World-class Filipino dishes at Chef's Table

The chefs' workplace at Chef's Table.

Nothing beats the dining experience where you can actually see chefs doing their culinary expertise, just a few meters from your Bent plywood chair and school desk-type dining table. 

Chef's Table Manila is an all-Filipino cuisine resto in the rising suburb of Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Owned by Chef Bruce Lim, CTM offers a wide array of all Filipino gastronomic delights rediscovered in a new light and exquisitely prepared right before your eyes – literally.

Chef’s Table Manila’s unique idea of dining experience is what makes it different from the other sophisticated dining hubs in the metro. Dining at CTM gives you a view of how their cunning chefs perfectly prepare your appetite’s guilty pleasure: from opening their ingredient-packed fridge – to the sounds of the knife kissing the chopping board – to a Green Papaya Salad impeccably plated.


REINVENTING AND PROMOTING FILIPINO FLAVOR 

Chef’s Table Manila is more than the creative concept and artistic presentation. Despite the numerous food establishments offering Western dishes, this gastronomic haven caters to all-Filipino menu and aims to promote the Philippine flavor to a higher level.

“Everything here is local. What we do is support local farmers. I don’t get anything imported. My alcohol may be – the standard cocktails. And I do have signature cocktails like lambanog, tuba.” Chef Lim reiterated.

Chef Bruce Lim also spent time in reinventing the Filipino cuisine to be the trademark of his business and to promote globally the Philippines’ delectable flavor.

“Everything was my own idea. I get my inspiration by the show Tablescapes. I would travel to all the different provinces in the Philippines and I would learn Filipino food in the purest form that hasn’t been perverted by commercializing. So a lot of ingredients I serve here like for example – the kilawin – it has tabon-tabon from Camiguin that takes out all of the lansa of the fish.” 

We asked Chef Bruce Lim. Among his dishes, what would he offer to a VIP? 

“Well, I like the Chill-A-Fino, which is one of my signatures. I call it Chill-A-Fino because it’s a Chinese-Filipino mix. It represents me actually because I’m a Chinese-Filipino. What I did was I got a really good steamed fish recipe and I sit it on a bed of mash so it’s like a roasted garlic mash – it gives more like the Filipino side and [the] Chinese side that goes hand and hand. The other thing I like is my Corned Pork.” 

MENU ON THE TABLE 

Here are some of the dishes listed on the menu:

• Fried Pusit – hot-oil blanched posit on a bed of butterhead lettuce served with green mango salad

• Crab Cakes – Freshly picked crab meat, seared and baked to perfection served with sampaloc aioli

• Cool Watermelon Soup – a refreshing combination of watermelon and calamansi enhanced with quesong puti, pickled shallots and roasted shallot oil

• Chilled Carrot and Ginger Soup – a combination of fresh raw diced tanigue, apples and cucumbers tossed in citrus fruit juice in a pool of an invigorating carrot and ginger puree

• Ginataang Sitaw – Chinese long beans simmered in creamy coconut milk enhanced with sautéed bagoong alamang

• Salted Eggs and Minced Pork – CTM’s version of the classic tortang talong enhanced with salted eggs

• Corned Pork – creamy laing topped with soft pork strips served with tinapa rice

• Chill-A-Fino – Chinese-style steamed lapu-lapu on a bed of Filipino ube mash topped with pechay

• Green Papaya Salad – fresh green papaya, cucumber and pechay Baguio tossed in calamansi-patis vinaigrette topped with cured salmon and crispy monggo

• Inasal na Chicken Caesar Salad – torched romaine lettuce in a localized Caesar dressing topped with grilled chicken and queso de bola

• Biko with Calamansi Cream Sauce – Filipino rice and coconut cream pudding paired with a sweet and tangy calamansi cream sauce

• Buko Pie Martini – classic buko pie twisted in Chef’s Table style

“NOT OVER” 

Chef Bruce Lim posed for a picture in front of his restaurant and imitated Gru from Despicable Me by saying “not over!”

Actually Chef Lim’s right. Once you tried Chef’s Table Manila, you’ll be saying “not over” too because you’ll be coming again to CTM for another “very Filipino” dining experience.