaying foreign workers over three years and Jaime was fined $65k in March. Daniel declined to discuss his expected outcome for the case — his court hearing begins next month.

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Daniel says the Rookery losses were in the “hundreds of thousands”, and he would be “literally bankrupt” if he didn’t let go of all three branches last year. We asked if he regretted the decision, given the recent recovery of the F&B industry. “Absolutely, but it was necessary. When you’re only bringing in 70% revenue, you’re bleeding about 50k a month – I don’t have that kind of money to bleed,” shares Daniel. “After the case came out, I lost all my construction business. That’s what spurred me into action for Dan’s Steaks.”

For the past three months, Daniel has been looking for a home for Dan’s Steaks, which started as a home-based business during the Circuit Breaker last May. After “a series of setbacks”, the steakhouse – located in a quaint Serangoon Gardens enclave – finally opened for business last week.

That said, Dan’s Steakhouse has been crowded from the get-go. We even observed service staff turning away several walk-in guests as the restaurant was fully booked on a Wednesday evening. Young couples, families and Serangoon Gardens residents make up most of the guests at the 34-seater. Daniel tells us his celeb pals including Allan Wu and Irene Ang have also dropped by recently.

Daniel confesses that the court case “is always at the back of my mind”, but he chooses to focus on the positive. “I’ve learned from my mistakes, and I’ve applied them to everything I’ve been doing since.” This includes “handling everything” at Dan’s Steaks, from marketing, finance and cooking to “renovating with my own hands and putting this whole place together in under 22 days.”

Despite some negative press and online vitriol, Daniel remains unfazed. “I don’t have special hatred for them – they say what they want to say. I don’t read (the negative comments) at all to be honest. With every keyboard warrior, I have ten people who support me. This support keeps me sane because I know there are a lot of people who believe in me and what I do, including a few who invested [in Dan’s Steakhouse] as silent partners,” shares Daniel, who has spent “about a quarter of a million” so far to open the restaurant.

Even though it’s been notoriously difficult to hire F&B staff lately due to Covid-19 travel curbs affecting foreign staff, Daniel is thankful to have assembled an “absolutely stellar” team. There are currently three chefs and two operation managers (both used to work at Rookery), and a handful of part-time service staff.

According to Daniel, the court case has not affected his employees’ faith in him. “They know I treat them well. There are little bonuses if you hit targets. My part-timers get paid every week or two in cash – at their request. In all my businesses that I’ve personally handled, I’ve always been a ‘split profit with the people who matter’ type of boss.”

Even though Daniel is a consummate F&B entrepreneur, this is the first time he will be actually cooking and running the kitchen in his own restaurant. “I cook every steak that’s served here. My sous chef has over 20 years of experience – having a newbie tell him and the other cooks what to do is absolutely absurd but they see my passion and what I’m trying to achieve. They taste my food and they know it’s good, so there’s a lot of mutual respect.”

For now, he is happy to continue helming the kitchen while looking to hire a full-time grillmaster. “I’m still overseeing my construction business, so in the longer term, I would ideally be here doing [table] service every night after offloading my kitchen duties [to the new chef].”

Daniel also shares that he’s planning to open “one or two more branches” this year at a more central location after fine-tuning the operations.

For consistency and ease of operations, Daniel’s steaks undergo a sous vide process before getting seared on a cast iron pan to finish. Cooking steaks sous vide is a more foolproof method to ensure ideal doneness, though there are detractors who prefer their meat to have a less uniform texture. To Daniel, a perfect steak should have “a hard crust, no grain band and be medium rare, edge to edge”.

Daniel tells us he decided on this cooking style after trying “hundreds of ways of making steaks” – including reverse sear and traditional cooking in the pan. He has also hosted several taste tests for his friends to compare the different methods and sous vide is the clear winner, “nine times out of ten”.

Affordable steaks is a huge selling point as well, with prices starting from $32 for a 250g slab of Australian tenderloin. His chilled beef cuts come from America, New Zealand and Australia. To add further value, all diners will also enjoy a bevy of free Korean side dishes to go with your meal.

Daniel says he discovered beef and kimchi make “the best combination in the world”, thanks to frequent visits to Gyu-Kaku, a Japanese barbecue chain that offers kimchi as a side dish. The restaurant is a favourite among his two daughters aged 11 and six (he has a son along the way, due in August). “We ended up eating there twice a week for years! I’m a VIP there,” the loving dad chuckles.

He started serving beef with kimchi and other banchan (Korean side dishes) at Christmas parties and gatherings, and found out the pairing was a hit among his friends as well – this inspired him to continue developing the Korean steakhouse concept.

Besides playing a part in the conceptualisation of Dan’s Steaks, Daniel hopes his daughters will take over the restaurant business someday. “When they come to the restaurant, I always tell them, ‘Welcome to your restaurant – you gotta take care of the place’. Renee and Gretel already know how to set the table, so when they turn 13 or 14 years old, I plan to get them to come here and help out.”

The dark and moody decor of this 34-seater reminds us a little of sleek, high-end steakhouses, but with a slightly more casual hip vibe, thanks to the rock-n-roll playlist, industrial-chic cork walls and wood panels, and dim lighting.

This gigantic New Zealand tenderloin is a feast for all senses – served in thick slices, the beautifully pink meat is a delight to photograph and a greater pleasure to taste. The slightly-charred exterior from Daniel’s “secret rub” and pan-frying over high heat provides the right balance of seasoning and aroma – smoky, savoury and herby, while the tender, almost buttery texture is pretty good.

To enhance the mild natural flavour of tenderloin, you can pair it with any of the six free condiments, including mustard, garlic confit and seasoned salt. Or opt for fancier sauces ($3 each) like Truffle Garlic Butter and Argentinian Chimichurri – we especially enjoyed the rich, velvety Dan’s Red Wine Veal Jus. The large steaks also come with two free side dishes of your choice, such as Pan-Roasted Mushrooms.

Daniel uses Australian wagyu with a mid-range marbling score of 4-5 (from a scale of 1-12) and this rib-eye has a decent amount of fat, a good sear, perfect doneness, and melt in your mouth texture, though we wish it were thicker for a more gratifying bite and to justify the rather steep price.

The most affordable steaks on the menu are smaller portions of grass-fed striploin, rib-eye and tenderloin from Australia and New Zealand, starting at $32 for 250g and $42 for 350g. We did not get to try them, but Daniel tells us confidently: “Even the grass-fed steaks are tender because we are using the sous vide method.”

Photo: this.celine

All diners will get to enjoy six out of 14 rotating complimentary Korean side dishes (banchan) available each day. The banchan are made from scratch, except for Fay’s Kimchi, which Daniel spruces up with “extra vinegar and chilli” – just the way his wife likes it. The resulting taste is slightly more sour than usual, which offers a good balance to the richness of the steaks.

We particularly enjoyed the Mom’s Black Beans, braised in a soy-based concoction (it’s a recipe from Daniel’s mum). Slightly sweet, chewy and nutty – this was fun to munch on while waiting for our steaks.

“This feels like Christmas,” we say to Daniel when he presented the four side dishes: Dan’s Christmas Pasta (aptly named), Pan-Roasted Mushrooms, Honey Balsamic Tomatoes, Pan-Roasted Asparagus. The first two are our favourites – the light flavours of the fusilli, cherry tomatoes and chicken sausages with a sprinkle of parmesan and cheddar pair nicely with beef, and we couldn’t get enough of the rich, garlicky notes of the mushrooms sauteed in balsamic and white wine.

Cool, cosy ambience for a neighbourhood joint, tender steaks at a decent price — and we enjoy the concept of free Korean side dishes (banchan), which makes for a natural pairing with grilled beef. Expect a semi-fancy steakhouse experience starting from $32 for a grass-fed striploin — but we suggest you visit in groups of three or four to enjoy the yummy larger cuts. Seats have been filling up quickly, so book early to secure your table (give the restaurant a call if online bookings are full as they reserve some tables for walk-ins).

12 Maju Ave, S556690. Open daily except Mon, 6.30pm–10.30pm.Tel: 9838 8147. www.danssteaks.com

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Photos: Alvin Teo