Posts Tagged ‘steak house

31
May
09

STEAK MD

Do you like steaks?   Well, we do.   

My wife Tina, our son Gabby and I had our wonderful Sunday lunch at Steak MD.  It’s an affordable steak house made famous by word-of-mouth and ofcourse, virtually by blogs. 

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I first thought that a colleague owns the place because of its name, or a veterinarian perhaps- but it should have been named STEAK DVM, if the owner is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.   I was wrong and clueless  until we walked in to Steak MD this noon and found out some facts about its nomenclature and got to taste the most reasonably priced delicious steaks. 2A certain Ms. Monibel Juliette Tabora-Dychiao is the proprietor who came out of several flavors of steaks, perfecting its taste by using different herbs and spices in rubbing the different cuts of meat to satisfy the Pinoy palate.   Probably it was the idea behind the name of her resto and I also read from a framed broadsheet article displayed on the terracotta-painted walls of Steak MD that MD was also derived from the initials of her name.   I and Tina were one in saying that she was successful in coming up with steak flavors that can actually TREAT any steak lovers’ cravings.      

On Steak MD’s menu, there are two choices of beef steaks – T-bone and Porterhouse,  in  regular and large orders.  We had no choice but to settle for T-bone since Porterhouse wasn’t available when we ordered.  Then one has to choose the “rub” or the flavor of steak that will go with the gravy. Choices are  :  

Rub Ko To – Steak MD’s original house rub, an original blend of secret spices.

Heart Rub – garlicky gravy good for the heart! 

Atomic Rub – hot and spicy mix.

Ang Cha Rub – sweet and spicy.

Build Me Up Butter Rubyour guess is correct, it’s the buttery gravy.

We chose the one with garlic and the buttery rub.  We told the staff to cook the T-bone as medium well, and the other one as well done

T-bone, large,  Heart Rub / garlic rub, medium well, PhP 295

3

T-bone, large, Build Me Up Butter Rub, well done, PhP 295.

4The beef cuts were tender, good to the bite, nothing rubbery, the rubs were tasty;  but comparing the two plates, I’ll order garlic rub and always medium well on our next visit. Yes, since the place is clean, service quick, and especially the steaks are wonderfully cheaper than the other and taste great too,  we’re planning to revisit and try other things on the menu like sisig, fillet na bangus, pork chops, salads, pork barbeque, etc…

We also had sidings with our steaks. We had buttered vegetables and mashed potato with gravy. We also tried Steak MD’s dirty rice – fried garlicky sweet and spicy rice.  Price range of these sidings :  PhP 35 to PhP 50.  But sadly, there was nothing special of their mashed potato. It was far from being creamy-melt-in-your-mouth-buttery expectations we had.  And it was obvious with Gabby’s reaction to it.  He just had one spoon of it and did not finish the plate.  At a young age of four, our son Gabby have tried dining at hotels and different restos, here and few abroad, had somehow developed his own preference to food.  And Steak MD’s forgettable mashed potato didn’t sky-rocket my son’s craving to it to seventh heavens but flopped!  The management has to do something with it.  Otherwise, it’ll affect the other food on the menu.  All clients’ requests should be address aptly, otherwise, some things may be forever marked as negative.    IMG_1673One side of the walls of Steak MD has framed broadsheet articles about the owner’s interviews over the years with journalists who featured her resto. Among these write-ups, I found this one as the most compelling and true! 

IMG_1659Everything we tried from Steak MD was OK except for the mashed potato and the refillable iced teas.  The servings had so many ice on it that it became too diluted already.  Overall, we will go back to and dine at Steak MD whenever we have cravings again for some steaks that are deliciously tender and easy on the budget.

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STEAK MD is located at #74 Creekside, Tomas Morato Quezon City. Tel # (63-2) 448-7114.

11
May
09

UNHOLY COW CHOPHOUSE

I am always PUNCTUAL because I VALUE TIME. So it really upsets me when something or someone’s LATE!

After my son Gabby and I gave my wife Tina roses and personally-made greeting card for mother’s day, the three of us went to TriNoma mall to eat lunch.  Since we wanted to eat in a restaurant that we haven’t tried before, two food places were considered and both of them were steak houses.  To be honest, Tina and I even surfed the www and the blogosphere to read reviews and menus before we finalized everything.  And we were so wrong to give benefit of the doubt to those bad reviews and comments about this particular resto. In short, we were misguided by our own insights.  Can you blame us?  Anyhow, here’s my two cents worth of views and personal opinion.  It’s up to you then to believe it or not.

We rode the lift to the fourth level of TriNoma where the upscale restos with al fresco dining (that includes one of our all-time favorite TGI Fridays--and I regret not dining there for a special occasion such as mom’s day) are located but and decided to eat here …

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The exteriors of Holy Cow Chophouse was truly inviting.  As we saw the place at around half hour past noon, it was so packed with hungry celebrators and their families and friends, we were somehow convinced that it’s OK for us to give it a try and just forget the not-so-good comments in  MUNCH PUNCH (the site I frequent for menus and reviews of local restaurants).  So while we’re on queue, we forgot the clock was ticking because we’re busy checking their menu and I was taking pictures of my family while they’re seated on a custom-made, what else but cow, in the waiting area, which I found so cute…

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As you can see from those photos above, Tina and Gabby had the sincerest smiles, proof that we really gave the restaurant a chance to prove its worth, however these were taken before we knew the truth behind those reviews from other blogs.

I agree with the other commenters on MUNCH PUNCH that the bar at the center of the resto made it too small. The traffic of diners and service crew was going nuts because of that bar!  Plus how do these cow heads appeal to you? There were three of its kind on one of the walls of Holy Cow. Do you like seeing them while eating your favorite steak?  Just asking.

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Since I was busy taking the photos, and we’re still OPTIMISTIC with this place, we disregarded the 25-minutes of waiting on that cute cow couch as we’re ushered to our seats.  They were wonderful bulky leather seats, really comfortable.

IMG_1059   IMG_1057 Still smiling ‘no?

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And what killed our time for a while other than capturing the moment, was a lady from TriNoma Ayala Malls who approached every moms per table to give these paper bags of freebies. It has Hersheys Kisses chocolates and a feminine douche POMELO scent! That’s sweetness from Ayala malls management.  My wife was delighted!

But DESPITE THE CHARMING EXTERIORS and the freebies from TriNoma /Ayala malls, IT HAS BEEN EXACTLY 45 MINUTES SINCE I TOLD THE WAITER OUR ORDERS and I’m having hyperactive bowel sounds because of hunger! That was few minutes to 2PM.  Yes,  the single-serving glass of  iced tea landed our table at around 20 minutes since we sat there, but the entrees were still out of sight and I was starting to believe the testimonials of the previous diners posted on other blogs.  IT FELT LIKE WE HAD THESE FOODS ON OUR TABLE AFTER WAITING FOR A LIFETIME!  Tina and I noticed that we were NOT ALONE WAITING TO FOREVER for our plates but most of the diners there experienced the same.  One mother who was with her teenage daughter even stood up from her seat to notify the unmindful staff that their food hasn’t been served yet!  We heard clamor from other tables of the same complaint.

And to top it all, all the staffs were CHAOTIC in getting orders and serving plates to other tables. All of them WERE  NOISY, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE! How can you enjoy your meal with such inappropriate behavior? 

We made a follow up for our food twice, and they were only served nearly an hour after we first sat at those pretty black seats.

Nevertheless, here are the photos of those plates, which seemed to be OK but far from being special.

SOY HONEY GLAZED MAHI MAHI, PhP 280 .                GIANT PORK CHOP, 12oz, PhP 420.

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The fish and its side dishes were just typical.   The pork chops were not tender! And the price was as if we bought 2 kilos of  swine meat! I don’t know how much longer (than 45 min) it should have  stayed in the grillery for it to be perfectly bite-worthy.  The mashed potato, according to Tina, wasn’t tasty either. It lacked the buttery creamy taste of its kind.  Why Holy Cow? Why ? Haven’t you heard the cliche, “First impressions last”?

It was good thing though, that we ordered Gabby his own meal. It came LATE with a toy in a box that would remind us of our first dining experience with them, lol.

CORNFLAKE CHICKEN TOTS, served with kid’s iced tea and a scoop of vanilla ice cream plus the toy-mascot, PhP 350.

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ALL OF OUR PLATES WERE SERVED LATE!  THEY WERE NEVER WARM OR HOT FROM THE GRILL!  FAR FROM BEING TENDER. What almost saved their day was the chicken fingers and fries which were a little bit nice. 

I also wanted to note that COURTESY BEFORE and AFTER receiving guest/diners WASN’T OBSERVED! NOBODY GREETED US “Good Afternoon”  or said “Welcome”  or whatever… and as we walked out of the place SILENTLY AS IF EVERYTHING WENT FINE,  NO ONE BID US “Goodbye” or “See us again..”  ”Thank you for coming..” -NOTHING !!!

I guess the ENTIRE STAFF and CREW of Holy Cow TriNoma WERE NOT TRAINED to WORK UNDER PRESSURE. The mere fact that there was an occasion – Mother’s day, they should have done EXTRA MILE on THEIR SERVICE to make each diner’s experience SPECIAL!

I’m so proud I am learning to control my temper now.

All I remember was the bill when asked from the staff was IMMEDIATELY, PROMPTLY, URGENTLY handed into my table for me to settle.  Need I say more ?

——————-

The Chophouse Holy Cow Bar and Cafe

Level 4 TriNoma Mall EDSA cor North Avenue, PAG-ASA,

Quezon City. Tel # (63-2) 919 – 6299.

*All prices noted are subject to changes and VAT plus SERVICE CHARGE !




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