Thursday, November 18, 2010

Chef's Table at The Fort

Despite being in Asia for most of this year, I still get really homesick for the Bay Area. I miss my friends, the beers, the bars, the restaurants... So when I find restaurants where it feels like it belongs in San Francisco, all my emotions of being homesick quickly disappear.

At Chef's Table, I felt like I was back in the Bay, and yet the type of food is better here than any I've encountered in the Bay Area. Chef Bruce Lim is a food television personality on the Asian Food Channel. I'll admit - I came into his restaurant with a bias to really like him. I mean, the guy wears San Francisco Giants jerseys on his TV show. (Go Giants!! - Yes, I'll be on a World Series high for awhile.)

His food, the presentation, the atmosphere of the restaurants, and his cocktail menu are all so refreshing and contemporary. It all beautifully shows diners that Filipino food can really successfully be modernized and in a nice restaurant setting. I like his concept of the chef's table. The kitchen is completely open to see the chefs working. I loved seeing the chefs pay attention to our table and when to fire up our next courses.

As for his cocktail menu.. I've totally been missing good quality mixed drinks. I've gone to too many restaurants and bars here where the drinks are painfully watered down or simply tastes like juice. I guess you can argue that I should just order liquor straight up. But there's so much fun ordering cocktails in which the flavors contrast and balance out in each refreshing sip. And finally here at his restaurant, the cocktail menu does just that. There's so much creativity in his menu!

After our complete and satisfying dinner, we're definitely coming back to try out the rest of the menu and his cocktail list. This place can definitely shine in the metropolitan cities states. It's great to know that there are quality and fresh places like this here in Manila.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read more about each picture.
Check out my Flickr album if you can't see the slideshow here.

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