Makati's Massive Dominion Cellar Serves 20-Day Aged Duck Over Paella + Rare Wines

(SPOT.ph) “One thing we realized is that there’s a lack of event spaces in Makati,” says Bill Yuen, one of the partners at Dominion Cellar on Jupiter St. in Barangay Bel-Air. “That’s why we built a space that can accommodate many different party sizes.”

This feels like an understatement. The sheer size of Dominion Cellar is astonishing, especially in a time when space in Metro Manila is at a premium.

Over three floors, Dominion takes different diners on different journeys. The bulk of the first floor is dedicated to showing off their wares: just shelves filled with wine from all over the world. What’s special about Dominion’s selection is their focus on wines from the United States. “These are wines that even if you go to Napa,” Bill says, “you just can't get. You could have to line up for years.”

Dominion benefits from strong relationships with the California wineries. Bill’s wife Roxanne and his brother-in-law Rey have a long history in the wine industry, and have cultivated trust among the Napa Valley vineyards. And the fruits of that trust can be seen on the shelves of the Cellar.

This ground floor space is also a deli, featuring charcuterie personally imported by the company, and it doubles as a bistro serving casual fare like burgers. There is also a climate controlled room for more expensive vintages, as well as a private room that seats around ten people.

The second floor features the main dining area, seating around forty people, with food from Chef Carlos Garcia, best known for the Alabang spot The Black Pig. The dining room extends into a wine bar, which seats an extra thirty people. It can be closed off for private events, but on regular nights they envision it as a place to get wine by the glass, including some rare vintages you typically wouldn’t be able to taste without getting a full bottle.

The second floor also has two more private rooms for ten people, which can be opened up to make enough space for twenty. There’s also a member’s lounge for people who rent out a wine locker for P5,000 a month. The space with the lockers is climate controlled, and each locker has enough space for over a hundred bottles. 

The third floor is home to their tasting room, the space dominated by a long wooden table that seems pretty well suited for masterclasses. But it is also offered up as another private space for people just looking to host special events. Dominion is pretty well set up to be a destination in Metro Manila for special occasions. 

The second floor menu largely features classic European fare, with little modernist twists. Foie gras, for example, is served as a “parfait,” the liver mixed with spices and brandy and other offal and smoothed out into a mousse, then topped with a thin layer of guava gelatin. Apple chutney is served on the side, along with thin slices of toasted brioche. It is a finely balanced dish, the salt and richness of the foie gras mousse offset by the bright guava note.

“We didn’t set any limits for ourselves,” says Chef Carlos. “We just thought about what we liked, and we put it on the menu.”

Certainly, Dominion doesn’t feel like a place for limits. It is instead a place where you might be served 20-Day Aged, Air-Dried Duck (P4,900/half, P8,000/whole). A serving involves two components cooked separately. The dark meat is confited in its own fat before the skin is crisped. It’s served on top of wood-fire baked arborio rice flavored with more duck and a classic sofrito, which in effect is a paella that’s all soccarat. Practically every grain of rice has that nutty, toasty flavor that comes from contact with the hot fat and metal. 

The breast is oven roasted at a low temperature, sliced, and sauced. It is really in the breast that one can taste the dry aging, with a hint of extra minerality coming through in the meat. The slow cooking ensures that every bite of the duck is tender, with a delicately rendered layer of fat permeating every bite.

There is Beef Tartare (P920), with smoked hollandaise and ponzu. Originally, Chef Carlos thought about building a steakhouse in the space, but decided that there was enough of that in the market. But the restaurant still features a rather extensive selection of steaks, with meat sourced from specialty ranches like Westholme and Rangers Valley in Australia. The tartare is a great way to sample the quality of the beef they have available, with that rich, meaty umami seemingly amplified by other components: an earthy mushroom custard, smoked hollandaise, and ponzu.

There is dessert as well. There’s Coffee & Cream (P420), which is essentially a tiramisu in a coupe, with amaretto and Kahlua standing in for the more traditional marsala wine. Or the chocolate fondant, with rich, 70% dark chocolate served up as a little tart, topped with tonka bean ice cream. Tonka beans, for those unfamiliar, have a flavor somewhat like vanilla, though a little less sweet. The ice cream is made in house as well. 

Much of what’s been mentioned is available a la carte, but the restaurant also offers a four course prix fixe menu for P2,950 a person. But even with that set meal, the menu hardly limits the choices of the diner, with multiple options available across the four courses you get in the set. Of the options for the second course is a Warm Crab Salad, topped with a creamy sherry sabayon, and swimming into a dashi-brown butter broth. A crispy shiso leaf adds a little color contrast, and a welcome textural component. The crab meat is fresh and tender, and the supporting components give the dish a comforting feel, while still maintaining a certain lightness. 

And as the restaurant is inside a wine store, it also benefits from relatively inexpensive retail prices for wine with the meal. There is no pairing program yet, but Chef Carlos says that’s coming. One of their most intriguing offerings, though, is the non-alcoholic sparkling tea from Saicho. Both Bill and Chef Carlos seem really bullish on the product, talking up how it’s been chosen to be on the beverage menus of over a hundred Michelin Starred restaurants around the world. 

We sampled the Hojicha, and it really is delicious. The roasted tea aroma really shows up heavily on the nose, with a very slight floral note at the tail end. It drinks just like a cold brewed tea, with very low bitterness and just a touch of sweetness, but the effervescence adds a liveliness to the beverage. It recalls the celebratory feeling of a champagne, but with the complexity of tea, and none of the alcohol.

Dominion Cellar is astounding. It is a place that feels like it was made with no compromises; like the people behind it really set out to make the place of their dreams, and couldn't settle for anything less. It’s a massive space that conveys refinement, with its white tablecloths and wooden detailing, eschewing the garishness of pure excess. It does indeed feel like a place for celebrations, for any special occasion where one feels like splurging on something remarkable. 

Photos by Majoy Siason

UPDATE (April 7, 9:53 p.m.): The published article originally made use of the term Peking Duck, which was the previous name of the 20-Day Aged Duck dish. This has been updated.