It was my birthday. The daughter was home. Our good friends were game for dinner and their son was also home on a brief holiday. All are foodies. And I was feeling like some meat. So we decided to eat at the wagyu butcher/meat purveyor at Sunvar Plaza on Amorsolo Street in Makati. We’ve been meaning to eat at this place for the past year, and now we had a good excuse…
Think walking into a meat purveyor with a small display freezer filled with marvelous varieties and grades of wagyu. And that’s it. Don’t think about the ambience, the decor, the comfort of the seats, the variety on the menu. Just focus on the beef. There are no airs here.
We started off with an order of raw wagyu “sashimi” style. It was surprisingly good, but incredibly rich. Maybe 80 grams was split between 4 people. We got a few green salads, butternut squash croquettes and onigiri as well. Then three orders of the house specialty steamed wagyu on a bed of vegetables. I wouldn’t have guessed that steamed wagyu would be appealing, but it was utterly delicious. The vegetables were also sweeter than you would have expected, bathed in a bit of melted wagyu fat. I went whole hog, and ordered wagyu rice, a fried rice with bits of caramelized wagyu fat and seasoning. OMG. I was beginning to regret that I forgot to take my daily dosage of lipitor…
Next were three hot stones each with 100 grams of wagyu of another grade from the steamed dish, and these were seared and cooked to the level you desired, though rare is really the only way to go. These were delicious, but I must say the maximum fatty point was being reached rather quickly, at say just 120 grams per person of meat that evening.
This meat was terrific with their dipping sauces and three kinds of salt – some plum salt, lime salt and salt/pepper. Overall it was a very good meal. But not something I would seek more than once every few years. Friends of ours are far more regular consumers of wagyu and in one case, they described a huge bowl of wagyu bulalo (made from locally raised wagyu beef from Mindanao) they ate and the oil slick on the surface of the soup, and I thought… now that’s a recipe for a massive instantaneous heart attack. :)
16 Responses
Birthday greetings again, MM! There’s no comparison to Wagyu.. Indulge. It’s your birthday.
It is the glistening wagyu rice that is calling out to me! Happy Birthday MM!
Happy Birthday Marketman! If you don’t mind, how much was the price of the dishes?
Zerho, the total dinner, for six with side dishes, came out to roughly PHP2,000 per person, which is extravagant, but oddly, I thought $43 each for a wagyu heavy dinner wasn’t really that bad at all. I don’t quite recall the price of each item, but one would have to be prepared to spend PHP1,600-2,500 per person (no sake or liquor) to really do the place justice. Personally, I might just buy the meat next time (it’s 20% less retail), and do the kobe on a hot stone at home. But I would probably tend to eat at least 20% more that way, so the total effective price would be the same… :)
Happy birthday MM!
I suppose since the beef is ‘buttery’ enough, it sort of dresses the steamed veggies. This reminds me of a recipe I came across whereby fresh foiegras was wrapped in Chinese cabbage and steamed. Can’t remember if the liver was first seared but I just know the flavours would work especially if a little soy sauce and freshly ground black pepper were also involved.
… But not something I would seek more than once every few years…
That’s abstemiousness and balance, a much healthier approach than overzealous vigilance over cholesterol laden foods.
Happy Birthday Mr. Marketman!!
Happy Birthday sir MM!
My goodness I’ve been a reader of this blog for so long na, even older than my youngest child! ;)
Belated birthday greetings, MM! Hope you had a great one. =)
Happy birthday Marketman!
Happy birthday MM, i tried to “lurk” for as long as i could but i would not want to pass up the chance to greet you on your special day.
Belated happy birthday, Marketman!
happy birthday to u MM! We have tried wagyu and they have a branch here in angeles city and yes it broke our bank when our bill came at 18k for 13 pax. It was our 21st wedding anniversary. We will surely go again but with a tighter guest list or better yet kami na lang family. The beef was excellent and d marbling was superb
Belated happy birthday, MM!
Dishes looks delicious. Thanks for sharing your dining adventures. Belated Happy Birthday!