The Fireplace at the Hyatt Hotel & Casino Manila

Paul and I are fans of deal sites. I guess, it's quite obvious given the amount of restaurants that I've reviewed already after purchasing a discount coupon from Deal Grocer, my favorite deal site. We love it because we see it as a win-win solution. We both love to try new restaurants and when we get an offer that will allow us to dine for just a fraction of the regular price, we both agree that it's worth a shot. In case the food turns out to be bad, then at least we won't feel so bad for wasting our hard-earned money over it. If it turns out to be really good, then we go home feeling like champions.

As such, it has been a habit for us to check Deal Grocer on a weekly basis. A few months ago, we spotted an offer that will finally allow us to try the much talked about steak of The Fireplace in Hyatt Hotel & Casino Manila. We've tried all of the other food establishments in the hotel except for this one. I guess, we were just waiting for the right time to have our steak date here. The deal was worth Php. 3,100 which was admittedly still quite pricey despite the fact that the original price was Php. 4,135. However,after reading all of fellow food blogger Jin's entries about The Fireplace, we knew that it was now or never. Anyway, before Paul could change his mind, I hit the "Buy Now" button.

We decided to have our Christmas / New Year dinner at The Fireplace. Since we know that the holiday season will surely make Manila so traffic, we agreed to push our dinner date to January where the road situation was light and easy breezy. The deal is inclusive of a Wagyu Tasting Plate which consists of Australian Wagyu Beef Tajima, American Wagyu Snake River Farm and our very own Kitayama Philippine Wagyu Beef Striploin 6+. The set also comes with one order of sidings and the choices were: oven-roasted vegetables, marbled potato, risotto or the popular potato gratin. 

Before I proceed and talk about our steak, let me go back to the start of our meal first. Upon arriving at The Fireplace, we were swiftly ushered to our corner booth. I love the over-all feel of the restaurant. As the name suggests it, there was a huge bronze fireplace by the bar. 

After getting our orders, we were served a loaf of complimentary Walnut Bread and butter. I was so happy to see that they made use of Beurre D' Isigny butter at The Fireplace! It's one of my favorite butter brands after having it for the first time at Impressions a year ago. The bread had tiny chopped walnuts in it making it even yummier. I just love biting into the tiny chunks of nuts as it made a good contrast to the silky and creamy butter that I've generous spread on top of it. 

I love starting my meal with bread and soup! We shared a bowl of Cream of Forest Mushroom Soup which was pretty good. While not the best in town but it surely warmed our tummies for the main course ahead. 

Finally, out came our Wagyu Sampler Plate. We initially thought that a sampler plate might be small and won't be good for sharing but we were surprised to see that the cuts were very generous and we were able to share the three wagyu steaks equally and still feel satisfied after. Among the three, I loved the Australian Wagyu Beef Tajima the most. Not only was it knife tender but it was packed with a really meaty flavor too. The American Snake River Farm was also very good. There are hundreds of steak varieties in the market but only a few can be tender and tasty. To me, these are two of the things that I look for in a good piece of steak. 

Sadly though, we were not too impressed with the Kitayama Bukidnon Wagyu. The meat was too dry and it was quite tough too. It also paled in comparison in terms of flavor when compared to the other two. This was the only steak wherein we made use of the three sauces that were served to us. Paul literally covered his  with Red Wine Gravy! 

As for the side dish, I guess my expectations were set too high for the Potato Gratin that despite being creamy and good, we both didn't fall head over heels in love with it. To be honest, I was somehow wishing we got the risotto instead. Maybe next time. 

To end our meal, we had the Chocolate Soup (Php. 550). Initially, we were choosing between having the Millionaire's Salad or dessert. I'm so happy we went with the latter as this one was the BEST..I tell you, the BEST and the yummiest Choco Lava Cake that we've ever had in our life. Not wanting to sound overly dramatic but we just kept on saying "wow", "yum", "mmmmmmm" after every spoonful. Guess that speaks for itself. We love how the Chocolate Soup was served piping hot together with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I highly recommend that in every spoonful, you have both the lava cake and the ice cream. No need to worry about burning your tongue with the chocolate as the ice cream will immediately cool it. 

What a fun dinner! We were initially supposed to have a double date with friends J & K who suddenly couldn't make it. That would been even more fun had they were able to join us. Well, maybe we can have our double date on our next return to The Fireplace hopefully soon. 

The Fireplace is located at the 5th floor, Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila, 1588 Pedro Gil cor M.H. Del Pilar in Manila City. Call them at +63 (2) 245-1234. I highly recommend that you make a reservation before going.