VASK GALLERY: 15-Course Alamat Menu (2016) of Asia's 39th Best Restaurant! - Awesome!

GALLERY VASK is a showcase of Chef Chele Gonzales’ best dishes and his passion to promote Filipino ingredients, using Spanish techniques and others inspired by his culinary travels. The restaurant recently received recognition as the Best Restaurant in the Philippines and the 39th Best Restaurant in Asia’s 50 Best for 2016.

Chef Chele’s signature 15-course Alamat Menu (2016 edition) embodies his greatest culinary creations to date. I think it’s the best degustacion menu in Manila today that highlights our Filipino heritage. Check out Gallery Vask’s 15-Course Alamat experience…

GALLERY VASK
5th Floor, Clipp Center 11th Avenue corner 39th Street Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Open Monday to Saturday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Telephone: +63 917 546-1673
Email: experience@galleryvask.com
Facebook: Gallery Vask
Instagram: @galleryvask
Website: http://www.galleryvask.com/

Arrive 30 minutes before your reservation time, so that you can hang out in the lounge for cocktails.

Start with a cava or a crisp white while waiting for the rest of your group to arrive.

Chef Chele is always very passionate about his work…there’s always something new cooking in the kitchen.

Pandesal served in a paper bag with coconut butter and coconut salt.

Open the pandesal, put some butter and a dash of coconut salt.

#1 Binondo. The first course is appetizers inspired by those found on the streets of Chinatown in Binondo.

Okoy made with shrimps on a crisp.

Seaweed cooked tempura style.

Chicharon made from Wagyu.

Our favorite, smoked banana cue with caramelized foie gras mousse!

#2. Lutong Bahay. Next is a set of mouthwatering dishes using local vegetables.

Sayote Escabeche.

Native wild cherry tomatoes with cashew praline and baby alugbati.

Arroz Caldo made from heirloom black sticky rice from Cordillera cooked with bits of Jamon Iberico.

#3 Tiradito. Kinilaw Yellow Fin Tuna with Pickle Arosep.

Velvety smooth slices of tuna cooked in vinegar with pickled lato.

#4 Habagat. Ramram, Lemon Basil, Thai Basil, Upo Seeds, Fermented Coconut.

This was quite interesting because of the crunchy texture of the upo seeds, with contrasting tangy and coconut flavors.

#4 Pansit Pansitan. Abalone, Nilagpang, Mustard.

Abalone with soup.

The degustacion itself is already something to talk about–some are familiar while others are radical combinations.

#5 5.6. Bicol Express, Rabanos, Ilocos Vinegar.

Aklan oyster with bagoong paste, Ilocos vinegar, and flavors of Bicol express.

The palate cleanser is made from dalandan, curry, and bits of pomelo.

#6 Sassafras. Peas, Bokchoy, Malunggay, Baguio Beans, Gnocchi.

Our favorite. A special vegetable dish made of snow peas, malunggay, bokchoy, Baguio beans, gnocchi made from egg yolk, jamon and…

…a special cinnamon from Mindanao.

#7 Bauhinia. Mackerel in Sour Broth.

Seared mackerel in a clear sour broth for something familiar.

#8 Nest. Salted Egg, Lime Kaffir, Pechay, Pepino Melon.

Lobster with coconut sauce, salted egg, lime kaffir, pechay and little bits of Pepino Melon, inspired by the chef’s travel to Malaysia.

#9 Shade. Maya-Maya, Soya, Cashew, Lanzones, Cardamom, Pickled Cashew.

Maya-Maya fish wrapped with tofu skin in cashew milk, with longgan and pickled cashews on the side. We did not like the taste of the cardamom.

The meat dish is always something special and served all at the same time.

#10 Sour Ribs. Wagyu, Soyomansi, Onions, Garlic Casein, Talinum.

Wagyu rib cut bathed in soya-calamansi-beef jus with onions, garlic, and spearhead talinum leaf.

The wine pairing is recommended to provide a different dimension to the dish.

#11 Adlai. Pigeon, Uni, Bagoong, Guyana Chestnuts.

Pigeon smoked for 28 hours with brown butter, served with uni on a bed of barley pasta risotto. Yum-yum!

#12 Pingol Bato. Dalandan, Fermented Ginger Ale, Yogurt, Pili Nuts.

This is like a palate cleanser/dessert with citrusy dalandan, yogurt, and refreshing ginger ale flavors. What made this special was eating all of it with the pingol bato leaf, which was a bit sour and reminded me of kamias.

#13 Jicama. Ube, Kamote, Mango Meringue, Cashew Wine Ice Cream.

More familiar halo-halo flavors with a nice touch of cashew wine taste from the ice cream.

#14 Pandan Eclair. Sweet Monggo, Pandan Mousse, Rice Crisp, Latik Ice Cream.

I love the comforting flavors of latik ice cream and sweet monggo. The rice crisp’s shape was also quite unique.

#15 Pintos. Corn Tamales, Cashew, Dirty Milk Ice Cream.

This wins the best dessert presentation, with a beautiful-looking corn husk “candy” for the tamales with burnt butter and actual corn kernels with milk ice cream.

The degustacion ends with Chef Chele’s Sungka dessert bites:

“This journey continues with an invitation to play this game. With each and every ingredient that you experience in the pods, we hope that it will inspire you to continue to support local farmers, enjoy native products and share our new found purpose to explore Philippine flavors.”