Chef Chele Gonzales takes diners on a personal journey with his new tasting menu at Gallery by Chele.

Eleven years since leaving home, Chele Gonzalez decided it was time to revisit his roots in Cantabria, Spain. After many years, he was able to reunite with his family, home, heritage, and what he grew up to know as comfort food. This inspired his newest tasting menu called Re-encounters, a culinary journey from the mountains and sea of Northern Spain.

Diners get a choice of a six- or ten-course for the Re-Encounters tasting menu. We started our journey to Cantabria, San Sebastian, and Bilbao, with our first stop at the restaurants’ bar counter with Chef Chele’s photograph of the Cantabrian Sea. Here, we enjoyed some tapas — tortilla de patatas, crisp callamari in brioche, gambas al ajillo, pulpo a la gallega, and croquetas with cebu lechon.

These tapas are served with a refreshing welcome drink called Calimocho that’s equal parts red wine and cola, a taste that’s actually quite similar to kombucha. We were then brought to a different room with a wall covered by a photograph taken by Chef Chele again. While there, we had some pastrami pintxos and crab canapé, a crab mixture on top of a light meringue and topped with a grated hard-boiled egg.

After the tapas, we walked to our designated table for the night where “The Journey,” which is the six- or ten-course, begins. The first part consisted of seafood dishes — from raw tuna with a gazpacho sorbet, bangus belly pil pil with collagen emulsion, and a white snapper with sayote. Next is the Huevos con Jamon which features a perfectly cooked egg topped with generous truffle shavings. We then moved to meatier territory with the Cocido Montañes, melt-in-your-mouth stew meat wrapped in kale, and the Txuleta which uses Wagyu tenderloin served with potatoes and bell pepper confit. Both were hearty and are definitely a favorite from the tasting menu.

At this point, we were already full but of course, we still had room for dessert. We were introduced to the Spanish delicacy Sobao which is a dense sponge cake soaked in milk, served with berry compote and milk ice cream. Next is Chef Chele’s famous Burnt Basque Cheesecake topped with chantilly and truffle shavings, an experience that I didn’t want to end. The Journey ended with a trio of desserts — Corte de Leche Flan, Quesada, and Sago con Leche, served with a beautiful photo of Gonzalez’ family from his last trip.

Re-Encounters is available until June 2022. Guests can choose between a 10-course tasting menu for PhP4,400+ 10% service charge or a 6-course tasting menu for PhP 3,400+ 10% service charge. Wine, cocktail and non-alcoholic beverage pairing options are available.

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Gallery by Chele is located at 5/F Clipp Center, 11th Ave corner 39th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For reservations or inquiries, visit gallerybychele.com, call +639175461673; follow Gallery by Chele on Facebook and Instagram.