The Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) Summit’s a wrap and to celebrate, we hied off to Gallery Vask for their Semana Grande Pintxos night, and to meet up with Cara who works as Research and Development Lead for Chele Gonzalez. And what a night it was!
Unless you know what to look for, it’s easy to miss Gallery Vask. Hidden away on the fifth floor of Clipp Center on 11th Avenue corner 39th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, there are no signs. Walking into the lobby of the building, you see the statue of a tall graceful black horse, and you begin to wonder what surprises are in store for you.
Arriving at Gallery Vask, who else do we see but the handsome Chef Chele Gonzalez, all rested from his Spanish sojourn and still blushing as he recounted the happy time he had with his beloved Teri. His tip for relaxing: leave your mobile phone behind.
Soon, we are perched on high seats at the long glass table, and look around the room, noting the whimsical Micky Mouse cutouts that adorn the ceiling. Luckily we arrived early enough to get seats as the room soon started to fill up.
Each weekend for the entire month of September, Gallery Vasks holds its Semana Grande Pintxos Nights, offering unlimited sangria with their pintxos. I opted for the white sangria (well actually it was a bright yellow orange) which was refreshingly light and sumptuously delicious. My companions chose the traditional red sangria, delightful as well, but I preferred to be different tonight.
Looking at the wide variety of bite-sized pintxos on display, I wondered which to try out first. Like little works of art, they seemed to call out playfully, each delectable piece competing with the other: ‘try me first.’ The crab and grilled eggplant won the first round.
Every single bite was delicious, from the jamon parmesan mousse to the sous vide tuna with caramelized onion, patata tortilla, crab, roast beef with roasted piquillo pepper, grilled eggplant, boquerones (here we call them tawilis) and chorizo with caramelized onion.
We were getting full from the pintxos and a bit light-headed from the sangria when the heavy weight Vask specialties started arriving. The round croquetas de pollo were as creamy as my mom makes it. The Secreto Iberico fillet with porcina espuma and chimichurri was tender to the bite. And the fresh oysters with Basque country caviar and pomelo foam, well, they were divine! I loved the seared scallops and black ink risotto made from Highland tinaoan rice with crispy Parmesan rounds.
Last December, Chef Chele and Vicky Garcia, whom I had met at the Social Enterprise Forum we had organized, invited me to go on a roadtrip to the Sagadas in search of the perfect rice for paellas. I couldn’t go because of yearend events we were organizing, but I keep kicking myself for passing up such a unique and exciting adventure. It must have been loads of fun. Oh well, another drop in the bucket list.
Not to be outdone was the hearty fabada, comfort food at its best. For postre we had torrija and pastel caliente de chocolate valrhona. Oh, I was in seventh heaven! Take it from me, this is one place you can keep coming back to, and be happy you did. Chef Chele never fails to delight his guests.