Steak 101
After being away from expressing my passion and love for food for 3 long years because of med school’s hectic schedule, I am finally back to doing what I love most: sharing my mind-blowing, mouth-exploding food finds to all the gastronomically insane like me who want MORE. I want to take this opportunity to thank Svet for bringing me back and for inviting me into her team of food addicts.
Okay, it’s clobbering time!
I am all about LOW PRICED and DELICIOUS meals, and when I say delicious I mean high calorie and high fat food. I don’t eat… I FEAST. So for my maiden voyage here at THITW, I would like to share with you Dapitan Square’s one and only STEAK 101.
Steak 101 is located at the heart of Dapitan Square, the well known food strip just across McDo Lacson. It boasts of student friendly meals that are not heavy on the budget. Whenever I want to escape from the f*%&@#+ high priced med caf and get a quick snack that’s both cheap and satisfying, Steak 101 is the place that will definitely satisfy my urge for “not bad” sulit meals.
Crackling Liempo, P50 w/o drink, P55 with drink. THUMBS UP!
There are a lot of places around UST that sell the carinderia staple that is liempo with rice. Most fried liempos I’ve tried almost always turn out bad mainly because they serve it pan fried, not deep fried. The secret to a perfect dish of fried liempo is by deep frying the pork and transforming the greasy fat laden piece of flesh into a golden, crisp block of fatty explosion! It is because of this reason that I love the fried liempo of Steak 101. Just by eyeballing the menu and seeing the word CRACKLING, you’ll surely be curious as to the truthfulness of the dish’s name. So to test, I close my eyes and take in the first bite… The pork is crispy and the skin on top of the fat really is crackling! Every piece of liempo exudes the fat exploding flavor in my mouth (I deeply apologize to those who don’t like fat, I am a big fan of adipose). MOUTH EXPLOSION at its finest.
One order includes the crackling liempo, a cup of java rice, a side of mashed potato, a side of Mang Tomas sarsa and a cup of lemonade or red iced tea. For me, this dish is perfect save for just one problem: the side of Mang Tomas isn’t always refillable. I particularly like Mang Tomas with fried liempo so when I eat here I always ask for refills. I had an experience where the ate wasn’t in a generous mood. To solve this, all you have to do is just make tiempo and ask the ate in a nice way. OR you can ask the lady who I think owns the place, she gave our table a full bottle. So that’s it, this dish really is CRACKLING!
Crackling Sisig, P60. THUMBS DOWN!
I just LOOOVE sisig! So when I saw that they also offer sisig CRACKLING, I thought I was going to die just like I did with the crackling liempo. When the sizzling plate arrived on the table, I took a bite… To my dismay, IT DID NOT taste anything like sisig. Just like Ron’s post about the churros, the sisig tasted like NOTHING. Yes, nothing. How the hell could that have happened?!? The presentation was perfect! On the hot plate were crispy looking pieces of pork sizzling their way to perfection with a slowly cooking egg on top. This couldn’t be bad. I took a whole spoonful. DISASTER. It was FAKE. Fake sisig is the worst thing that can go into your mouth. It was that bad. And to top it all off, they tried to make it crackling by adding CUCUMBER (see picture above for those little green pieces of sadness). It was just WRONG! Compensating for the lack of sisig by adding CUCUMBER? SERIOUSLY?! May crunch nga pero gulay naman! This dish was just so wrong! SAD TO SAY, sisiraan ko lang tong sisig na to.
Tonkatsu, P50. THUMBS UP!
If you want to get your money’s worth, then you should get tonkatsu and add an order of extra rice for that GRABE, SULIT NA SULIT EXPERIENCE! One order literally fills the whole length of the sizzling plate. Nothing special about this dish, it just tastes like good old tonkatsu, but it comes with a unique sweet sauce that gets you going and going until you’ll have to order an extra cup of rice. The best part is that the sauce is unlimited unlike the Mang Tomas. The Japanese fried pork lies on top of a bed of cabbage that’s just nothing but decoration, but I’m still giving them one up for presentation.
Mashed Potato, P25. THUMBS UP!
Mashed potato at Steak 101 is just magnificent. I don’t get a single order because it comes with the crackling but my friend Jhun NEVER eats a meal without an extra order of these yellowish potato clouds. It’s mashed potato with big chunks of potato inside and that’s what makes it delicious. Every spoonful contains a combination of mashed and chunky potato that does wonders in your mouth. This is a must try!
Red Iced Tea and Lemonade, P7. THUMBS UP!
Yes, you read it right. A cup of red iced tea or lemonade for just P7! Quite cheap eh? SUPER CHEAP! It costs P7 if you order it by cup but if you add it on to a meal, it’ll just cost you P5. I preferably order the red iced just so that I can shift away from the usual lemonade, which is also good. By looking at the price you might conclude that the drink might be diluted, but rest assured that its flavor is up to par with all the other packaged drinks out there. This really is value for your money.
Steak 101 is that kind of place you eat at when you’re trying to save up for something special (like those new Jordans or Kobes that’ll be coming out this April). It’s that kind of place where you can enjoy a good meal without having to pay too much. So if you’re quite strapped for cash and can’t find anything decent to munch on at the med caf, then head on to Steak 101 at Dapitan Square and I can guarantee you that you’ll leave with a full stomach and a happy wallet.
- Martin
Steak 101
P25-P60 per meal
Dapitan Square, Dapitan Street corner Lacson Avenue
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