Originally from Ho Chi Minh, El Gaucho Manila is a Southeast Asian-based Argentinian Steakhouse concept by Israeli-born German restaurateur, Dany Himi and son David Timm, with branches in Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Hong Kong, not to mention their European expansion in Slovakia and Hamburg, Germany.
I tried it years ago at their popular flagship store in Bangkok, and it’s great to have another Argentinian steakhouse option for steak lovers in Manila in time for the Christmas celebrations.
Before you go, here are some tips on what to order and how to plan your awesome experience in El Gaucho Manila.
EL GAUCHO MANILA
Ground Floor Trump Tower at Century City
Kalayaan Avenue, Salamanca Street, Poblacion, Makati City
Opening hours: 11 AM until late
Mobile: +63 917 323 8019
Email: reservation.mak@elgaucho.asia
Facebook: El Gaucho Argentinian Steakhouse Philippines
Instagram: @elgauchoasia
Website: https://ph.elgaucho.asia/
El Gaucho Menu: Food | Drink List | Wine List | Wine by the Glass
The ambiance draws you in with its industrial high ceiling interiors with wood and metal finish and an array of hanging bulbs.
El Gaucho Menu: Food | Drink List | Wine List | Wine by the Glass
You feel at home immediately with its cozy tables and awesome location, walking distance from the Poblacion area.
Starters
Their bread is served freshly baked with roasted garlic, butter and green salsa.
The avocado with feta cheese worked—now one of our favorite salad combinations in Manila.
The salad paired nicely with the house chardonnay from Mendoza, Argentina, with notes of pear, green apple and lemon.
They make their own sausage from their butchery so expect home-made quality from their beef/pork chorizo sausages.
I like my sausage spicy with Argentinian spices.
Roll-out the high-quality raw beef with cheese, drops of lemon and olive oil.
Order your chorizo with melted Provoleta cheese, which gets cold and chewy quite fast, so best to eat it hot.
Steak
El Gaucho gets fresh meat supply from their butcher shop where you can also buy to cook at home.
El Gaucho steaks are sourced abroad: USDA Prime cuts from the US and Black Angus from Australia.
They take pride on their own specialty grill that accentuates the original flavors of their naturally raised meats.
Our favorite—perfectly grilled medium-cooked lamb chops served with nice grill marks and juicy flavorful meat.
Grab it by the bone using your hands, and you can easily bite the meat off the bones. Sarap nito!
A good steak needs to be paired with a strong Cab Sauv from Mendoza, Argentina.
Instead of rice or potatoes, order the kamote fries as your choice of carbs for the steak.
Dany Himi and son David Timm personally served the steak during the grand opening of El Gaucho Manila.
Go with a big group to enjoy the Tomahawk steak with your family and close friends.
The steak was grilled to medium perfection, no added butter or anything, and finished off with salt.
The side dishes were equally good, with the cream spinach still tasting like spinach without getting overpowered by its creaminess.
How can you go wrong with the taste of truffle in your mashed potato?
Order their house Malbec to pair with your rib-eye to get the best Argentinian steakhouse experience.
Served with nice grill marks and medium-cooked to get the right tender flavor.
Let the flavor of the steak speak for itself with just a dash of salt for seasoning.
Desserts
Order an Italian bubbly to refresh the palate from all the meat flavors and to have a good burp.
End with a yema crepe ala mode.
Or a classic homemade cheesecake with berry sauce.
It was not as milky and dense as our leche flan, but you’d love the not-so-sweet caramel flavors.
Of course, finish the meal with a digestive shot of vodka!
Final Thoughts
We love the ambiance, which is inviting but not intimidating, and gets you in the mood for steak.
Start with an appetizer of Avocado salad, Provoleta with Chorizo and a glass of Prosecco or Chardonnay. Order the lamb chop, US-Rib Eye Prime steak or the Porterhouse or Tomahawk when you go with a bigger group and pair it with a Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendoza, Argentina. End with Dulce de Leche in Crepe and a shot of vodka. Budget about ₱3,000/head for a nice steak dinner + wine.
It’s a great place to celebrate Christmas with friends, with a pub crawl afterward in the Poblacion area.
Congratulations to Dany Himi and son David Timm for finally opening El Gaucho in Manila. It’s about time!
EL GAUCHO MANILA
Ground Floor Trump Tower at Century City
Kalayaan Avenue, Salamanca Street, Poblacion, Makati City
Opening hours: 11 AM until late
Mobile: +63 917 323 8019
Email: reservation.mak@elgaucho.asia
Facebook: El Gaucho Argentinian Steakhouse Philippines
Instagram: @elgauchoasia
Website: https://ph.elgaucho.asia/
El Gaucho Menu: Food | Drink List | Wine List | Wine by the Glass
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, Our Awesome Planet
Disclosure: We attended the grand opening of El Gaucho in Manila. I wrote this article with my biases, opinions and insights.
P.S. Go during lunch for good value for money on your choice of meat.
looks sooo tasty!
Since you attended the grand opening it is then safe to assume that you had a “free lunch”. So if you paid for everything you ate & drank, what would be your unbiased opinion? And would you have seriously ordered all of those considering the price, especially of the avocado dish which we can ideally prepare at home? Anton as a Filipino and La Sallian, what does the good person inside you have to honestly say in behalf of the working class Filipinos. Obviously there’s a certain market for this but what would you advice your readers?
Thanks for asking! Honestly, I would go for the steaks during lunchtime and minimize the appetizers and side dishes.