Celebrate What's Available: Lessons From Gallery by Chele, Toyo + Asia's No. 1 Resto

(SPOT.ph) The Asian continent is full of gems, especially where dining out is concerned. There’s Toyo Eatery, Gallery by Chele, and Bangkok’s Le Du, for example—three restaurants that are all highly revered (even internationally acclaimed) in their own right. Beneath the prestige, though, is their more down-home common mission of bringing local and seasonal ingredients to the forefront. Bring the three together to prepare a multicourse dinner, as they did at a recent collaboration in time for Gallery by Chele’s 10th anniversary, and you get an unforgettable concierto of Filipino and Thai flavors that wows from the first plate to the last.

Also read:  
On Eating Local to Help the World at the Toyo, Metiz, Labyrinth, Native SG Collab 
10 Essential Tasting Menus in Metro Manila to Try Right Now 
10 Great Private Dining Options In and Around Manila

Here’s what went down as some of Asia’s best restaurants—Le Du Bangkok, Gallery by Chele, and Toyo Eatery—joined forces for one night:

The three establishments have a couple of things in common. All are, of course, located in major cities in Asia: Gallery by Chele and Toyo are from BGC and Makati, respectively; Le Du is in the Bang Rak district of Bangkok. All have been recognized by renowned F&B awarding body 50 Best: Toyo and Le Du have both made it to their annual Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list, with Le Du taking the number one spot (!) and Toyo finishing at 42nd in the 2023 edition (aside from being included in previous editions of the list); Gallery by Chele, on the other hand, is part of the coveted 50 Best Discovery List.

Uniting them on a more fundamental level, though, is their way of keeping up with the seasons. Never mind that they individually differ in specific styles and cuisines they draw from; local, seasonal ingredients form the backbone of their cooking.

Locality + Seasonality as Core Components

Cooking (and eating) according to what’s available is just the most natural way you can go. It’s a win-win for everyone—for the planet, as requires less long-distance transportation to get from one place to the other; for your health, because it typically means you’ll be eating more fresh produce; and for the community, as you’ll be supporting local farmers the overall economy. 

This is a theme you’ll find across the three dining spots’ philosophies. Toyo Eatery, for one, highlights ingredients sourced straight from local producers and farms—which earned them the Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award along with being named among Asia's 50 Best Restaurants this 2023. This is part of the Chef Jordy Navarra-led restaurant’s mission to champion Filipino food and culture at every stage—which also extends to their use of traditional cooking methods (in particular, techniques for fermentation and preservation)—though the overall form and flavors of the resulting plates still fit modern sensibilities. 

Gallery by Chele, owned by (and named after) Chef Chele Gonzalez, also shines the spotlight on endemic Filipino ingredients and cooking procedures—and brings in infuences from other parts of the world (Spanish, in particular, given Gonzalez’ roots) into the mix, too. The continuation of VASK and Gallery VASK, which both opened in 2013 before being its present identity came to fruition in 2018, turns a decade old in totality this year.

Last (though anything but the least) is Le Du, the "modern Thai-inspired eatery" in Bangkok where Chef Thitid ‘Ton’ Tassanakajohn pays tribute to the Thai flavors he grew up with—but with more current and sophisticated interpretations. With a (Thai, not French!) name that translates to “season,” the restaurant makes use of fresh produce, seafood, and other local and seasonal Thai ingredients and elements across their menu. Like Gallery by Chele, Le Du also turns 10 this 2023.

One (arguable) caveat with seasonality is that it entails adapting to, well, change—though this isn’t a bad thing necessarily. Tassanakajohn, for one, embraces it: “In Le Du we always change the menu… [based on what’s] seasonal,” he says in an exchange with SPOT.ph. With certain exceptions, he shares, “we actually never liked the repeating the whole menu, so we change [it]. I think after [you’ve been] open for 10 years you have to go every direction.”

The Collaboration Dinner

The three each brought their own signatures to the table—some, from previous editions of their menu that we got to reunite with for the first time in years. Ingredients were mostly sourced from the Philippines and Thailand, with some exceptions. Warm Tocino Buns from Toyo Eatery’s bread leg Panaderya Toyo made for pillowy meal-openers, as did blobs of Tomato Mochi from Gallery by Chele that just about burst in the mouth. Le Du enticed with the Thai Pork BBQ Tartalet, which was as zippy with its herb- and spice-forward flavor as it was rich and sweet from the barbecued porcine.

Le Du gives Thai curry (the variant popular in Chiang Mai, to be specific) a revitalizing uplift in the Seabass, where a wad of the fish—cooked just a touch but kept juicy—is paired with a cold liquid imbued with Northern Thai curry spices. Gallery by Chele’s Pearls follows, flaunting the natural sweetness of barely cooked scallops, dressed with a coconut-cashew milk mix, toasted cashews, and pickled radish. 

The Banana Prawns is a Le Du composition that does not pull any punches. In this picturesque plate are fresh Thai basil leaves covering chunks of prawn, themselves tinged with chili. The kicker, though, is the accompanying beetroot sorbet that heads straight to the center stage, being as piquant in flavor as it is vivid in color. We're all for its intensity, especially as they bring out Toyo Eatery’s Urchin Pumpkin Soup—which pairs 12-hour burnt squash, Sorsogon uni, and sweet potato crisps for texture—to soothe the tongue just a tad before we carry on.

Out comes a Le Du signature that’s a constant on their ever-evolving menu: the River Prawns. This dish showcases a sultry side to its namesake (also called ulang in the Philippines), with a butterflied piece of prawn that’s grilled such that the exterior gets smoky and charred while the interior stays succulent and delicate. Enveloping the seafood is a lush sauce imbued with the juices of the prawn head plus tom yum spices—and sides of shrimp paste and mountain rice from Bangkok make for umami accompaniments.

Toyo Eatery feeds our need for nostalgia with the return of two icons of theirs that are no longer on their current menu. The Bahay Kubo famously employs the 18 vegetables named in the Filipino folk song of the same name, in the form of a sweet-nutty-earthy salad presented so as to resemble plants under the soil. Their Three-Cut Pork BBQ Silog also made a comeback, at least for that night. This wins guests over with its baby’s-butt-levels-of-soft meat (a combo of pork shoulder, ham, and belly that’s stacked, skewered, and grilled)—and the equally savory-sweet ‘silog that comes with it seals the deal.

Gallery by Chele’s contribution to the potluck of mains is their Sour Ribs, where Snake River Farm Wagyu boneless beef ribs from the U.S. get the Filipino bistek treatment. Like the said viand, it’s flavored with soy sauce and calamansi—but stays amazingly tender, being cooked sous vide for a whopping 28 hours. A sweet ending comes by way of Gallery by Chele’s Pintos—a smoky-sweet corn tamales dessert from a previous menu—as well as their Japanese cheesecake-esque Bibingka.

Distinct as the restaurants’ individual styles might be, it’s their lobbying for a common cause—that of celebrating the changing seasons and the natural bounties of their respective homelands—that keeps them all on the right track.

Hey, Spotters! Check us out on Viber to join our Community and subscribe to our Chatbot.