What’s new at Ruby Jack’s?
Well-loved Ruby Jack’s Steakhouse and Bar recently launched a new menu to complement what it is best known for: premium selections of Japanese A5 Wagyu, Australian and US char-grilled and dry-age beef steaks.
Chef and owner Matthew Crabbe flew in to Manila to personally cook for us. Incidentally, the only Tokyo bar I frequent is Two Rooms, which I found out is also owned by Matthew. Chef Crabbe worked for Japanese-born, Australian-based chef
Tetsuya Wakuda at Tetsuya of Sydney. In Japan, Crabbe worked as a chef at the acclaimed New York Grill and Bar at Park Hyatt Tokyo (made even more famous by the film Lost in Translation) and as an executive sous chef at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo. In 2005, he was the pre-opening executive chef of the Hyatt Regency Kyoto before setting up Ruby Jack’s in Tokyo and its only other branch here in Manila. Ruby Jack’s is named after Crabbe’s grandparents, Ruby and Jack.
“In every dish, Ruby Jack’s culinary team tries to bring out the true and natural flavor profile of each ingredient and use it in harmony or in contrast to the flavors of the other ingredients. We add new dimensions of flavors to the way guests enjoy their steaks,” Crabbe said.
He added that it is in the restaurant’s starters and side dishes that one can find fresh ingredients such as the sweetest tomatoes and distinctive natural umami taste of shio konbu from Japan, coconut rum from Africa, truffle and olive oil from Italy, local citrus and nuts, and homemade ricotta cheese.
Some starters we tried were coconut flamed foie gras with caramelized pineapple and cashews, black Angus carpaccio with whipped homemade ricotta and sugar tomatoes, and my favorite sizzling scallops with whipped shio konbu butter and burnt local dalandan.
Options for steaks include char-grilled beef cuts from Japanese Wagyu (with marbling score from 1 to 5). Also available are A5 saga Wagyu sirloin, USDA prime rib eye, Australian Stockyard 200-day grain-fed cube rolls, John Dee Super Gold 160-day grain-fed black Angus beef fillet, T-bone, Tomahawk and inhouse dry-aged beef. Chef Crabbe cooked us a perfect Australian Tomahawk, which I had with a very interesting new siding I tried, the cauliflower gratin with truffle scent.
Other char-grilled meats on the menu are cherry-smoked premium double lamb chops and USA Snake River Farm’s Kurobuta pork chop. Non-meat lovers will enjoy the Atlantic salmon with preserved lemon black sesame dust kale, char-grilled local yellowfin tuna with tomato, sesame, pickled cucumber and rocket, or char-grilled live Palawan lobster with hollandaise sauce.
Dessert chef Christine dela Fuente prepared sumptuous desserts like Pearls of Asia with lychee and agar, coconut espuma and tapioca pineapple, olive oil pistachio pound cake with grounded pistachio, whipped ricotta and lavender jasmine ice cream (which was my favorite that night), double-baked sizzling cheesecake served with coriander ice cream and salted caramel, and Jaffa chocolate dome with chocolate sorbet and Jaffa orange agar. (Ruby Jack’s is located at the upper ground floor, The Shops at the Boulevard, City of Dreams Manila, Parañaque City. For inquiries, call 801-8888 or e-mail contact_cod@rubyjacks.ph. For more information, visit rubyjacks.ph.)