Chef's Table in The Fort by Bruce Lim

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I invited some members of the Club in helping us consume the coupons we bought for Chef's Table. Good thing we made reservations for our table of 8 that night because the place was jam packed.

We spent a while finding our way from the basement parking to the restaurant with barely any signs pointing the way. The exterior glass gives a great peek into the atmosphere of Chef's Table.

Photo credit: www.foodiemanila.com

The first thing you'll notice going inside the glass doors is the elongated open kitchen and the bald chefs manning them.Yes, you read that right, bald, from Chef Bruce Lim to all of his assistants. I guess this eliminates the need for hair nets and looks cool also.

Their desks and the matching heavy wrought metal chairs feels like a modern take on grade schools of yore. Chef's Table branded yellow pencils sit on a groove atop the tables, for doodling in the manila paper place mats

On to the food, Kangkong Melon Soup (P180), was the first dish that arrived. It was quite a refreshing  combination of buko and honey dew melon. The skewered shrimp was a nice touch of contrasting color and flavor to the soup.

One of the more uniquely presented dishes at Chef's Table was the Reversed Sotanghon Soup (P150). A soup that is usually served all together, is served with the soup separate in a teapot. Once you are ready to partake of the soup, you can just pour it into the crispy vermicelli topped with lechon kawali bits.

Calamansi Tuyo Pasta (P210) was one of our two pasta dishes.A pasta dish that is really Filipino with the use of  calamansi, tuyo oil and even queso de bola as substitute for parmesan cheese.

Beef Steak Pasta (P310) was the other pasta dish we had.This is the dish I enjoyed the most and would come back just for it. I requested the pasta to be changed from penne to linguine when I ordered and they acquiesced saying its no problem. I loved the stringy linguine matching the beef strips in contrast to the cylindrical onion rings.

Corned Pork (P380). I was intrigued when I saw this on the menu and the dish did not disappoint. Pork strips assembled on top of creamy laing. This was served with tinapa rice but I wished it was plain rice instead to coat the laing with.

Prawn Aligue My Way (P350). Baked prawns in "aligue" (shrimp fat) on top of vermicelli noodles and baked in a banana leaf. The best part of this dish was the sotanghon which absorbed all the flavor from the aligue. Quite a sinful dish if I say so.

Overall, my experience here was a mixed bag, there were some hits as well as some misses. Prices are on the high side so some of the dishes were not of value.

I appreciate that Chef Bruce is striving to present Filipino food in a different way. The open kitchen concept is also a novel idea since diners can see everything and can be assured of cleanliness but I wonder if this contributed to the quite warm, that's putting it mildly, air that night.

Chef's Table 
Unit 106 The Infinity Tower
26th Street, The Fort,
Bonifacio Global City
Taguig, Philippines
399.1888

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