Great Steaks @ Hot Rocks

We got lost looking for it in Libis the first time. I read about it in an article on the newspaper.  It was suppose to serve “angas beef”.  Angas since the beef came from Batangas and not from the U.S. which exports angus beef.

Anyway, we found Hot Rocks right beside Shopwise.  It was a biiiig metal cargo crate which they installed aircon and added a second floor to it.

They serve steaks (among others), which I found really good.  Regular steaks (ranging from 150-170) are like half inch thick. It’s grilled according to your taste, the waitress will ask if you want it well done, medium rare or rare. Large cut (@270) is an inch thick. Like the regular steak, it covers three-quartes of the plate (around 6-7 inches in width). I had a large cut (obvious), cooked well done. Smelled good, tasted better The beef was tasty.  It was juicy and tender, with bits of fats on the side.  Yum yum.

Now the steak sauce is a totally different experience. It was tangy version of steak sauce served by expensive steak houses.  It was a perfect combination for the steak.  I tried to deconstruct the taste in my mouth to guess the ingredients and create one for myself, but I failed.  That’s ok, I’ll just come back for more of that.

If you have a date that’s anti-red meat, I recommend the crab stick salad. It’s filling and tasty and does not have too much mayo.

4 people ate that day. All ate steaks, with an order of a pitcher of iced tea and crab stick salad. Our bill? Php810. That amount could cover for only one person if it was in one of the more popular steak houses.

Shrimp in Lemon Butter Sauce

1/2 kilo shrimp
4 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp lemon/ kalamansi extract
1 pc chopped onions (optional)
tabasco (optional)

Melt butter in medium heat. Add onions, add shrimp, salt, pepper and tabasco when butter has melted.  Add lemon extract. Simmer for 2-3 minutes in medium heat. Serve.

Tips:
- If you’re using large shrimps, simmer in low heat with pan covered.
- Make sure there are no lemon seeds when cooking.  The sauce will taste a bit bitter.

Garlic Chicken

1 kilo chicken wings
1 tsp rock salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 pcs calamansi
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 tbsp oil

Clean chicken and pat dry.  In a bowl. mix all the ingredients together, putting the oil last.  Marinate for 10 to 20 minutes.  Deep fry.

Tips:
- Marinate longer when using more fleshy parts of the chicken.
- Add/Subtract ingredients depending on your preference.  This specific recipe is salty and has a strong garlic taste.
- To make sure that the chicken is fried evenly, separate the wing in 2 parts.

Saturday Lunch

Lunch is like 9:00am every morning. During Saturdays, lunch comes from the Organic Market at Leviste St., Makati. So like any other Saturday, we go there and agonize on what to eat.  Today, it’s fresh tilapia, okra with dressing and chicken with rosemary in tomatoes.

The tilapia is really fresh. Some of them were still alive when I got there. They actually splash water to the ignorant buyer who stands near their very very big basin. I stood three paces away. J They die as the day progresses, as buyers purchase them one by one. Once cooked, they are sweet and juicy. Php 90 for a foot-long tilapia. Worth it. Although if you have a queasy stomach, don’t watch the lady who kills the tilapia.

We bought the okra and tomatoes near the sweets area. The okra (at Php 45) was steamed just right and the dressing was tomatoes and anchovies. Since we had to bring the food back to the office, the flavor of the dressing was already absorbed by the okra.The okra was a bit dry though, probably because it got exposed to air for too long, but well compensated by the dressing.

My officemates said the tomatoes were over-priced.Php70 for 3 tomato halves, which had chicken, rosemary, cheese and some other herbs I couldn’t identify.It was creamy and one couldn’t taste the tomatoes. I didn’t like that I bit 2 pieces of small chicken bones though.

Saturday sunshine.

Recommended foodstuffs:
- Lengua de gato - Php120
- Chocolate Crinkles - Php95
- Baked Tahong - Php60
- Canonigo - Php 65
- Lechon Baka - Php 300 (1/4 kilo)

Squid in Oyster Sauce

1/2 kilo squid of your choice, cleaned and cut according to your preferred size
3 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 pc red bell pepper, cut to squares
1 pc green bell pepper, cut to squares
pinch of pepper to taste

After cleaning the squid (of your choice), dump it over the pan and wait until you see small bubbles. When you do, put in the bell peppers and the oyster sauce and soy sauce. Add pepper. Bring to a boil. Put in serving bowl and serve.

Tips:
- Consume food while hot.  Cold squid is chewy to eat. Reheating makes it gummy.
- If you think that you need more sauce add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and soy sauce.
- For a more peppery taste, saute bell peppers first before putting in squid.
- Don’t totally drain the squid before putting it in the pan.  This will add to your sauce and not make the squid gummy.