Cafe Juris, Malate Philippines

Cafe Juris along MH del Pilar
(Photo taken from their website)

My obsession with Steak tartare brought me to this small Pub/Restaurant along M.H. del Pilar street in Malate. I had heard from a friend that read my blog that this small place served very good/fresh steak Tartare. So we decided to try this place with M (a fellow tartare lover) and E (his first time to try it).

As we arrived, we were welcomed by the owner, Rinus. A very nice Dutch fellow. I told him that I was there specifically just to try his Tartare. He said that its a popular dish among Expats but not so popular among the local crowd.

We asked Rinus what he could recommend that was typical Dutch food since this was a typical dutch pub so he recommended the Herring and Bitterballen as our appetizers.

Herring - I think this is called Hollandse Nieuwe) which is raw herring slightly salted served with raw onions, This dish was very tasty and very fresh. Rinus told us that this is flown in from Amsterdam and is always out of stock, so we were lucky to try it.

Bitterballen - rolled beef balls with bechamel sauce deep fried. This dish as per Rinus is typical dutch. It twas ok but I would have preferred to have an extra order of Herring instead...

Then came the main dish....Steak Tartare. They brought out 3 plates of the raw meat with all the ingredients and the owner himself mixed and prepared it for us (all restaurants should serve this like this to guarantee quality and freshness). His mixture was very simple, it only had brandy, egg, capers, onions, Lea & Perrins, A1 steak sauce, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Other steaks I've tried have mustard, anchovies, cornichons but they told us that they prepared it this way so that we could really taste the meat. I would consider this more like a very traditional Tartare with not too many ingredients. It was served to us in a large plate with french fries. I also asked fro some crackers or bread because that's how I normally like to eat it.

The dish was very good and I enjoyed every single bite of it. The meat (tenderloin) was very fresh and tasty, finely chopped by hand into small pieces. It was E's first time to try it and i think he liked it. M and myself also enjoyed it very much although we added more Tabasco to it...

For Dessert we ordered a cheese platter with 4 different french cheeses (I was disappointed they did not have any Dutch cheese like Gouda or Old Amsterdam).


I really enjoyed the food and the ambiance of Cafe Juris and do plan to come back there soon to try the other dishes they have in their extensive menu....

I apologize for the quality of my pictures. I just had my small point and shoot camera and could not figure out how to shoot the dishes without the flash on...