Feeling carnivorous
22 PRIME, the top-floor steakhouse of the Discovery Suites in Ortigas, has a secret up its chef’s sleeves: it uses pork and beef from the US, as reflected in a Nov. 10 lunch in the restaurant, which featured USDA-certified meats.
The meal started with sous-vide Boston pork with jalapeño mac and cheese and maple-glazed vegetables. It was comforting in its tenderness, with an intensely spicy mac and cheese, but the heat isn’t evident at first as it very quietly creeps up your tongue until it’s a little bit too late to back out.
The restaurant then rolled in barbecue short ribs, resting on a slice of cornbread, with pickled vegetables and crispy potatoes; the ribs tasting powerful and robust, while demurs from the extreme thanks to the cornbread and the other accoutrements.
Just to calm down flaming palates, they served guests a heavy, indulgent, but gently flavored lobster bisque. This was followed by a slow-roasted beef belly, with truffle barley risotto, grilled asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. This sexy slice of beef was so tender that it fell apart with a slight nudge of the fork, and the luxurious feeling of it was enhanced by the risotto.
Next came 22 Prime’s signature dishes: the Surf and Turf (ribeye with jumbo prawns) and the Prime’s Tomahawk (a giant rib that could easily be shared by 10 or more people, but is sliced individually). The surf and turf was fun and interesting as the innocuous flavor of the shrimp proved to be a great partner for the flamboyant rib eye, while the Tomahawk makes you feel, well, quite beastly, because as you devour the huge slices of the animal, with an undisguised, unmistakable flavor, it’s as if you’ve awakened your primeval carnivore.
Everything except the Tomahawk, the lobster bisque, and the Surf and Turf will only be available at 22 Prime until Dec. 15.
Said Ralph Bean, Agricultural Counselor for the US Embassy, who was a guest at the lunch: “What we export is primarily the high-quality grain-fed product,” adding, “Anything we export is what we produce for domestic use.”
Mr. Bean then discussed the advantages of grain-fed beef, as opposed to grass-fed beef, especially meat from an older cow allowed to graze on the open fields. “That’s going to tend to be a tougher meat, [with] less marbling, and the flavor tends to be a little bit different. The fat tends to carry the flavor of the meat.” —