Last Sunday was Mother’s Day and because it was MY special day, the family gave me the liberty to choose the restaurant for our dinner. There are a few restaurants that come to mind when I think about my favorites. Favorite is a big word because it encompasses a lot of things – the ambience, the service, the food and the over-all experience. One such favorite restaurant of mine, is THE FIREPLACE located at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila.
Because of its far location (Malate, Manila) from where we live, I only get to visit this place rarely – probably around twice to thrice a year at most, which is considered “rare” in my standards since this is a favorite of mine. But since it was Mother’s Day (which means we can do something special) and a Sunday, (which means traffic wouldn’t be so bad), we all agreed to make that “trek” to the other side of town to visit an old favorite.
The Fireplace is one elegant and cozy restaurant that offers all my favorite dishes in one menu. I particularly love their open-kitchen that gives the place that whole interactive feel to it. The interiors are mostly made of brass and copper that exude that “macho” vibe – one that befits a good steak place. And just like most restaurants in a 5-star hotel, they have an excellent wine list that can cater to everyone’s preferences.
But what really sets them apart from other steak houses are their premium Wagyu steaks that come either from the US (Snake River Farms) or Australia (Margaret River Farms). All their steaks and seafood too are cooked in a wood-fire oven, open for everyone to see, thus the name : The Fireplace.
As soon as we settled in our table, we were given a loaf of warm, freshly baked Walnut Bread and classy French butter, Beurre D’Isigny.
We ordered the French Onion Soup, which was cheesy, gooey and I must say, very good! 🙂
We also shared their Fresh Green Salad with Seared Scallops and Crispy Bacon.
I loved the freshness of the mixed greens here and the light, citrusy dressing. The slightly toasted fresh scallops were excellent and meanwhile, the bacon strips I gave to my eldest who loves bacon! 🙂
Fresh Tuna Tartare.
I’m a big fan of tartare – especially of the fish kind. Whenever I see Tuna or Salmon Tartare in any menu, I always end up ordering it. This one was particularly good. It was seasoned well and it had some freshly chopped avocados in the middle which provided the right balance of flavor and taste.
Spaghetti Bolognese.
We had to make this special request for my little 2-year old who loves pasta. It wasn’t on the menu, but the chef was more than willing to make it for us. The only downside? This one bowl of pasta cost us P1,200! (They reasoned out that it’s a big serving good for 2-3 kids and that pasta dishes in other 5-star hotels also cost this much! Of course, a “debate” ensued between The Spoiled Mummy and the head waiter… :))
8 oz. Wagyu Tenderloin Steak from Snake River Farms.
This was my order and it was wonderful. I love a good piece of steak that has just the right (and not too much) amount of fat… and according to their menu, this Tenderloin has a 6+ marbling grade. It came with roasted veggies on the side : bell peppers, zucchini, asparagus and tomatoes.
Potato Gratin.
Even if we did not order this, this came with all our mains. It was a perfect side dish to our meats and seafood. Loved that it was served freshly baked, still hot and oozing with cheese and light cream!
Grilled Fresh Salmon.
This was cooked in the wood-fire oven too. My son loves salmon, so we ordered this for him. But since this is one of my favorites as well, I asked him to split it with me and I in turn, split my tenderloin steak with him! 🙂
The only thing is, I love my salmon lightly grilled and still a little bit raw on the inside, so this was particularly over-cooked for my taste. But since it was really my son’s order and not mine, I guess my cooking preference didn’t really matter and my son still enjoyed it nevertheless!
12 oz. Wagyu Beef Ribeye from Margaret River Farms.
Of course, this is Hubby’s order. Being a big carnivore, he had to have the biggest piece of meat, with the most marbling – thus he ordered the ribeye! I always say that he is one lucky guy, because he doesn’t have to count calories – his metabolism is fast and he doesn’t gain weight easily, which is something I really envy! 🙂
I tried a portion of this too… and I must say, it was cooked just right – medium rare to medium. The outside was lightly charred and the inside was half cooked, so the meat came out very tender with all its juices still intact.
Creamed Spinach.
All 3 of my kids consider this their favorite vegetable dish because we make a lot of this at home. So naturally, when I saw it on the menu, I knew I had to order it. This was extra special though, since it had some melted cheese inside. Again, another great side dish for the steaks and seafood that we had.
Now here comes the best part of the meal… the desserts! 🙂
The kids and the Hubby just wanted something cool and light so we ordered one scoop of Raspberry Sorbet and one scoop of Rum Raisin. Both were very good. The sorbet was refreshing and the rum raisin was creamy and just had a tad bit of alcohol taste in it.
And then my order came. This was the moment I have been waiting for…the reason why I chose this place to begin with! 🙂
You all know how much I love Chocolate, especially when it’s dark and molten. (In fact, I’ve written about them here and here.) So you see, the main reason I chose to go to The Fireplace on this day was because of their big, bad, dark Molten Chocolate Cake known in their menu as The Chocolate Soup.
For serious Chocolate lovers, this is THE ONE. The outer layer of the cake is perfectly moist and dark, warm and crusty. Inside is even warmer and darker, oozing with a very fluid – almost soup like – melted Dark Chocolate!
I say, this photo doesn’t even do justice to the excitement I felt when I was reunited with my love, this favorite molten cake of mine! 🙂
And as soon as I digged into it, there was silence. Silence from my children, silence from the Hubby. They all knew that The Chocolate Soup is one of my top favorites and they wanted me to have my own “moment” with it.
They knew that since we come here quite rarely, I needed to have this piece all to myself (don’t judge me!) — to enjoy every bite, every piece and morsel of this big, bad, beautiful, delicious cake.
And of course, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much so that I almost forgot my children’s names, LOL! 🙂
I guess they really just wanted to spoil me on this Mother’s Day.
And of course, I did not want to disappoint them. Not now, not ever.
Hope you all had a spoiled Mother’s Day as well!!
You had me at hello Mr. Chocolate Soup 🙂
Soooo good…soooo worth it! 🙂