Best BEEF and other meat in Cebu?

@Larry Fisher maybe try Landers.  I feel your pain though. Nothing compares not even close. 

@StratSyris Looking at them online, the beef is looking like terrible Phils beef. I wonder why there's not been an importation of Angus cattle to Philippines?

I'm looking for suggestions on finding reliably good beef in Cebu. I know it's going to be expensive for good imported beef like Angus, Wagyu, etc. I don't care. I want to see cuts and uncut quality at the store. I'm looking for brisket, rib eye, porterhouse, t-bone, NY strip, flank steak, and good 80-20 ground beef. I'm also looking for good sausage. Not the standard Filipino sweet stuff. But more along Italian and or spicy. Also good lamb cuts.
So far I've found LaCarne store online but not much else. And I've been to S&R. Which doesn't have great beef, barely ok really.
-@Larry Fisher

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As StratSyrus said:

Try Landers,

They have beef from Brazil and Australia. I'm satisfied.

@Larry Fisher  Hello.

Landers have some reasonable meat if it is in stock. I have a local importer of Australian beef that is delicious and would recommend. Pm me for details. Good luck.

regards  Bruce

The only beef I could even attempt to eat when I was there was from Santis, a Swiss (I think) string of delicatessens. Much more expensive than in the UK, but I had a few decent sirloins from there. I don't know if there's one in Cebu.

I went to La Carne meat butcher in Cebu today. They have Australian grass fed Wagyu, and US Black Angus as well as Aussie Black Angus. We bought two Porterhouses, 4 NY strips, Some lamb chops, 2+ kilos smoked US brisket,  and had a wagyu thin cut striploin for wifey (her first quality beef ever) and I had 2 nice rump steaks maybe 5oz each cooked there which was awesome for lunch. I feel like I'm missing something, but all totaled I went overboard on the best beef. More expensive than buying in the US for sure at a rousing 36k php! It's going to be a long time before I shop there again. But the meat quality was certainly top notch. Crazy good marbling. I'll cook up a porterhouse for Valentines dinner and mama will get her first taste of filet mignon.

I went to La Carne meat butcher in Cebu today. They have Australian grass fed Wagyu, and US Black Angus as well as Aussie Black Angus. We bought two Porterhouses, 4 NY strips, Some lamb chops, 2+ kilos smoked US brisket, and had a wagyu thin cut striploin for wifey (her first quality beef ever) and I had 2 nice rump steaks maybe 5oz each cooked there which was awesome for lunch. I feel like I'm missing something, but all totaled I went overboard on the best beef. More expensive than buying in the US for sure at a rousing 36k php! It's going to be a long time before I shop there again. But the meat quality was certainly top notch. Crazy good marbling. I'll cook up a porterhouse for Valentines dinner and mama will get her first taste of filet mignon.
-@Larry Fisher

When are you inviting the gang on this forum to a BBQ? In advance I like my filet mignon medium rare. What no Bone in Rib Eye?

@Larry Fisher Thx for this info. I have been in Cebu going on four years and have yet to find good Steaks with Marbling. I never cared for the Grass Fed Beef in the USA by Nolan Ryan and others. I'll try Le Carne soon.

Be Careful for Scams on Sausage Vendors. I "bought" about $100 of Johnsonville Sausage and Grimm's Smoked Sausage from Curbside.PH and had to to pay in advance by Bank Transfer cuz No COD Option. Turns out the money went into a Black Hole. Still waiting for BDO to reverse the charge after 4+ weeks.

The Grimm's Classic Smoked Sausage is very good and sometimes/rarely available at Lander's either Online or in store. Great for Red Beans, Gumbo, Jambalaya and other dishes.

Rustans Ayala Supermarket used to have very good Andouille Sausage, but hasn't been available since Pork Sanctions 2 years ago, even from Manila.

I really have not cared for the Ausie Beef at Landers and very expensive. Steaks are not marbled and are too thin to prepare it Rare as I like mine. Altho they sometimes have Angus Beef, again too thin and almost 2,000 Pesos per Kg.

Let us know how your Valentines Day Steaks came out.

@talamban yea the Aussie steaks at stores that I have seen are terrible imho.  Zero marbling. That means tough and not juicy.  I pinched in my back today (regular yearly occurrence) , So I'm not really mobile. But I'll try to get some pictures of the meat at a later time. It really is excellent. But super expensive too.

What I would give for some good andouille sausage, smoked hocks, pinto beans. I'd make a week long pot!

@Enzyte Bob Filet is boring. Not really, I love filet. On my semi, I had a 60q dual zone refrigerator freezer along with the small one that was equipped in the truck. Occasionally I would buy a whole, USDA Prime tenderloin when Costco had them and cut the steaks up in the truck and bag them to freeze. Alternating between Prime NY's, Ribeye's, Porterhouse, and Filet cooked med rare on my Ninja Foodi grill. Me and the Belgian Malinois "Buddy" ate well. But the cost for that here is more than double.

@talamban yea the Aussie steaks at stores that I have seen are terrible imho. Zero marbling. That means tough and not juicy. I pinched in my back today (regular yearly occurrence) , So I'm not really mobile. But I'll try to get some pictures of the meat at a later time. It really is excellent. But super expensive too.
What I would give for some good andouille sausage, smoked hocks, pinto beans. I'd make a week long pot!
-@Larry Fisher

I've purchased frozen  andouille sausage several times at Landers.

A good steak is not complete without an Idaho Potato, Daisy Sour Cream and Land of Lakes Butter.

talamban said . . . I "bought" about $100 of Johnsonville Sausage and Grimm's Smoked Sausage from Curbside.PH and had to to pay in advance by Bank Transfer cuz No COD Option

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In the past I bought Johnsonville in the states, never liked it. Trying to keep it simple for my wife I've purchased Johnsonville at S&R. I still didn't like it, now have several unopened packages in the freezer.

@Enzyte Bob Landers in Manila has it; but not Landers in Cebu - at least not in the past 6+ Months. Landers Cebu does have frozen Crawfish tails, altho from China. No problem if you wash off all of the "fat" covering the tails and just apply your own seasoning. I have used it in ettoufee, bisque, and alfredo sauces. Not cheap, but at least available. Easy to distinguish the Chinese crawfish from those in Louisiana - They have slanted eyes.

@Enzyte Bob Long time ago I went to Boise, Idaho for Business for the first time. Lunch time, I ordered my meal and asked for an Idaho Potato. Waitress informed me that they had no Potatoes on their menu. Similarly, around the same time, I was in New York City and asked for a New York Strip Steak. Waiter was dumfounded and had no idea what I was talking about. My mother who was a cashier at a old time hotel (Roosevelt Blue Room) in New Orleans told the story of a customer who asked for Welsh Rarebit, only to be told my the local Cajun waiter that "Sorry sir, Rabbits are out of season now".

@talamban

@Larry Fisher Check Out Whole Lotta Foods in Lapu-Lapu at website https://wholottafoods.com/Cool-Meats-c58467146 for Smoked Ham Hocks. 350 pesos per KG and they deliver for 250 flat fee. I have been ordering from them for about two years now - Great for Red Beans. The run about 1 to 1.5 Kg per Hock. I use one Hock for a pound of Camellia Red Beans. Used to add the Grimm's Smoked Sausage when I could find it. I always order the Smoked type, altho they do have Not Smoked. Don't order their Australian Steaks - even the owner admits they are tough, and I can confirm that.

Interesting experience I had with Australian Steaks while travelling recently. During my USA Visit in November, I decided to have a week stayover in Dubai. The Texas Roadhouse Restaurant at Dubai Mall had one of the best, juiciest, most tender, well-marbled Bone-In Ribeyes that I have ever eaten at a Restaurant, including high end Steakhouses. I was able to pick out my steak to get one that was thick enough to insure the possibility of it being able to be cooked Rare. It was so good that I went back another night with equal results. When I mentioned this to the Australian owner of Whole Lotta Foods in Lapu-Lapu; that is when he admitted he didn't know why he could not get tender Australian Steaks from his supplier. So it IS Possible to get a good tender Steak from Australia, maybe just not in The Philippines.

Larry's post got me thinking about steaks. On FB Marketplace searching for steaks, a great number of hits, some claim to be US Angus. When I arrived in the Philippines I bought a knockoff Webber grill at Ace. (Cheap compared to the real deal.)

I never purchased on FB Marketplace and I am woefull of making a purchase on FB Marketplace.

@Enzyte Bob Even with Angus, I was told there is still Choice and Prime which determines the Marbling and eventual tenderness. Some stores in Cebu offer Angus, but the less tender variety.

@Enzyte Bob Even with Angus, I was told there is still Choice and Prime which determines the Marbling and eventual tenderness. Some stores in Cebu offer Angus, but the less tender variety.
-@talamban

When in the states (Las Vegas) I did not prepare steaks often, with buffets prime rib was the mainstay. Depending on the casino, the buffets ranged from cheap to expensive and so the prime rib range from awful to good. I've probably ate more Prime Rib in one year (casino) than the average person eats in a lifetime. Living in Vegas it was cheaper eating in casinos than at home. I really enjoyed the Sunday Brunches.

Probably my taste buds would not know the difference between Choice or Prime. After reading your post I Googled Prime vs. Choice and I found out there are other factors concerning taste other than marbling.

One time I bought a Prime Rib Roast and aged it for several months and slow roasted it, it was not worth the effort.

I like ground Buffalo/Bison compared to ground Angus beef for burgers at home. (stateside)

Genuine Aussie steaks are usually excellent ..

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Check this one out .. marbled Wagyu steak

Quoting News Item yesterday: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-12/wagyu-beef-competition-shows-off-the-chart-marbling-in-steak/101948000?

'If you love a good steak, then imagine being a judge at this year's Wagyu-branded beef competition.

There were a record 57 entries from Wagyu brands across Australia.

"It's fair to say we don't need to pay the judges to show up," Australian Wagyu Association CEO Matt McDonagh said.

"We have five categories ranging from commercial Wagyu steak, to the full-blooded Japanese Black steak."

He said the judges assessed flavour, juiciness, tenderness and visual characteristics.

Wagyu is famous for its marbling and the competition saw 10 companies enter the Class One, Fullblood Japanese Wagyu category.

"It's just a different level of eating experience," Mr McDonagh said.

"So the AUS-MEAT marbling score system goes from zero to nine. We use a Meat Image Japan grading camera and this year we've had an entry with a digital marble score equivalent of 18, so that's off the AUS-MEAT scale.

"That's a phenomenal piece of meat and at that point they're 60 per cent intramuscular fat, so more than half of that steak is actually that soft, unique, fine marbling that comes through with Wagyu.

"It literally melts in your mouth."

(Above photograph)

This Wagyu steak has a digital marbling score of 18. (Steak supplied by: Australian Wagyu Association)

Mr McDonagh said the majority of Wagyu produced in Australia was classed as F1, which is an animal with 50 per cent Wagyu genetics, but the industry was increasingly seeing a rise in fullblood genetics.

Australia now has by far the largest Fullblood Wagyu population outside of Japan.

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That's basically what my Wagyu (Aus) looks like. NY Strip graded at MB9, highest Aus grade, Porterhouse graded at MB7. Both at roughly 9850 php per kilo. Or $80 USD per pound. Yea I went way overboard and spent almost $700 there. That's after "coming to my senses" and not buying the entire NY strip and just buying 4 steaks lol.

@Larry Fisher Nice to know a Very Wealthy Foreigner on this forum...

@talamban not at all. I have a savings, waiting on Social Security to kick in any month now. But I will occasionally go a little too far out there. Heh.

I guess it’s all relative. Some guys with the ‘ girly bar’ penchant will spend that in a week. The difference being their ‘dick’ gets satisfied instead of their stomach..

@Lotus Eater lol true.

back on topic :-) I bought the first Italian sausage I've seen at S&R on that same trip. Had it for breakfast yesterday and it was actually very good. I'll be getting more of that. Had a slight spicy flavor also. not hot at all, just a spice kick.

@Larry Fisher yep we have a stock of these italian sauces in our freezer at all time we both love them.

best steaks i found in the Philippines was..... i build a good relation with a meat seller at the market and he delivered me with pure loins ,i cleaned them and then cut them in to steaks ,tender great tasting steaks itryed all the steaks mensioned here above ,have to admit i avoid american produced meat as they use hormones to induce faster and more abunded meat growth , and the pure loins won each time.

but that's just my personal preferance he .my opinions are not written in stone they are just that personal opinions and preferances.

greets Dirk

I gave up on beef here 12 years ago. Chicken, Pork and seafood these days.

Cheers, Steve.

@dirk.c. When I was trucking, I had a 60qt dual zone refrigerator/freezer tied to my top bunk. I would buy whole tenderloin occasionally at Costco and cut and trim steaks and freezer bag them. Very good steaks reasonable price per lb buying whole loin. Well reasonable for it being Filet.

@EncyteBob, "Prime Rib" does not refer to the quality ie: USDA Choice, USDA Prime, etc. Prime rib is the cut. Or in other words the roast. You can buy varying qualities of Prime Rib just like you can other cuts. When I lived in Vegas, the owner of The Butcher Block, a custom meat butcher in Las Vegas specializing in the highest quality meat and butchering as well as Japan imported Wagyu, and true KOBE beef and exotics like Ostrich, Alligator etc. would get me Choice 109a whole Prime Rib for Xmas dinners. A whole 109a is the whole prime rib with the long rib cut back to the eye (the ribeye steak) but the big huge fat layer on top of the meat remains. Restaurants used to get these 30-40 years ago that specialized in Prime rib. They're rarely available now and only by special order. This fat layer is the key to making the most juiciest flavorful Prime rib there is. But it's much more expensive because of all the wasted weight you pay for. By untying the roast, and then with a good butcher knife peeling the fat layer back whole, trim the fat on the meat itself, and then season the hell out of it and tie the fat layer back down over the seasoning. The fat and flavor as it melts during cooking soaks into the meat. Browning with a nice crust is done at the tail end of cooking by taking that fat layer off and putting it back in the oven the last 30 mins. AMAZING flavorful Prime rib.

yea I can cook . When I want too.

I gave up on beef here 12 years ago. Chicken, Pork and seafood these days.
Cheers, Steve.
-@bigpearl

I agree with Steve's post.

When in France........

I would use what is abundant in the place where you are. You have better chances your meat is fresh and cost effective. I'd be summer-ing in the US anyway and that's when I'll get my fill on ribeye.