The familiar flavors of Flatiron

You know that the beef brisket landing on your table has just been seared perfectly on the griddle because it is served to you piping hot, a thin curtain of smoke billows above the dish. The brisket is slow-cooked for six hours so it is guaranteed to be fork-tender. You take a bite; it melts in the mouth. You happily chew on another bite until the six or seven slabs of meat meet their joyful fate in your belly. You scrape even the last morsel of the sautéed brown rice, the last strip of carrot and the last slice of cucumber that go with the dish. In their wake, a cornucopia of delicious flavors bursts in your palate.

That’s how it feels like to gorge on Flatiron Brisket 6, the house specialty of Flatiron 1771, a seven-month-old restaurant on the ground floor of Uptown Place Mall in BGC, Taguig.

“Flatiron is a small restaurant that serves urban comfort food that is eclectic,” explains Vicky Rose Pacheco, the Les Roches-schooled executive chef and COO of the restaurant. She took up her Hotel and Restaurant Administration degree from UP Diliman. She also studied at École hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland.

“We have familiar food but when you eat it, it is like you have never tasted it before,” adds Ricky Gutierrez, CEO of the 1771 Group of Restaurants.

Ricky is also the man behind the famed Chateau 1771, a French bistro, and Sentro 1771, a restaurant specializing on Pinoy food. He and Vicky have been happily working together in the last 28 years, ever since Chateau 1771 opened at No. 1771 Adriatico St. in Malate on May 18, 1988.

“Our first ever customers for dinner on the first day of Chateau 1771 in Malate were Betty Go Belmonte (founding chairman of The Philippine STAR), Grace Glory Go and their mother Fely Go. I think they liked the food because I would see them a few more times in the restaurant,” Ricky, whose first knack at the food business began when he sold hotdogs, siopao and corns in a cart in the University Belt in the early ‘80s, remembers with fondness. In 1984, Ricky, a Psychology graduate from the Ateneo and a true-blue Malate boy who owns Malate Pensionne, opened Rosie’s Garden Café and a slew of other bars like Sidebar.

For Flatiron, both Vicky and Ricky are confident they serve their trademark good food with good service in their restaurant.

Though the restaurant’s name sounds like it is an imported brand, think of Flatiron as a district in New York where Madison Square Park is, this latest addition to Ricky’s group of restaurants is a homegrown foodie place that serves diverse offerings. The Tostado Wings Adobo, a heavenly starter, is chicken wings cooked adobo-style before it is deep-fried. It comes with a garlic dip. And a sweet smile from the waiter who serves the dish.

The Corned Beef Skillet proves to be an all-day favorite at the restaurant that is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Two sunny eggs accompany the browned corned beef chunks sautéed with onions and tomatoes. To complete the divine devouring experience of this dish, it comes with potato bread rolls. The bread and the beef are compact. But they are soft and tender and tasty. Comfort food has never been this comforting!

Included in the meat menu are steaks from the griddle (which, by the way, is the other name for flat iron, Vicky explains). Competing on the guests’ tables are the Flatiron Steak (300 grams of US Choice steak cut), Striploin Steak (300 grams of US Choice striploin) and Cab Rib Eye Steak (300 grams of US Choice Certified Angus Beef).

Burger lovers swear by the Beef Sliders (mini-US Choice beef chuck burgers served with dill pickles and French fries) and Flatiron Burger (US Choice chuck burger sandwiched in potato bun and enhanced further by herb butter, melted Cheddar cheese, grilled tomato and onion).

What about Salmon Burger? This sandwich is the sumptuous attempt of Flatiron to turn the familiar burger into something unique. It is salmon patty stuffed in a potato bread bun with Cheddar cheese and all the condiments including horseradish sauce. Dig in. Wait! There’s Mushroom Burger, too.

The food excursion at Flatiron will not be complete without sampling the Baked Salmon lent with a recognizable Pinoy taste, what with the soy sauce and calamansi that are mixed with the virgin olive oil and are used to drench the baked fish. As you bite into the soft and juicy flesh of the salmon, a crunch is felt courtesy of the slivers of roasted garlic.

If you’re the type who cares for starters, the Pomelo Orzo Salad is for you. It has lettuce, orzo pasta, pomelo, crumbled Parmesan cheese, fried spinach and doused with grilled lemon vinaigrette.

Or maybe, you can opt for the tomato-based Manhattan Seafood Chowder with bacon, fresh fish chunks, clams and shrimps. And talk about shrimps, ready your palate to be teased by Flatiron’s Giant Gambas, which is made more delightful by the paprika garlic oil. It is served with focaccia bread or plain rice. (Regarding the plain rice, you can request the chef to turn it into sinangag, which goes perfectly well with the gambas!)

Flatiron’s version of Mac N Cheese is worth savoring, too, because the baked macaroni is oozing with sharp Cheddar cheese and its taste is made richer with a sprinkle or two of thyme, chives and oregano. Forget not to smell the aroma as you slice through the baked mac.

And to end a scrumptious meal, a sweet goodbye is made more lasting by the Intense Brownie Burger. It’s a deadly dessert of coffee ice cream sandwiched between two fudge brownies made of Swiss chocolate and slathered with cream cheese sauce, chocolate espresso sauce and toffee sauce.

That’s the picture of a sweet ending at the restaurant. With that goodbye dessert, it is no wonder why many have said hello again and again to Flatiron. *

(Flatiron 1771 is on the ground floor of Uptown Place Mall, 36th cor. 9th Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For reservations, call 802-5458 or 0917-8544540.)