The Philippines' Best Steak Restaurant, Hands Down.

Yesterday, since my in-laws' regular Sunday lunch was transformed into attendance of a ZONTA Moroccan Fund-Raiser Dinner, Catha, the boys and I took the opportunity to have lunch at what I consider the Philippines' best steak restaurant, Mamou - an impromptu little celebration of sorts as all 3 boys made 2nd honors for the 3rd quarter grading period at school.

Naturally, we had all the usual favorites:


Fuet & Grana Padano with Honey Dip (2 orders)


A Healdsburg Harvest Salad for Catha & I


Mamou's Bacon (2 orders)


An absolutely delicious Spaghetti Bottarga.



The youngest isn't really that into steaks, though he'll eat them well enough when there is nothing else available. At Mamou, he favors the Crispy Duck Adobo with Scrambled Eggs & Garlic Fried Rice which he has to himself.

As far as the rest of us are concerned, however, Mamou = steaks. Thus, we had 2 orders of the Dry-Aged, Prime Grade, Bone-In Rib-Eye (double size of course), as well as 4 orders of White Steak Rice and 1 order (for me) of the Corn Pudding.


View 1


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Both steaks were absolutely perfectly medium-rare, the charring precise and the meat the embodiment of juicy carnivorous pleasure. The dry ageing was apparent in the buttery texture and slight, but readily discernible, cheesy/gamey/nutty flavor. Of course, I brought along a bottle of wine. There can be no complete meal of Mamou's steaks without a good bottle of red...



...and that day, it was one of 1995 Bodegas Campillo Rioja Gran Reserva. As I may have before mentioned, this is one of the Rioja Gran Reservas Aaron and I distribute. This is a warm, luscious 15-year old tinto Riojano that easily stood up to and paired with the steaks. It surprised me (pleasantly) how well this wine was received in Manila as we totally sold out of this in a very short time.

Desserts were varied:


Key Lime Pie with Schlag - a consistent favorite.


Tarte Tatin, honestly, a big disappointment as the apples were way too mushy.


Crispy Milk, nice enough, similar to the Fried Milk dessert dim sum in Hong Kong.


For me, I loved my usual Dark Chocolate Gelato.

The youngest got 2 Mamou caps to go since their t-shirts are still too big for him. Excellent lunch, loved it.

[Robin Garr]

Noel, you and your family do eat well! Thanks for the words and pictures ... I am getting very hungry.

[Jenise]

Damn its hard to read your posts before breakfast!

Never have seen/had a fried milk dim sum...interesting idea, and very pretty. Everything looks killer, of course. The bacon possibly more than the steaks, if that's possible--does Mamou cure their own? And a question about the "Healdsburg" salad--is that a reference to Sonoma, California, or does it have another local reference not obvious to us?

Noel, you and your family do eat well! Thanks for the words and pictures ... I am getting very hungry.

Thanks, Robin! My pleasure!

Damn its hard to read your posts before breakfast!

Never have seen/had a fried milk dim sum...interesting idea, and very pretty. Everything looks killer, of course. The bacon possibly more than the steaks, if that's possible--does Mamou cure their own? And a question about the "Healdsburg" salad--is that a reference to Sonoma, California, or does it have another local reference not obvious to us?

One of the disadvantages of my time difference, for sure. I, in turn, wake up to notes of good wines people have posted here from dinners!

I'm pretty sure several dim sum restaurants in the US would have the fried milk dim sum. Yes, Mamou cures its own bacon. Yes, the salad's reference is Sonoma. The couple that owns the restaurant is very well-traveled (the husband was my schoolmate and our wives were classmates). Mamou is a labor of love for them as it must be their smallest venture - the husband's family's real estate business is one of the biggest in the Philippines, one I used to do work for when I was still working in another law firm before I joined my father's. His elder sister is one of the most famous restaurateurs here as well. In previous posts, I and Jay must have mentioned an Italian/Continental restaurant named "Pepato" - that's hers.

Best,

N

Love the idea of duck adobo with scrambled eggs -- interesting textures and aromas.

Love the idea of duck adobo with scrambled eggs -- interesting textures and aromas.

And with the garlic fried rice too! They put a tiny bit of truffle oil in the scrambled eggs too, I noticed. The dish is a spin off from the usual dish of crisped pork adobo flakes seved with eggs and fried rice that serves as a Filipino breakfast.

Variations of a typical, full Filipino breakfast involve eggs and garlic fried rice with the adobo flakes substituted with fried beef strips ("tapa") or spicy local pork sausage ("longganisa") or fried milkfish ("bangus") or sticky-sweet preserved pork ("tocino"), etc. This is the type of breakfast I eat on Saturday mornings before a golf game. On weekdays, I usually just have cereal or some toasted pan de sal (a typical, local breakfast bun) with whatever filling the cook decides on, a slice of fruit and a cup of coffee.

Best,

N