Allez Cuisine: The Ultimate Cheesecake Factory on this Planet

19 March 2011, The Cheesecake Factory

If my memory serves me right, my favourite Scottish gourment mentions if I have the opportunity to go to US, I should go to The Cheesecake Factory for a meal. I did not heard him properly and I thought it is a cafe selling coffee and cheese cake.

After training I decided to go there for cheese cake and cappuccino. To my astonishment, The Cheesecake Factory turned out to be a full service restaurant. My first impression outside the building was: it was a fine dining restaurant. My second impression in the restaurant was: the restaurant is a great place for a meal with family. The decoration was cosy, great and attentives service from the waitresses and Maitre-ds. The serving was big for an Asian glutton and it was quite affordable. It costs about USD 30-40 for a good meal.

The Zagat Survey gave The Cheesecake Factory 19 for food. I wonder how accurate the score is. This restaurant always filled with diners most of the time, the food must be great and absolutely delicious. I "sacrificed" myself to witness how accurate Zagat Survey was.

First impression of the menu: a lot of variety of food I could choose from. I thought the best way to read the menu was with a cup of cappuccino and slices of complimentary roti (bread in malay). Every description of the food in the menu looked absolutely delicious and this was definitely not easy for me to choose my starter, entree and dessert. Finally I decided to have Fried Calamari as starter, Filet Mignon Petite as entree and Red Velvet as dessert. The three dishes I ordered were also among the popular food in The Cheesecake Factory, according to my lovely waitress.

The fried calamari (squid) was crispy, not greasy (due to the oil absorbing paper). It was definitely cook perfectly and well seasoned. It was tender with a bit of resistance from the squid. It was tasty with the two sauces, tomatoes and mayonnaise.

Filet Mignon was the most expensive, tender and absolutely delicious meat cut in the beef. It is refereed as tenderloin commonly. It was well seasoned, prefectly seared and very tender. It was absolutely delicious. =) I did not need any side dish to enjoy this steak.

The Red Velvet cheesecake was tasty. The flavour of the cheese was not overpowering the chocolate and yet complement to the flavour of the chocolate. Very very tasty in fact. Definitely a prefect way to end my dinner.

A week later, I returned back to The Cheesecake Factory for my journey of cuisine. This time I ordered Mini Crab Cakes as starter, Steak Diane as entree and The Original Cheesecake as my dessert.

Mini Crab Cakes were well seasoned and tasty. They were always taste delicious with mayonnaise or drips of lemon juice. The only thing I complained so far was the serving was small.

Steak Diane consisted of the filet mignon medallions with sauce from the seasoned juice from the pan that seared the medallions and then flambé with brandy. The steak was served with mesh potato. The dish was absolutely delicious and well seasoned. The only thing I complained that I asked for a rare steak, the cook gave me the medium steak. At the end the steak was return and I was given the correct steak. Great service.

The Original Cheesecake was absolutely delicious and savory. Again a perfect way to end my dining experience in The Cheesecake Factory. After my dinner, I ordered another The Original to enjoy it in my room. ;)