Walls have been knocked down, opening up the space, and now, a well-stocked bar filled with unique locally-sourced libations by mixologist Kalel Demetrio sits in a corner right beside a bright, white-tiled kitchen. Wrapping around said bar is a low, 10-seater acacia table; one cannot help but admire the stunning grain and rippled age rings of the wood. Wooden louvers beautifully frame floor-to-ceiling windows.

Fully-fledged Gallery VASK loyalists can breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that the philosophy toward food hasn’t changed. As before, there’ll be a lot of indigenous and locally foraged ingredients, experimentalism and lashings, of course, of that inimitable Chele palate (think along the lines of Pulpo Inasal and Adlai Caldo). Gonzalez’s tasting menus used to be offered in 10, 12, and 15 courses (of note was the 15-course Alamat set menu that lead one on a gustatory tour of the Philippines). Trimmed down to a “less daunting” 3, 5, and 8 courses, Gonzalez’s and Villaflor’s haute creations are presented on pottery-style stone plates from Gaya Ceramics, with whom Gonzalez worked tirelessly over the course of nine months.

One is also inclined to say that the Gonzalez-Villaflor tandem has brought about a more democratically-priced bill of fare. The three-course tasting menu starts at Php 1,500 pesos while the bar bites and small plates begin at the Php 250 range. Gallery by Chele wants to impress an experience of flexibility and fun from the ambience to the different parts of the restaurant (bar, lounge, main dining room), to the price and hours (the bar opens at 5:00 pm until 1:00 am; dinner is served beginning 6:00 pm with last call at 10:15pm; generous seating at the bar and lounge for walk-ins).

“It’s a dream to have the opportunity to evolve after five years,” said a busy Gonzalez who is preparing a preview dinner for T.Dining’s First Taste this Thursday, May 10.

Added a very inspired Gonzalez: “We will make sure that the diners will experience all of the new elements of Gallery by Chele. The bar is the first thing they are going to see and the cocktails, for one, will surprise everyone—imagine guava being turned into a mojito! Second will be all of our bites, which we carefully designed to complement the cocktails. People can go around the restaurant and chat with us as we go through a short tasting menu to show that we now don’t only do long tasting menus. Fun and relaxed is something that we want to bring to the table and the diners.”