Dining at Gallery by Chele - one Michelin Star restaurant in Metro Manila

On my recent trip to Manila, I was excited to try Gallery by Chele, one of eight Michelin star-awarded restaurants in Manila. While I primarily enjoy more casual eateries when I travel, I always think it’s fun to see what kind of unique and innovative dining experiences are offered around the world as well. (and, I have a tendency to trust the Michelin guide!)

I really liked the philosophy of Gallery by Chele and the way they honor and represent Southeast Asian culture and cuisine into their dishes. They also have their Heirloom Rice Project where they delve deep into different varieties of rice and their menu showcases so many of them, which I found to be very thoughtful and intriguing!

Reservation process

The reservation process for Gallery by Chele is very straightforward and can be done online directly through their website. We made our reservation around a month in advance.

After we made our reservation, we received an email where we could put in our deposit which was 2,000 PHP per person. The deposit does go toward the meal so it was deducted from our final bill after we dined.

Checking in

On the day of our reservation, we arrived at the restaurant around 10 minutes before our reservation. We were directed toward a nice terrace area to wait until we could be seated, so there was a nice place to relax!

Dinner service

When we were ready to be seated, we were brought inside to our table and were able to settle in. Here we were able to take a look at the menu for the night and also put in any drink orders we wanted.

I liked the variety of cocktails and mocktails they offered, which had something for everyone and also still showcased lots of Southeast Asian flavors.

Small bites

To start off our meal, we had a nice little tour of some of the different stations in Gallery by Chele. I thought this was a fun little experience and really set the tone for dinner.

First, we tried a fermented drink made from sampaguita, the Philippines’ national flower. It was tart and had almost a kombucha like taste to it. I’m personally not a fan of kombucha, but I appreciated the drink itself. We also got to try a dalandan mochi. The dalandan itself is a citrus fruit so the mochi was nice and citrus-y and had a nice chewy mochi texture. It was a very refreshing and fun bite.

Next, we were taken outside to their herb garden where they grow a lot of herbs that they use for their dishes! This was really cool to see. Here they served what might have been one of my favorite bites of the night, a scallop tartlet. The tart shell which was made from lumpia wrapper was so light and airy but crunchy at the same time. The scallop flavor was very prominent and I really enjoyed the wasabi-like taste as well that came from the mustasa. All of the flavors came together so well and this bite was delicious.

For our last stop, we visited their research and development area where they do their fermentation. We learned a little more about their Heirloom Rice Project and then we tried slices of mango that were fermented with bubod, a native starter culture. These pieces were very interesting and they had a sweet and tangy flavor to them with a slight tartness from the fermentation.

I thought the dishes we had during the tour were fun and delicious, but even before the main event, we had even more to enjoy!

The first round of dishes were a cold clam soup inside a conch shell and a chili lobster puff that was similar to a deep-fried taro puff that’s a common Chinese dish. The soup was cool, refreshing, and so savory and aromatic! It was also fun to drink it straight out of the shell!

The fried puff was also delicious. I loved the light and crunch texture of the outside and the flavorful lobster filling inside.

We were then treated to several different varieties of rice cake.

They were all delicious and had a nice chewy texture to them.

And finally, we had one another one of my favorite treats of the night: the kare kare ball with caribou meat and the sinigang. The sinigang came in the form of a literal tomato. The burst of sinigang flavor from biting into it was both surprising and so delightful! It was definitely a table favorite!

The kare kare ball was also very delicious. The meat inside was tender and flavorful and also had a nutty flavor with the peanut sauce inside. On the side there was also a bagoong dipping sauce that went really well with it also.

The journey

The remaining dishes of the night were part of “the journey” as noted on the menu.

Something I really liked about the whole experience was the way they would introduce some of the special ingredients used for each dish, especially the variety of rice that was used and how it was incorporated into the dish as part of their Heirloom Rice Project. Not only did we get to enjoy the dishes themselves, but we also got to learn about the thought process behind them and intention behind the ingredients that were used.

Mirin Kinilaw

This was another top dish for me. This dish utilized their in-house glutinous rice wine to create their own mirin. I really enjoyed the freshness of the tuna sashimi and the sweet and tart flavor coming from the mango and the key lime. The coconut cream granita sprinkled on top added an extra lightness to the dish and added a fun element to it.

Buro Crab

The buro crab was so good! The crab itself was fresh and delicious and was balanced out well with the lime gel and the crab broth. There were so many great textures that combined well together. And I thought the crab ice cream was an extra fun twist, and the roe added an extra burst of savoriness to it, which certainly made for an interesting experience. Definitely unexpected flavor, and while I wouldn’t typically want a crab ice cream, I enjoyed the idea and the execution of it.

Shio Lobster

The shio lobster was an interesting dish, though I would have to say it wasn’t one of my favorites. The lobster was laid on a bed of mashed ube in an uni emulsion. I felt like the overall texture was a little too mushy in my opinion.

Blossom

Another dish that didn’t really hit the spot for me. The blossom reminded me a lot of artichokes and I’m personally not a fan of them, so this dish just wasn’t really to my taste. I enjoyed the different dipping pieces and the different ways you could eat the dish to added a variety of flavors to it, but in general wasn’t a huge fan.

Fired! Pulpo

This was a fun dish! I thought the idea behind it was really fun and whimsical, I liked that it came with its own place setting and story, and that it tasted great! The octopus was cooked really well and was nice and tender with a great flavor. The chicken skin was super crispy and the house-made rice vinegar complemented the crispy skin really well.

Grouper Tapuey

I really enjoyed the grouper dish! The greens on the plate were so nice and refreshing and the grouper texture was soft and light.

Abalone Arroz Caldo

Arroz caldo is definitely a familiar dish so I liked this twist on it. I did feel like the dish leaned more tart in flavor which I personally would have preferred it to be a little less. The abalone was a nice texture though.

Wagyu A5

A super melt-in-your-mouth cut of meat. The wagyu was delicious, cooked really well, and had great flavor pairings to choose from.

I also enjoyed the beef tartare on the crispy skin that was also delicious.

Rice Textures

The beginning of the dessert! This rice dessert dish was so fun and I loved how many elements of rice were incorporated into it.

All of the elements individually were delicious and combined were so yummy!

Cacao

I also really enjoyed this cacao dessert, which is a callback to one of their previous year’s focal ingredients. There were also several aspects to this dessert like the cacao kombucha, the souffle, the mucilage, and the ice cream in the cacao crispy shell. Everything together was delicious, light, and very chocolate-forward which I really enjoyed.

Petit Fours

For our Petit Four, we ended on another rice dish: a modern take on a bibingka!

I enjoyed the presentation of this dish and its callback to such a classic and familiar home-y dish.

The rice cake itself was bouncy and delicious, and it was a great way to end a great meal.

Total cost

The total cost for the 10-course tasting menu was 7,200 PHP per person since we didn’t add on any additional pairings. The deposit that we paid during the reservation process was counted towards our final bill for the night.

Overall thoughts

From the overall experience to the presentation of the dishes, I thought this was such a wonderful meal. Everything felt so intentional and beautifully put together. I loved the homage to classic dishes while still having a fun, innovative, and creative twist to them.

While some of the dishes themselves were not to my personal taste, I appreciated the effort that was put into them and can totally see how they could be someone else’s favorite.

I would definitely recommend giving Gallery by Chele a try if you’re curious about what a Filipino fine dining experience might be like!