Gallery by Chele: Explorers Menu (The Full 10-Course Experience)

For Mother’s Day 2023, I decided to treat my mom to a full course of Gallery by Chele’s Explorers Menu (P4900/head). I was pretty excited for her as this was her first tasting menu experience.

(For those who want a more condensed experience, a six-course option is available for P3900/head)

Its menu is presented on a beautiful printout of an island – with its relaxing hues of blues and greens – setting the theme of exploration – which inspired the dishes in store for us.

BITES: FRESH

What surprised me was that apart from ten courses ahead of us, we were treated to three pairs of bites to kick-off our meal. The first pair (Fresh) featured a beautiful blue crab meringue and a cup of guava sorbet. We were instructed to bite into the blue crab meringue first which was beautifully topped with brightly colored edible flowers and flavored with aligue aioli – truly, a delicious and memorable first bite! We followed this with the guava sorbet which was topped with fresh uni. It was my mom’s first attempt to try uni and I was happy that she enjoyed it! On my end, I would have preferred the uni on its own as the sorbet masked its natural saltiness– and I felt that it was too early in the meal to start with a sorbet.

BITES: HOME

The next pair of bites (Home) started with a bite-sized mantou filled with tasty barbecued meat and their take on the classic chicken tinola. Broth was added to the glass cup by the server – which resulted to an extremely rich and buttery chicken tinola – which I wasn’t a big fan of as it was too indulgent for my liking.

BITES: SIGNATURE

The last pair of bites (Signature) started with the gorgeous charcoal-hued kare-kare bombs – do bite with caution as the filling can get a bit hot and yes, the luscious peanut-based sauce is too good not to double dip the bombs in them. Intricately-topped miniature sisig tacos serve as a fun ending to the series of bites. By this time – I was beginning to be worried as I was starting to fill up – and we have yet to start with the official first course of the meal!

FIRST COURSE: SASHIMI KINILAW (Tuna-Yuzu-Ikura)

The first dish came with a nice souvenir – a postcard from Chef Chele himself – which help kickstart the theme of how his team’s travels have inspired the meal ahead.

Vibrantly fresh tuna were laid on our plate before being drizzled with delicious coconut milk zested with yuzu – savory ikura lent the dish some color and umami flavor. I enjoyed every bite of this first course!

SECOND COURSE: CALAMANSI BUTTER (Prawn – Hollandaise – Upo Seeds)

The second course was an absolute joy to eat – I honestly wouldn’t mind eating this for the entire night – the prawn was incredibly sweet, fresh, plump and juicy – the calamansi cut through the richness of the butter – and I was impressed with how they utilized the Upo seeds – definitely embracing the no-waste campaign and oh, what an actual delight it was to devour!

THIRD COURSE: LAKSA INASAL (Octopus – Crispy Chicken Skin – Pickled Jicama)

My personal favorite, and as shared to us by Chef Christian, a crowd-favorite, was the Laksa Inasal. A perfect fusion of two dishes I absolutely adore – laksa and chicken inasal - the dish surprisingly features octopus as its main ingredient. It’s an absurd combination that works insanely well that I’m still dreaming about this dish until today. The aroma alone of this dish was captivating, so imagine how heavenly the flavors were!

FOURTH COURSE: DORADO (Green Papaya – Beurre Blanc – Calamansi)

The Dorado was another spectacular course – the Dorado boasted of perfectly juicy and meaty fillet – but it was the refreshing contrast from the green papaya which made it memorable.

FIFTH COURSE: CAMALIG (Lobster – Coconut – Lemongrass)

The Camalig was another impressive seafood dish – as we were treated to a fresh, plump and sweet lobster soaked up in a lusciously fragrant coconut sauce. It’s just that when compared to the blockbuster third and fourth courses, this course felt a bit underwhelming.

SIXTH COURSE: IBERICO CHAR SIU (Smoked Pork Jus – Kamote Puree – Kailan Leaves)

I absolutely adored the kamote puree and the pleasant bitterness of the kailan leaves found in the sixth course – but unfortunately, the iberico char siu itself was just alright. Surprisingly, its flavor profile was closer to ma-pa or pork jerky than the char siu served in Cantonese/HK restaurants.

On the flipside, this was the time where they handed out our second giveaway – a quirky colorful foodie map of Singapore that shows famous food joints and signature dishes in their colorful animated versions. These little trinkets truly go a long way – as they serve as a nice conversation starter – and make the break in between courses a little bit more colorful and interesting.

SEVENTH COURSE: BUKO SALAD (Fizzy Fruits – Frozen Coconut – Lime Zest)

The Buko Salad was also a stellar course – I loved all of its components – from its luscious frozen coconut cream – reminiscent of my personal favorite, Claude’s Dream from the LJC Group of Restaurants – dressed up with sweet fruits. Simple, yet such a delightful treat.

EIGHT COURSE: BSTK (Beef Tenderloin – Ube Latik Mash – Pastrami Rice)

As expected, Gallery by Chele made sure to make its main course highly personable and memorable as one of its chefs would really explain the entire process behind the preparation and curing of the beef. For our night of visit, it was Chef Christian who came to our table-side.

BSTK

So the main course came with three components – a gorgeous melt-in-your-mouth fillet of beef tenderloin served with ube latik mash and the incredibly delicious black garlic sauce, freshly sliced pastrami on rice (yes, I know it’s exactly what they serve in Deli By Chele – but you can’t deny that their pastrami is consistently stellar), and some side salad. It was a filling, comforting and enjoyable main dish – and each and every component of it was simply divine.

NINTH COURSE: S.E.A. (Cereal Prawn – Pandan Ice Cream – Fresh Mango)

At this point, I was already completely full. However, I couldn't help but be excited over the first dessert of our meal as it features cereal prawn as part of the ingredients! First, we were served with a raindrop scoop of pandan ice cream with fresh mango cubes; but then it was later dressed with the cereal used from the famous Singaporean Cereal Prawn dish.

And yes – there were delicious alamang pieces crushed with the cereal mixture! I loved the cereal mixture – but the pandan ice cream was quite underwhelming -especially as the lovely Buko Pandan dish was still fresh from my mind. That was a better dessert course!

TENTH COURSE: Silken (Chocolate Mousse – Soya – Black Sesame)

I also wasn’t happy with the second dessert – as the flavors and textures failed to complement one another. Plating was gorgeous though!

Tradition

Fortunately, there was a bonus dessert course that featured Chef Chele’s famous Chika – or Cheesecake Bibingka which came in small individual servings wrapped up in smoky banana leaf cups.

Yes, this was the heaviest of the three desserts but it was definitely my favorite! I was full, but I still scooping every last cheesy creamy morsel of it! I wouldn’t say no to an extra piece to be honest!

Since it was Mother’s Day weekend, the team thoughtfully served another dessert on the house! However, as I’m all tapped out, I didn’t even attempt a single of bit – but I’m sure it was good as my mom wiped that plate out clean!

Overall, it was a delightful experience at Gallery by Chele. The attentive and hospitable team definitely heightened the experience! I wouldn’t have minded shaving off a couple of the Bites and a dessert dish off though from the set just so that one won’t be too full!

Gallery by Chele

5/F Clipp Center, 11th Avenue corner, 39th St, Taguig, Metro Manila

Date of Visit: May 13, 2023 with Lily Chua