u/ExquisiteSmells

Celebrated my Fiancee's birthday a couple weeks ago at Gallery by Chele. One of the top restaurants in the country and it really lives up to its reputation. It was a really long tasting menu (I posted the menu with everything we ate) and the meal lasted near 4 hours. I know people will scoff at high end cuisine saying you pay thousands of pesos and you leave hungry. Not here. You are constantly eating the 3-4 hours you're here. And you're learning about what you eat in between. Mind you I love a good silog meal that fills me up and a trip to Vikings is a better dollar value for getting full. But this is an experience as much as it is a meal.

The food itself was overall very good. You have highlights like the Shio Lobster and Fired! Pulpo, as well as questionable dishes like the Abalone Arroz Caldo and Blossom (vegetable course). There was even an A5 Wagyu course to remind you that your bill was going to be expensive at the end. Like I said earlier, we were stuffed and the following day, my fiancee and I craved only light food. All said and done, it was a great experience. As a note, the service was extremely high end, where I had a suspicion that the team would carry me out the door if requested.

This was my second tasting menu in Manila, the other was Toyo. Both being a couple of the biggest names in Filipino restaurant culture, it's hard not to compare. My opinion only, but I do like Toyo a little bit better. There was a bit more fun with their tasting menu and the dishes were better explained. Both meals had great dishes and Gallery uses pricier and flashier ingredients, but Toyo's menu felt better curated. As an aside, the drink accompaniments were a lot better at Toyo's. Gallery's drinks leaned too heavily on the fermentations and half the cocktails tasted like kombucha.

* Photos taken by the wifey to be. My nails aren't that nice.

** Meal was priced at a little under ₱18,000 if I can recall and that was for 2 people, drinks and service charges.

The fiancee and I went to Chingolo in Alabang for date night. I did the blasphemous thing and ordered one of only two none steak main dishes (the other being salmon). It was risky but I really didn't want to eat steak. Thank goodness it was a good choice because super sarap! You get two large boneless dark meat fillets that are seasoned perfectly in spices and cooked perfectly. Really tender with super crisp skin. Came with 3 sauces and beef fat rice that is sinagag on steroids. Best meal I had in a long time.

The wife-to-be ordered a picanha and she really enjoyed it too. Only complaint was the sinew in the cut but it was something to bring back to the doggies. To round it off, we ordered a delicious hummus and a green gem salad that tied up the entire meal together perfectly.

Can't say enough good things about Chingolo. From service to food, everything was really high quality.

Flew with Korean Air and one option for the meals was Beef Kaldereta. Was excited to try because I'm a big fan of Korean Air's food especially their Bibimbop. Honestly, it wasn't very tasty but it was Kaldereta for sure. You could taste it was seasoned with patis, and there weren't any unnecessary ingredients. Next time though, I'll stick to the Bibimbop.