Mother's Day at Myron's Place

My brilliant Mother’s Day idea brought together four women on a double date: my mom and I and an aunt and my cousin. I was the youngest of the group, my cousin being married and a doctor. Since it was my idea, I got to choose the restaurant, and after much research and consultation with Munchpunch.com (really useful for checking restaurant menus-- just a shout out to guys out there), I went with Myron’s Place at Greenbelt 5. I am not fond of steak and neither is my mom, but I figured we could have a ball with their salads and fancy sounding seafood entrees.

The traffic going to Makati that night was one of the worst I experienced, especially since we took the alternate route already instead of EDSA. The reason was the meeting de avance happening at University of Makati by team Erap and co. We were forty minutes late for our 7 o’ clock reservation. On the road, I called ahead to ask if they could hold it for us, and they graciously did so, although it was partly because the place was far from being full even at the peak of dinner time and on a Friday night.

All of us were impressed with the service at Myron’s. The waiter in charge of our table was knowledgeable with the dishes, and made sensible recommendations. He was able to memorize the dishes we ordered too. Although it later got difficult to get the wait staff’s attention to refill our glasses of water, or to ask for another napkin, we were happy to be served courteously and gladly every time he came by.

The first thing on the table was a small complimentary plate of rye bread. This surprised me, as it became clear that the pictures of the complimentary bread I saw on one blog about MP was super close up shot. The rye bread was hot and soft, served with butter on the side. We did not finish it because my aunt refused to have any, saying she’ll only want more after having a slice. To me it could have been any type of bread colored brown. I know my rye bread, and it’s supposed to be dense and coarse.

Our soups came next. My cousin and I split Cream of Pumpkin soup, while my mom and aunt split something called Cappuccino of Mushroom soup. They were pretty good; although they had a tad too much heavy cream. The mushroom soup actually had some coffee taste in it, and came adorably in coffee cups. Razor thin slices of garlic bread yellowed with butter accompanied the soups.

Next came the Stockbroker’s Salad (roasted duck breast, US sea scallops, grilled prawn and pan fried foie gras), per the waiter’s recommendation. I’ve read about this one; it's supposed to be the star of salads. We were all disappointed with this dish. The prawns were not very fresh, and there wasn’t enough to go for everybody (it only had 3 prawns and 3 scallops, so one of us, i.e. me, didn’t get to taste everything). I didn't recognize the duck breast, and maybe I haven't eaten enough foie gras, but I can't say it was the best tasting salad I've had. I much prefer seafood tossed with salad greens with a good dose of lemon juice.

Our main entrees

We ordered steak in Franco’s cut (450g) and a seafood pasta main dish. My cousin wanted the steak done medium well. It came to our table looking beautiful, and with a side of sauces: peppercorn, mushroom and shiraz cabernet-shallot jus. We all loved the sweet-tangy contribution of the red wine reduction to the steak, which tasted well on its own by the way. Surprisingly, my mom ate the most steak! Way to go mom! I’m glad the dish satisfied her figuratively and literally. My favorite part of the steak was the whole roasted garlic that came with it. It was a good thing I didn't have anybody to kiss that night.

Juicy and perfectly medium-well steak

The pasta was also excellent, except it’s on the oily side. “It’s olive oil, so it’s healthy,” my cousin assured the older women. Well I’m not fooled. Too much oil is too much oil. I loved the mussels, salmon bits and the vegetables tossed in al dente spaghetti.

MP got everybody’s approval. We agreed that it has a nice ambiance for intimate conversations, and we liked the unobtrusive and pleasant staff, and even my mom couldn’t complain about the food. As my cousin said in her email sending me the pictures, “Sana maulit!”