Rib Eye (P2,200+ 10% service) and additional P400 since we decided to share this between me and Rache.
It has been a tradition to celebrate Popsy’s birthday in a really nice new restaurant. In the past, we celebrated his birthday when Parallel 45 opened in 2005 and when Lemuria was just starting in 2006. We celebrated Popsy’s birthday this year in the budding (2 weeks in operation) Steak Room of Philmugger Elbert Cuenca who operated the once famous Restaurant 12 in Greenbelt 2. He recruited back the waiters and chef of Restaurant 12 and started Elbert’s Steak House — strictly steak only. Although they were able to serve Salmon for my mom upon prior request.
The steaks are USDA certified and imported from Wisconsin. They perfected how to cook the steak in a juicy and tasty manner. Although, I must admit that it wouldn’t compare to a Rib-Eye wagyu experience at Malcolm for the P1,750 only vs. P2,860 Rib Eye, to share in Elbert’s. But you go to Elbert’s for the privacy, cozy interiors, and warm company by Elbert himself. You’ll be surprised how a once call center office was transformed to one of the coolest steak place hide out in Makati. Thanks to the architectural genius of Noel Bernardo of Elite Concepts who is credited for the visionary concept of the famous Lan Kwai Fong restaurant in China. Currently, it can only serve a 3 tables and maximum of 12 people. The vision is to have a maximum capacity of 50 by adding 2 tables of 8, a private function room for 10 people and a lovers table.
Simply, you go to Elbert’s for that special occasion where money is not an issue and you pay for the memorable experience with your special some one. We paid close to P1,600/ head for the overall experience — ouch!!
Aidan poses in an Eric Paras Leather Chair creation after eating his share of Elbert’s Steak. Aidan spontaneously posed when I asked him that I want to take a picture of him on the chair. I wonder when will Aidan be “discovered” hahaha…
This is a long comprehensive post/ review. Please share your experience via the comments. Salamat! Check it out…
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Elbert’s Steak Room Official Site
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Where is Elbert’s Steak Room?
Right now, there is no visible sign outside the building where Elbert’s steak room is located. It is in the 3rd floor of the Sagittarius building where New Bombay Indian Food is located. Here is the location map.
You enter this ordinary stairs leading to the third floor.
This is like a time machine and once you enter the red sliding door on your left, you’ll be in a totally different mood and ambiance.
Elbert’s Steak Room
Steak Dinner Menu! (check this for an updated menu listing) Right now, it is strictly steak menu. Special request may be accommodated upon reservation especially if someone in your group would prefer fish. I can’t imagine a vegetarian eating in this kind of place. The steak dinner includes the house salad and a choice of soup. They change their soup menu everyday.
The tomato soup taste like liquified natural tomatoes. It needs to be served warm.
I like the mussel cream soup because of its after taste and right consistency in the cream.
The house salad was fresh with arugula, lettuce, palm heart, tomotoes, avocado, bell peppers and simple ginger dressing.
Currently, they have a limited set of wine (Elbert’s Room Wine List). We ordered the La Joya Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
Rib Eye (P2,200+ 10% service) and additional P400 since we decided to share this between me and Rache. This is Rache’ share and she requested a well done steak because she is pregnant and cannot eat raw food. The rib eye is almost 1-inch thick and usually comes in 300gms+.
We were glad to get a sauce sampler. The best for us are peppercorn, red wine & shallots, and the mushroom cream. The chimichurri is one of the most requested which is the green one in the middle, a cilantro-based sauce.
New York Strip (P1,900+ SC). Grilled USDA prime striploin.
Steamed Salmon (P600+). As requested by my mom. Thanks for accommodating her request! My mom said it was very good but expensive.
Angel Hair Pomodoro (P125+) side dish. This comes in small plate and really it was not worth paying P125+ for this…
Filet Mignon (P1,600+) USDA select tenderloin — 2in cut. Sorry for this shot (if you know what I mean).
Porcini Mushroom Risotto (P125+). If this risotto could talk, it would say “It sucks to be me!” and I would say “It sucks to be you, indeed!”
My P2,600 Rib Eye Steak to share (this is my half of the 300 lbs steak). It was juicy, tender, tasty and grilled perfectly.
Best Chocolate Mousse, Creme Caramel and Tiramisu Sampler. This was complimentary and I must say “Compliments to Chef Grace for these simple dessert creations!”
Elbert’s Steak Room Ambiance
Here’s the snapshot of the chic vibe of the place…
The Wine Library smoking area.
The Bar area.
This is the corner for the lover’s table where it will be a bit secluded from the rest.
The view from Elbert’s Steak Room.
The P50,000 Max Private Room for 10 people. You pay P50,000 for eat-all-you-can and drink all you can for a group of 10. This would be a good venue for an intimate meeting with key customers or a celebration with rich friends.
Btw, you get to enjoy this chandelier for the night inside the private room as a bonus.
Thanks to Elbert for the wonderful night!
For reservations, call (632) 339-3363 or check out www.steakroom.com
Email: info@steakroom.com or reservations@steakroom.com
3/F Sagittarius Bldg, 11 HV De La Costa Salcedo, Makati
Anton, Can you give me the down and dirty Shangrila RED steak VS. Elbert’s Steak Room steak? Thank you for your analysis. PINAYSIDEUP
good balanced review… i believe it’d be better hen the entire place is completely done. i like that element of surprise – pedestrian entrance to the building, but whatta great doorway – the entire red wall slides open to reveal the insides of the restaurant! and they have this good-looking long bar where one can hang around for pre-dinner cocktails. the bummer is going up to the restaurant – 3 flights of stairs for old people (who usually are with the loaded pocketbooks to pay for expensive steak dinners)would be quite an ordeal. my fear is that this is this might draw a niche status-seeking market who are attracted to such venues exuding an air of snobbery and exclusivity. just hope that the usual tendency by manila’s loud and crassy calling-attention-to-themselves social climbing (and oftentimes free-loading) community to flock to a just-opened with such an ambiance won’t drive away those who’d like to pay good money for a nice, easy, quiet evening to enjoy fine wine and a good steak dinner. the owners must take real care in justifying the price they charge by elevating AND maintaining the quality of their food and service to unquestionably excellent standards. and please keep the noisy, well-dressed, powder-pressed spoiled brats away from those who just want to have good steak and fine wine – and have the resources to pay for both without getting assaulted by human noise pollution in the process. because the place is small, that’ll be quite a challenge. but i sincerely hope the place succeeds.
is parallel 45 still open? we don’t hear about it anymore
Every serving just looks so tiny. Or is it just me?
Given the prices and the untested food at this place, I’d much rather, hands down, go to Prince Albert any day.
Lets just say, I wouldn’t rave about the steak and it taste like perfectly home cooked steak with the absence of any negative.
Just like the US, I guess restaurants specializing in grilled meats ie steak will be popping up here as well. Should be interesting, if you are meat eater. As for a steak dinner, I’m still a Gulliver’s fan. It may not be the prettiest place to go but they still serve a great prime rib.
P45 opened to real high expectations, but then they lost their prime assets, chef humphrey navarro and chef jo ong (who’s now in that ultra-expensive steak place at the hyatt in manila (the one with the gambling casino), and when they left, the place just collapsed. also i heard the owners didn’t wanna pay for good people with talent in the kitchen, so you pay peanuts, you get monkeys… and that’s what happened to the once glittering gilded P45. the other thing was that the owners weren’t really restaurateurs or chefs – they were just businessmen. when they started to cut costs hoping to gain increased profits, their customers felt shortchanged with the decreased quality of the food so eventually, people just stopped coming
Ouch! I’m sure your Dad paid a fortune for that birthday dinner celeb. He would rather buy an entire roasted calf which could possibly feed about 50 of your relatives and friends. Anton, dont you find the price to be too steep. Would you spend that much for a small piece of steak?? I think Gulliver’s is still best in terms of value for money. Thanks again for this heads up… Won’t visit this place, that’s for sure!
I would go try this place. Youve gotta pay the price for an excellent steak and great place.
I like Macpower’s idea of buying an entire roasted calf instead and invite all my relatives and friends.
ugh! so expensive for me , can’t afford it.
That’s one expensive steak!
The steamed salmon looks yummy though. And the Porcini Mushroom Risotto looks yummy even though it sucks to be it, haha.
It looks like it’s still Gulliver’s and Gaudi for me as far as steaks go.
hello anton. i frequent your blog to see if there are any new finds in town that are worth checking out. i commend you for hunting down new dining spots and sharing them with us lost sheep.
i’ve been to elbert’s steak room, which i know is still on dry run. i was led to understand that only a few friends (in my case, i’m friend of a friend) and relatives are being extended the privilege of trying it out. afaik, the new restaurant has been operating for a couple of weeks now, so it’s very much in the stage of infancy. that’s why i reply to you now. I need to express my opinion that it’s a bit too early to blog review it. i suspect you know elbert personally and that he was aware you would blog about it, that really is none of my business. but personally, i just think it’s not ready for review, especially in terms of the complete package.
i learned about the steak room last week, through a common friend in the iwfs. i called elbert directly to inquire about the place. elbert warned me that although the facilities weren’t completed yet (still lacks furniture and the bathroom sink was not functional), he assured me that “the kitchen and the service were 100%”. he also said that i should prepare myself for the best steak in town. with that, i decided to let him put his money were his mouth is, and booked a table for three that very evening. i brought along a couple of steak-loving friends (and a little bottle of hand sanitiser!).
mind you, as a carnivore expat who eats out practically every night (i can’t boil an egg even to save my own life!), and being shuffled to every corner of the globe, i’ve been to some of the more famous steak houses in the u.s. (peter luger, morton’s, sparks, quality meats, harris’). i’ve even had the privilege of eating creations by the likes of thomas keller, joel robuchon and ferran adrià. needless to state, i’ve been around, and i know a good steak when i eat one.
elbert’s served me what i can say is the best rib eye i’ve ever had. from the texture of the meat, to the flavor of the salt, to the perfect doneness (medium rare, is there any other way?), i can’t recall a time i’ve had a steak as good. i think he carefully thought this out and the result speaks for itself. it’s quite an experience, i intend to frequent the place and bring in more friends.
i grilled him (no pun intended) to share with me how he was able to achieve such a superior quality, and he gladly obliged. he did very well to choose u.s.d.a.-certified prime steaks. in addition, he buys, imports and stores them chilled (meaning fresh, not frozen). it’s meticulous and one would presume this adds a significant amount to the cost. i don’t think any other restaurant in the philippines serves prime steaks, or even chilled for that matter, maybe one of your readers can point me to the right direction.
oh, i would never, ever, mention elbert’s in the same breath as malcom’s. that’s almost like comparing a mac to a pc (we all know the mac is not just a computer). to the uninitiated, sure, they both serve steaks. but to real meat lovers like myself, it’s a whole world apart. elbert’s is one of the most elegant steaks i’ve ever had, malcom’s on the other hand, was just plain meat. very mac versus pc,
at the end of dinner night, i was presented with a bill much higher than yours, (an average of 2,400 pesos per person), even with a waived corkage charge (such a gracious gent!). in addition, the bill would have been higher had he not sent us complimentary dessert (the best chocolate mousse that really is). my reaction is far from the ‘ouch’ you quipped. to me, it’s a ‘wow, what a bargain!’ personally, i think it’s worth twice that (a good steak dinner in ny usually ends up in a fare in range of $120 to $150.
the place is far from perfect, and i’ll give them a lot of slack for now. i found that the side dishes were a tad too small too, i hope that changes. but the meat is truly the best.
manila was sorely lacking a place like this, and people should be thankful for elbert’s passion, vision and drive.
oh, i need to correct you on this: “Thanks to the architectural genius of Noel Bernardo of Elite Concepts who is credited for the visionary concept of the famous Lan Kwai Fong restaurant in China.”
bernardo is not from elite concepts, but he does most, of not all their restaurant’s designs. i think you mean to say ‘most of the restaurants’ in the lan kwai fong area in hong kong, where many of paul hsu’s elite concept restaurants are located. there’s no ‘famous lan kwai fong restaurant in china’. i met bernardo at kiplings earlier this year (apparently, he designed that too, along with the new martini’s), i just thought i’d clear that up.
my long two cents,
cheers, mate!
hi anton, nice write up of elbert’s new place. last time i saw him was when R12 was still open. it was the sister company of the resort i managed in boracay, le soleil de boracay. both places were owned by jean henri lhuillier.
i loved the ostrich tartare of R12.
might give his steak room a try when i win the lotto 😉
Re Gerard’s comment re chilled steaks in Manila, a couple of years ago, Red at Shangri-La Makati served chilled steaks from New York. Don’t know if they still do.
Franco: I think Gullivers is actually a pretty good looking restaurant once you’re inside … it’s the parking, and walking into the dodgy hotel that’s a little ambiance disruptive.
The place is kinda pricey… hmm.. have to find s sponsor for this.. hehe…
I’m not really a steak person… Aidan is so cuuuute in that photo! Grabe. artistahin na yan Anton.
baby aidan in eric paras leather couch posed is my favorite aidan pose…..LOL! he is like a big man that just GOT what he wanted LOL!…..
I truly agree with what Gerard mentioned on the best steak in town. My wife and I just tried it tonight and having eaten at Morton’s and Lawry’s, I say that Elbert’s Steakroom is as good. Well worth every penny!
We ate Elbert’s last night. I think Anton missed the whole point. It was a really good experience for me and my family. We paid around P3k per head and found that quite reasonable, considering the kind of product and level of service. It’s a great place, very undeserving of this kind of review.
well what can i say……my husband and i eat only t-bone-rib eye-sirloin-filet everyday with green vegetables baked potatoes corns and plain rice for him decades ago we used to savor 1 minute grilled in butter argentine’s lomo…..most of our money goes to FOOD bills we prefer quality good tastes variety of foods than owning bigger homes just to pay higher utility bills taxes and vanities so eating in any high end restaurants-hotels everyday is just like eating at home and we pay less THIS is my everyday life since day one i married my husband if we both don’t wanna do the dishes-used pans we just use throw away dishes-servers and drink semi sweet champagne in it’s bottle so we can have fun pretending to be drunk LOL!
negrosdude: it is sad-cruel that you would make such a provocative inuendos-remarks-comments regarding humankinds filipino customers in particular in filipinos own country filipinos own territory-owned neighborhoods what do you mean social climbing? there is no law that says ANY PERSONNAL INCOMES UNDER 20,000,00 PESOS CANNOT ENTER THE PREMISES OR DINE IN….SORRY…..any filipinos-asian-blacks-hispanics-aetas-mangyans-igorots etc. can enjoy life freedom to eat-sit-dine-talk-be happy anywhere they like if they are celebrating and they are happy about it then let them WHY THEY MUST BE QUIET IF THEY’RE CELEBRATING HAPPINESS-JOY there are other places-corners where quiet people can sit-dine inside somewhere descriminations on humans is not a good human principles is like asking me to show off but be consistent about it so i will not be judged social climber…..no person ‘me’ in particular will need your mentality nor put up with your soooo fake-false pride upidy people can just be who they are and they’re NOT NECESSARILY trying to be like you…..reading your comments will surely make them throw up so why bother even arguing your points…there is NO point
……..if you really want that quiet then i suggests YOU fly to any conservative european countries to dine in or if you want even quieter than that go to any former extremely well european repressed countries LOL! if that’s not enough for you to satisfy THE KINDS or yung preferred na KAURI mo akala mo na walang maipipintas sa likuran mo at anytime you should try convincing your kauri to open a sementeryo restaurants kasi there it’s really quiet and formal grand ambiance rest assured ka talaga na they’re not loud social climbers….LOL!