We obviously talk a lot about BBQ chef service.
There are plenty of situations where having someone take over the grill makes life much easier.
But not everybody wants that.
Some customers actually enjoy doing the BBQ themselves.
They already have the pit.
They know who is going to cook.
They don’t need us standing beside the fire.
What they need is the food.
This order was a good example.
There were three Tajima Wagyu Ribeye MB7/8 steaks, each around 300 to 400g.
A substantial amount of Chicken Satay.
Around 4kg of large wild-caught Tiger Prawns, approximately six to eight prawns per kilogram.
And around 2kg of Stingray.
No complicated catering setup.
Just a serious amount of raw BBQ food ready for the customer to handle from there.
Raw BBQ Food and BBQ Catering Are Two Different Things
They often get bundled together when people search for BBQ catering in Singapore.
But the customers are actually solving different problems.
One person is saying:
“I want a BBQ and I don’t want to cook.”
That person probably needs BBQ catering with a chef.
Another person is saying:
“I love cooking. I just don’t want to spend Saturday visiting five different shops looking for meat and seafood.”
That person needs raw BBQ food.
Both are having a BBQ.
But the service they need from us is completely different.
Three MB7/8 Ribeyes Is a Pretty Good Place to Start
The premium part of this order was obvious.
Three Tajima Wagyu Ribeyes.
Each one around 300 to 400g.
MB7/8 is heavily marbled beef, which means there is a lot of intramuscular fat running through the steak.
That makes it rich.
It also means you have to respect what happens when that fat reaches a very hot BBQ.
Flare-ups are real.
You want enough heat to create a good crust.
You don’t want the entire steak sitting inside a fireball because nobody was watching.
This is the kind of meat where a little attention makes a big difference.
You Don’t Need to Make the Whole BBQ Wagyu
Then there was Chicken Satay.
Lots of it.
This is something we genuinely like about Singapore BBQ menus.
Premium beef can sit beside satay without anybody finding it strange.
People might share one Wagyu Ribeye between several guests.
Then eat three or four satay sticks.
Then go back to the grill when the prawns are ready.
The steak is special precisely because it isn’t the only thing there.
Four Kilos of Tiger Prawns Changes the Grill Plan
The prawns on this order were large.
Approximately six to eight pieces per kilogram.
At around 4kg, that means these were not tiny cocktail prawns disappearing between the grill bars.
Large prawns need space.
And when you’re cooking several kilograms, they can occupy a surprising amount of the BBQ surface.
Fortunately, prawns cook reasonably quickly.
But they still need to be managed in batches.
Overcook them and the texture changes.
Cook them properly and you get exactly why people like large shell-on prawns at a BBQ in the first place.
Sweet meat.
Char from the grill.
A little smoke.
Not much else required.
Stingray Gives the BBQ Something Familiar
Then you have the Stingray.
Around 2kg.
This is the part of the menu that immediately brings the whole thing back to a familiar Singapore BBQ.
Premium Wagyu might be the item people photograph.
Large Tiger Prawns might dominate the grill.
But Stingray has its own appeal.
Especially once sambal enters the conversation.
Fish.
Foil.
Heat.
Sambal.
Let everything cook together.
Open it at the table.
Suddenly everybody wants some.
Ready-to-Grill Food Is About Removing the Boring Work
There is an important difference between:
cooking a BBQ
and:
preparing for a BBQ.
Lots of people enjoy the first.
Far fewer enjoy the second.
Shopping for several kinds of meat.
Finding seafood.
Cleaning prawns.
Portioning food.
Marinating.
Making sure you bought enough.
Keeping everything cold until the event.
That preparation can easily take longer than the actual BBQ.
This is where BBQ food delivery and ready-to-grill food in Singapore becomes useful.
You still get to cook.
We just remove some of the jobs that happen before the charcoal gets lit.
A DIY BBQ Can Still Be Premium
Hiring a chef isn’t what makes a BBQ premium.
The food does.
If you know how you like your steaks cooked, there is no reason you can’t put premium Wagyu on your own grill.
Same with large prawns.
Same with seafood.
Some customers would actually rather cook it themselves because standing around the BBQ is part of the fun.
They want the tongs.
They want to argue about whether the steak is ready.
They want somebody to tell them they’re burning the satay.
That is part of the evening.
We Don’t Need to Be at Every BBQ
From a business point of view, you might think we’d always prefer customers to hire the chef.
But that isn’t really how we look at it.
Some gatherings need full BBQ catering.
Some need food, equipment and a chef.
Some need a complete BBQ package.
And some need nothing more complicated than:
“Can you prepare the food? We’ll cook it ourselves.”
Absolutely.
For this order, three Wagyu Ribeyes, several kilograms of seafood and a lot of satay were enough to keep the grill busy.
The customer could take it from there.
Sometimes the best BBQ service is knowing which part of the BBQ the customer actually wants help with.
