Now. I love a finely cooked steak. There’s just something about a steak that has been cooked medium rare that makes me weak to the knees. Queue in my delight when a humble steakhouse located beside UST in Sampaloc, Manila invited us to try out their meal.
After constantly nagging and pestering my wife to go check it out, she finally caved in and we were on our way.
Now the thing that I always promote here in my blog is food honesty which is something that I stand by regardless of whether it’s a free meal or not.
When we got to the location, I was honestly underwhelmed. It was a small hole in the wall type of restaurant with very few tables and a single waiter manning the cashier. Tables were shaky and it wasn’t as classy as you expect it to be looking at their front sign. I was underwhelmed but I got over it real quick after looking around and taking the whole place in.
Other tables were filled with laughter as barkadas hang out over a meal. Students coming in to see if they can afford the prices end up taking a seat and leaving content with their purchase.
I felt a bit disappointed at myself for setting expectations that really don’t matter that much. I for one can be found in these kinds of small hole-in-the-wall places in Baguio.
So we sat ourselves as the waiter/cashier came in with all of their best sellers for us to try. Needless to say, I was impressed with the presentation. The Iron pan’s dishes were served in, well, iron pans. And it was piping hot.
They served us with their chicken cordon bleu, chicken franchezka, porterhouse steak, sizzling sisig and finally their best of the best sellers, the prime rib eye.
Needless to say, I was dying to dig in. The food tasted so good that I did not mind the steak being well-done. The complementary sauce was exquisite – a smoky peppery gravy that just steals the show if not complement the steak perfectly. I also admired the cheese that accompanied the chicken, it provided a creamy depth to the crunchy and juicy chicken which my wife enjoyed too much as she ate it with rice after she was finished with the chicken.
The cordon bleu was perfect in every which way. The chicken was tender and juicy and the cheese came oozing out hot. I could say breading was a mouthful but with the sauce, you really wouldn’t mind the extra surface area.
The chicken franchezka did not stand out that much to me. It was just small pieces of chicken cut up and deep-fried to a nice crunch. I enjoyed it with both the steak gravy as well as the cheese though.
The porterhouse also tasted great! The cook was good and I really can’t find any fault in the dish.
The prime ribeye took my undivided attention when it was served. It was cooked well-done but I really did not mind that much. It was amazing. Paired off with the gravy it was heavenly. I really do find myself coming back to this place just for this dish alone.
After all of these dishes were served and after enjoying and eating to my heart’s content, the kind waiter came with another dish that has stolen my heart and changed the standard for sizzling sisig.
The sisig was a bit late to the party. But after a single taste, I knew I wanted more. Sure enough, it was worth the heavy stomach haul back to our Airbnb.
The sisig was smokey. Paired with the rice, the mellow yet tangy flavor of every bite made me moan in pleasure, good thing we were the only one left in the restaurant because I went down explicitly on that dish with no shame. Maybe it’s the cowboy influence that we Benguet people have, but it tasted hella awesome, sweet, amazing, 10 out of 10 will explicitly eat again. The sisig was in a league of its own. And I fell in love with it.
So that’s my take on the Iron Pan Steakhouse. Come for the steak, leave weak in the knees because of the sisig. :3
Iron Pan Steakhouse Details
- Manila Branch – L. Delos Reyes cor. P. Noval Sampaloc Manila.
- Taguig Branch – 20 B52 C5 Service Road, Pinagsama, Taguig City.
- Open daily from 11:30am-11:30pm