$20 Affordable Wagyu Steak lunch at Culina Xtra VivoCity Hypermarket

Some weeks ago we had written about the cook on demand service that is offered at Fairprice Xtra VivoCIty Hypermarket (read post). We were back recently to try out this grill-on-demand service at Fairprice. This post is about our $20 Affordable Wagyu steak lunch at Culina Xtra VivoCity Hypermarket.

These pictures from our previous visit show the dine-in area at the Vivo Hypermarket. Ready-to-eat items such as packed sushi and drinks can be consumed here. There are two separate grilling stations for meat and seafood. Select your choice of meat or seafood and bring it to the relevant food preparation station. Pay for your purchase plus the service charge at these stations and they will grill and serve them to you.

The seafood service charge is $4 for the first 400g and $1 for each subsequent 100g. As for meat, the cooking fee is $8 for each cut. This includes two side dishes.

We decided to try out the grill on demand service for meat. There are some other cooked food dishes that can be ordered such as pasta and sausages.

Culina Xtra VivoCity Hypermarket Meat Xperience

We headed to the Culina meat counter and browsed the types of meat available. The “Today’s Special” caught our eye – Wagyu Steak at $5.40 per 100g. We picked a cut that was around 230g. That would be the affordable Wagyu Steak lunch at Culina Xtra VivoCity Hypermarket

We brought the steak to the Kitchen section. The steak costs $12.42. With the $8 service fee, the total steak meal costs $20.42. The choice of sides were French fries and daily vegetables (which turned out to be cooked carrot and broccoli). A buzzer was given to us, marked with the words “Culina Meat Xperience”. It seems that this meat section is run by Culina (we are not sure but this may explain the separate grilling / payment areas for meat and seafood).

After about 15 minutes, the buzzer sounded. This is a picture of the $20 Affordable Wagyu Steak lunch at Culina Xtra VivoCity Hypermarket. The steak itself was wonderful. Moist, juicy and tasty. We did not need any sauce for this. Just a bit of salt and pepper and it was delicious. This could be a steak from a fancy restaurant. But the lunch itself was not all hunky dory. There were some negative aspects about dining at the new Grill-on-Demand Culina Steak Experience at Vivo Hypermarket, althought we must say that they have nothing to do with the steak itself.

Some Minor Problems

We were disappointed that everything was served in plastic trays and with plastic cutlery. Both for the sake of the environment and eating experience, it would have been much nicer if they served the steak on a plate with normal cutlery. Which may explain why they cut up the beautiful steak into small pieces as the plastic knife simply does not cut it (pun intended).

Next point of annoyance was the lack of good drink choices. The best we can find in the area were some little bottles of wine. We made do with what they had and picked up this bottle of Jacobs Creek. It reminded us of our meal on Scoot. The wine selection in the wine department in Fairprice Vivo upstairs is huge – if only a fraction of that selection is available at the dine-in area.

Apart from our minor grievances, it was fun shopping for our steak and eating it in the Vivo hypermarket. Our neighbours at the table had a lot of fun with their grilled seafood. Here is a picture of their grilled prawns and fish. They were eating them with their hands!

Whether it is an affordable Wagyu steak lunch at Culina Xtra VivoCity Hypermarket or a seafood BBQ, we think that it can be a fun experience, knowing that you are paying supermarket prices for your meal. The produce is also fresher than if you bring them home and prepare them. The service fee is very reasonable considering that we don’t have to do any cooking or washing up.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: NA
Value: 5
Atmosphere: 2
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs

NTUC Fairprice Xtra HYPER VIVO CITY
1 Harbourfront Walk
#B2-23 / #01-23
Vivo City
Singapore 098585

Operating Hours: 8:00 AM  to 11:00 PM
Monday to Sunday

Nearest MRT : Harbourfront

Website

---

The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog