More Meat for the Meat Eaters

Fire Lake Grill is not for the fainthearted. If your wallet is on a diet, then the menu can get intimidating. First entry: Herb-rubbed certified Angus Beef Cowgirl Steak with Duck Liver Butter at 2,200 pesos.

However, this is how I see it: If you’re currently spending around 700 pesos on a mediocre meal in some restaurant franchise like say, Tokyo Tokyo - now that’s a crime. Fire Lake Grill is worth every pretty penny you shell out.

Affable chef Paul Huang works both the kitchen and the floor. You get the feeling that he’s really in his element. He knows all the patrons and calls them by their first names. He makes an effort to get to know new diners (us included).

Apparently Paul Huang was a slave to the corporate world when he saw the Light. Or maybe the burning coals from a hot grill. How wonderful it must be to have the courage to throw it all away and embark on a grand adventure! He took the Heny Sison school and worked in The Mandarin (where Tony Boy Escalante also had a brief stint). And now, voila…Fire Lake Grill.

Being the carnivores that we are, Christian and I both ordered the same dish. How predictable (or crazy) is that?

Christian: I’m going for the Ribeye.
Blair Mitch: Can we share? And maybe I can try the sea bass or something…
Christian: Are you kidding me?! I don’t think that’s a good idea. More meat for the meat eaters. Please go get your steak.
Blair Mitch (to the waiter): I’m taking the Ribeye too.

Well actually I wanted to try the Cobia steak they had on the menu. Cobia is a fish farmed in General Santos. The buzz is that it actually tastes like steak. So you’re getting all that wonderful meat flavor and the goodness of fish. Sounds like a winning proposition, right? Except that they stopped farming the Cobia due to the small demand. I knew it was too good to be true.

What makes Fire Lake Grill different is that they use volcanic rocks instead of charcoal. Okay – I’ll be honest…I can’t tell the difference. All I know is that my steak rocked. Juicy with just the right amount of marbling. I like mine medium rare and it was nice to slice up a chunk and see the pinkish color in the middle – the hallmark of perfectly cooked steak. I read in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential that you should never order your steak well done. It provides a golden opportunity for evil chefs to trot out their oldest cuts. After all when the steak’s cooked and all and your jaw’s getting a mean chewing workout – who’s to say you got the best meat, right?


Back to the Fire Lake Grill steak – it was divine. And it had sidings of mashed potatoes and vegetables which I promptly ignored. A nice touch was the giant prawn drenched in lemon butter, laid out on top of the meat – much like a ribbon tied around a nicely wrapped gift. Incidentally, do you eat steak with rice? Because I’m so Pinoy that way and it drives my hubby nuts!

Dessert was rather fancy: Pineapple Carpaccio with Malibu rum and pink peppercorn, candied citrus peel and coconut ice cream in a brandy snap basket. It was Chef Paul’s reco and I just knew it was going to be a Show-Off Dessert.



Can the pineapples be sliced any thinner? The dish was so pretty it was almost criminal to touch it. The taste was peculiar and familiar at the same time. Delicious yet disconcerting. The pineapple and the peppercorn, a triumphant melding of two entirely different tastes.

We’re coming back for more. And hopefully this time I can get past the steak.