Saturday, November 18, 2006 What's at steak By Jigs Arquiza
The Jumbo Floating Restaurant in Hong Kong, the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan, the Raffles Bar in Singapore, the Botin in Madrid.
Visit any major city, or town, or village, and there will always be one restaurant that stands out. Things are no different in Cebu, and with the Cebuanos’ fondness for good eating, restaurants do abound in the Queen City of the south. When it comes to good food though, ask any Cebuano what restaurant to go to and you’ll hear the name David more than any other.
Known for its fine cuisine, David’s Steak and Seafood House, along Ayala Access Road, has long been the restaurant of choice of Cebu’s discriminating gastronomes for the past fifteen-odd years. Besides the restaurant’s excellent food, this institution in Cebu dining has also made its mark on its customers, both local residents and foreigners, by bringing innovation to their dining experience.
“It’s something you can enjoy with your family or friends.” relates David Ugarte, owner of David’s Steak and Seafood House, explaining their latest culinary offering, a dinner package revolving around the restaurant’s specialties, namely, steak and seafood. This one-time San Francisco busboy-turned-restaurateur explains further, “You can actually take your time, savoring each course as it’s served, enjoying a lively discussion with your dining companions in between courses.”
Called the “Chef’s Gourmet Dinner,” it features all the essential elements of a unique culinary experience not normally available to Cebu’s diners, a six-course dinner, albeit without the usual stuffiness associated with formal dining. Designed to be hassle-free to the customer, the dinner includes everything from appetizers, a seafood and fish course, salad and entrée, and of course, dessert.
The meal starts out with a serving of lightly grilled oysters on the half-shell, drenched in a flavorful wine-butter sauce topped with a spoonful of caviar.
Customers will be delighted in the way the oyster meat goes down smoothly as the flavor of the succulent fish eggs explode and subtly tickle their palates.
A small helping of mildly spiced scallops and lentils follow while a small but satisfying slice of snapper in saffron sauce serves as the fish course. Salad comes next, consisting of sliced tomatoes and asparagus with a sprinkling of basil on a slice of French bread.
As in any meal, the highlight is the main course, and in this the Chef’s Gourmet Dinner does not disappoint. A perfectly seasoned 150-gram filet of prime, mouth-watering U.S. Angus beef almost two inches thick, cooked just the way you want it, this will without doubt satisfy any steak devotee alive.
Trimmings come in the form of a baked potato and pureed vegetables, complementing the flavor of the delicious tenderloin.
Chocolate lovers can overload on the dessert David serves with dinner.
Called “Chocolate Indulgence,” it consists of chocolate biscotti with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dash of chocolate syrup, chocolate crème brulee, and a shot of espresso.
As iconic and established David’s Steak and Seafood House may be, the restaurant does away with obnoxious waiters and a haughty atmosphere, instead favoring a friendly and courteous staff and an unpretentious, down-home environment. With the Chef’s Gourmet Dinner now available to discerning epicures, the dining experience in David’s is taken to new levels.
More importantly, it shows its diners, especially first-timers, why David’s has “hands down, the best steaks in town.”
