Fine dining dinner date at House of Wagyu Stonegrill

October 11, 2014

This fine dining dinner was made possible through one of the deals from CashCashPinoy worth 1500php++. The deal includes the following: 350 grams of Wagyu Top Sirloin Grade 9 good for 2 persons + Soup of the Day + French Bread & Butter + Vegetables & Potatoes. How big is a 350-gram of sirloin? Let's say it really is enough for 2.

The Restaurant

Table setting

House of Wagyu StoneGrill is located at the top floor of the Podium and has an inconspicuous location. It is almost blocked in view by the cinema ticket counter. I honestly thought that it was still closed since the restaurant had dim lighting and aside from the employees, there was no one else dining. It was also intimidating because I'm only wearing jeans, a t-shirt and flats without any care for accessories. I really thank the employees for not giving us the deprecating look and provided us with exemplary service.
House of Wagyu StoneGrill also sells their frozen wagyu steaks.

The Food



The soup was served together with the basket of french bread. I'm not a fan of soups and breads since they fill up my tummy even before the main course arrives. But then, I was taught not to waste food and I paid good money for this so I have to eat it.

Soup of the Day - Creamy pumpkin soup
Really creamy and it doesn't taste like pumpkin. Our server also topped it with freshly ground pepper. Coupled with the warm, crusty yet soft, french bread with butter, I have found new respect for these two.

Suisse raclette

Suisse Raclette
In addition to our meal, we decided to order one appetizer from their menu for 350php. This is melted cheese with boiled potato, pickled miniature onions, and pickled miniature cucumbers. It was a really expensive appetizer but hey, this was one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" experiences, and we had the money to pay for it, so we ordered it anyway. According to wikipedia, raclette is both a type of cheese and a Swiss dish, so I don't know if they really used the raclette cheese on this one. I sure hope they did. As for the taste, the cheese was not as salty as the other types of cheese. It is somehow similar to mozzarella. The miniature onions and cucumber? Don't underestimate them. They may be small but they pack a lot of that pickled flavor. They were really sour to the point of disfiguring your face. The baby potatoes are just your typical boiled baby potatoes.

Before they served the steak, they would ask you to wear this bib. For me, it was a mini-apron. Meanwhile, our server asked us if we would like to have our steak divided into two so that we would have separate stones. Honestly, I haven't thought of requesting this since it was alright for me to share. I really appreciate our server for suggesting this so that we would thoroughly enjoy the experience.

Steamed Vegetables and Mashed Potato
Typical steamed vegetables. The mashed potato was okay though I thought it lacked milk/cream/butter/salt. I suppose I should have added some of the leftover butter and some salt to add flavor.

Steamed vegetables and Mashed Potato

Half of the 350-gram grade 9 Wagyu sirloin

Star of the night - Grade 9 Wagyu Sirloin on Stone Grill
Very straightforward. No gravy. Lightly seasoned. Very tender.

Turned once by one of the chefs

For less than a thousand, I really enjoyed eating Wagyu steak for the first time! Hoping to have the budget in the near future to visit them again. Cheers!

Alone at California Pizza Kitchen

October 5, 2014

I went to Trinoma to claim my "reward" for using my credit card. I went alone to minimize my expenses for this day. It was still early for lunch at 11am and the restaurant wasn't busy. Dining in alone in a restaurant is one of the things I've always wanted to try. I knew that it wouldn't be fun, but being the introvert that I am, I wanted to see how I could handle it. It wasn't so bad after you get past that uncomfortable feeling of dining alone. I'd like to thank the server(sorry I didn't get your name) who made me feel at ease during my dining experience.

Some art on the wall and a part of the kitchen

Taking a picture of my glass of water while waiting

Mozzarella sticks @ 150php

Here are my options: 

Pizza

= Regular Untraditional Cheese Pizza - or -

= Regular Sausage and Pepper Pizza - or -

Pasta

= Personal Spaghetti Marinara - or -

= Personal Broccoli Sundried Tomato Fusilli

Since I ate pizza the night before and I'm eating alone, I chose the Pasta category. It was good that I didn't get my hopes up for the fusilli since it was not available at the time. I had no other choice but the marinara. I remembered I liked their mozzarella sticks here, so in addition to my free pasta, I had an order of this at 150php.

Personal spaghetti marinara - free!

I'm not sure if their mozzarella sticks were originally wrapped or battered, but either way, it had the same taste and I still liked the marinara sauce that went with it.

I didn't think that I could finish it by myself so I used the extra plate. The spaghetti was al dente and I liked the cheese shavings on top. I do appreciate sour food but the marinara sauce went past my tolerance level for sourness and that bread on the side was a big help. 

Overall, I underestimated myself - I was able to finish my pasta. I also *surprisingly* had a good time dining alone.