I've been urging my family to try Gallery By Chelle for years — way before it earned its One Michellin Star recognition! So, this was one dining affair I've been lookign forward to have.
As we were being ushered to our table, we couldn't help but be impressed by the artistic warm wood architecture by Carlo Calma and furnitures designed by the world renowned industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue.
Quick Tour
While we leisurely perused the menu cards laid at our table, the server informed us that we will soon be taken on a tour around the restaurant. After few batches of guests passing by our table as they made their rounds, it was finally our turn.
Welcome
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| Dalandan Mochi |
Our first stop was at the show kitchen just a few steps from our table. There we were offered a welcome glass of Sampaguita Pet Nat — a sparkling sampaguita-based wine that is fragrantly floral and lightly sweet with refreshing touch of acidicity. The term Pet Nat is short for pétillant naturel which means 'natural sparkling' in French.
It was paired with the welcome bite of Dalandan Mochi made of Tinawon Violet glutinous mountain rice. We enjoyed the burst of tanginess from its dalandan jelly filling followed by a minty basil finish.
Garden
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| Scallop Tart |
Gallery by Chelle is the first restaurant in the Philippines to be awarded the Michellin Green Star recgonition for its outstanding commitment to sustainable gastronomy, local sourcing, and zero-waste culinary practices. One of the contributing factors to this achievement is its urban herb garden where its signature bite of Scallop Tart was served. The Scallop Tart was made from crispy lumpia wrapper and filled with scallops and fresh mango. It was laid on a fresreshing foam of home-grown herbs and mustard leaves. The Scallop Tart's complexity and depth of flavor left a profound and lasting impression, affirming its place as a signature bite that stood the test of several tasting menu iterations.
Stvdio Lab
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| Fermented Mango |
The final tour stop is at the Stvdio Lab where all Gallery by Chelle's Research and Development (R&D) takes place. We couldn't help but awed by Gallery by Chelle's commitment for food innovation. They really invested a lot of time into The Heirloom Rice Project in order to showcase the extraordinary identity of different Cordillera rice varieties and tell the stories behind them.
Fermenting is one of their favorite techniques for culinary experimentation and the Fermented Mango is the perfect example of its fullest potential. The slice of mango is inoculated with bubod — the traditional rice-based fermentation starter used to produce tapuey (a type of rice wine) for 24 hours until the mango becomes sweeter and softer and then 3 days after it develops a white furry outer layer of penicillium similar that of camembert cheese.
Coastal Reef
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| Cold Clam Soup |
After the walking tour, we were served the coastal reef specialties of Cold Clam Soup and Chili Lobster Puff.
How fun it was to drink the Cold Clam Soup — a refreshingly light clam broth with lemon grass and ginger notes from the shell spout!
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| Chili Lobster Puff |
The Chili Lobster Puff is a taro puff filled with umami-rich lobster and homemade chili sauce.
Rice Cake Innovation
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| Sapin-Sapin, Puto and Tupig (left to right) |
As a teaser of the Heirloom Rice Journey, we were served a trio of traditional Filipino rice cakes with their creative twist.
The Sapin-sapin has layers of latik foam, ube, langka, and coconut nestled within a queso de bola tuile.
We've become accustomed to the puto being a plain steamed cake.
Gallery by Chelle proves that the puto can be dressed up just like any other cake. And, their rendition of the Puto made with a dikit violet rice cake and fermented coconut milk mix and topped with goat cheese mousse, tinapa powder, calamansi gel and edible flowers tops any posh cake out there.
The Tupig is a charcoal-cooked rice cake topped with peanut sauce and complemented by toasted rice crumble. It was eaten by sliding it off the banana leaf which I enjoyed as it reminded me of another popular Philippine sweet snack, the polvoron.
Signatures
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| Kare-Kare Bonbon and Tomato Sinigang |
Our favorites from the bites where the two signatures.
The Kare-Kare Bonbon is the most savory bonbon we've come across. We instantly felt fulfilled once we popped this concentrated piece unto our mouth.
When you're expecting to bite into a cherry tomato for the splash of of tomato juice and you get flooded with the wholesome Tomato Sinigang flavor of sour kamias, succulent pork and sweet vegetables.
The Journey
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| Mirin Kinilaw |
The Mirin Kinilaw successfully made us all smile with its pristine-tasting and naturally sweet slices of fresh yellowfin tuna complemented by mango leche de tigre (Peruvian influence), coconut cream granita (Italian influence), and dayap zest.
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| Buro Crab |
The Buro Crab is hands down the best crab dish I have ever had! The harmonious symphony of rich and creamy buro ice cream, topped with ikura, blue crab brot and crab fat emulsion is simply amazing!
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| Grouper Tapuey |
Before serving the Grouper Tapuey, we were shown a bottle of their homemade tapuey (local sweet rice wine) and were given a spoonful to try.
As expected from Chelle, the Grouper Tapuey is not your usual steamed fish dish. The steamed grouper, with mashed snow peas, pods of snow peas and two kinds of Chinese brocolli and tapuey sauce and beurre blanc (French butter sauce), is definitely one of the best steamed fish dish we've had.
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| Abalone Arroz Caldo |
Because most Chinese dishes frequently use abalone as a main ingredient, we taught that we already knew all sides and flavor profiles of the abalone. This meal has surprised us with the rich and bold flavor of abalone when laid over Chelle's unique take on arroz caldo — rice porridge which made use of the firmer Unoy red heirloom rice variety from Pasil, Kalinga) inflected with Kiniing (salt-cured porked hanged over traditional Cordinalleran firewood stove pork for days) .
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| Wagyu A5 Tartare |
Before the main wagyu dish, we were served a starter of Wagyu A5 Tartare served on crisp rice cracker made from Minaanggaan heirloom red whole grain rice from the ancient mountain rice terraces of the Cordillera region.
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| Wagyu A5 Steak |
Before we were given the go signal to dig into our Wagyu A5 Steak,
our server grated some Asin Tultul — heritage sea salt block infused with coconut milk from Guimaras. The Wagyu A5 Steak is complemented with three choices of condiments: Wagyu fat emulsion, black garlic puree, and confit shallots. While, it is fine on its own. It was also fun to take bites of it with different condiments. The level of satisfaction for each pairing depends on the preference of the taster.
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| Cacao Mucilage |
We had to google the term Mucilage which actually refers to the sticky pulp of a plant. In this case, the dessert is named Cacao Mucilage because the sandwich filling between the crisp chocolate meringue is a semi-sweet sorbet made entire from raw cacao juice pulp layered with a rich chocolate ganache.
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| Rice Textures |
You can actually order any of the dish from the tasting menu ala carte if you want to have more of it. We never felt the urge to order an extra dish until we tried the Rice Textures that was complemented by the sweet essence of lakatan bananas. As hinted from its name, it delivers a symphony of textures from three lowland heirloom rice varieties: 1) deremen (young glutinous rice cake from Pangasinan), for the arroz con leche with citrus zest, 2) tapol (dark purple glutinous rice from the Visayas) for the suman ice cream, and 3) pinipig (flattened rice from Nueva Ecija); and three mountain varieties: white rice cracker from the Mayoyao ethnic group, mountain violet tuile and red rice tuile from Minaanggaan rice. The suman ice cream was so good!
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| Petit Four |
While dining, we've been sniffing a smoky fragrance from the passing servers. It was only until this last part of the course meal when we figured out that it came from the burner used for the bibingka-inspired cheesecake topped with cured egg yolk, pili nuts, and dayap zest. We were already filled and fulfilled at this point and yet we were still as delighted to finish our Petit Four.
Drinks
The drinks were not part of the tasting menu package. But, there were drinks there were suggested drinks to pair with each tasting menu dish.
Gallery by Chelle has an inimitable style of preparing and presenting dishes that make use of locally-sourced ingredients in a fun, creative and impectably memorable way. Thus, we have to agree that the wholesome fine dining experience deserves atleast a One Michellin Star recognition. We look forward to dining here again once a new tasting menu is launched.
| Tsinoy Foodies Review Rating | Gallery by Chelle Menu | |
| Ambiance | ★★★★★ | Six Course Heirloom Rice Menu |
| Taste | ★★★★★ | |
| Service | ★★★★★ | |
| Price | ★★★★ | |
| ♥=Favorites or Recommended | ||
| Gallery by Chelle | |
| Business Address | 5/F Clipp Center, 11th Avenue, corner 39th St, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila |
| Business Hours | Lunch: 12–3:30 PM Dinner: 6–11 PM Closed on Mondays |
| Payment Options |  Cash |
| Service Charge | 10% |
| Budget/Person | 5,500-8,000 |
| Free WiFi | No |
| Contact | (0917) 546-1673 |
| Other | Website |
