A Table of Great Feast

"Mesa" is a Filipino term which means table. As my title say, a table of great feast, all great feast starts on the table. Thus, unfolding here at Mesa Filipino Moderne restaurant is a great feast of delicious Filipino fusion food laid on the table!

To start the feast, the first dish served to us was the Crispchon served in 2 way. During the first serving of the Crispchon, crunchy skin is carved carefully with a little meat, wrapped in pandan wrapper with cucumber, spring onions, wansoy and sauce. I like the hoisin sauce with it. It's the best! Somewhat like how the first serving of a Peking Duck is served but this is even better because I love pork especially if it's crispy! Then the remaining meat of the Crispchon was chopped and stir fried either with garlic or chili garlic.

Presenting the Crispchon!

A closer look at the Crispchon and you can see the glossy, crunchy skin saying hello to your tastebuds! Mmmm...hmmm..!

Isn't it a beauty?

Pandan wrapper, spring onions, wansoy, cucumber and sauces.

The Crispchon wrapped and prepared for us!

The next dish is a crowd favorite: Tinapa Roll! When it was put on the table, the plate went clean in seconds! It's crunchy in the outside, juicy & salty in the inside. The sauce is a bit on the sour and sweet side which complements it like giving the whole dish a balanced taste.

Tinapa Roll

The Tofu Salad comes in differently from what I've thought it'll look like. It's actually arranged pretty neat. Tofu topped with century egg and shrimp! Light and delightful. It's served cold but it's good!

Tofu Salad

I'm actually not a fan of the next dish, Ginataang Sigarillas, just because I don't like sigarillas. I can't explain why I don't like sigarillas but since it's part of the feast and I have to eat my vegetables, I've tried it and it's pretty good. The coconut milk seeped into the sigarillas making it a bit on the sweet side. There's a chili on top that you can break to spice up the dish if you're game for a spicy and sweet dish!

Ginataang Sigarillas

I'm a big fan of shrimps which is the next dish. I'm the type of person who can eat shrimp everyday and will be so happy. This dish is called Suahe on the Rocks! It's pretty amazing on how this dish is presented. A clay pot with hot lava stone inside will be put on the table, the server comes in with fresh shrimps and slides the shrimps into the clay pot.

Sliding the shrimps into the clay pot

When the cover of the clay pot is closed, you'll hear the sizzle and a lot of smoke will come out of the cover's hole that brings out the aroma of the shrimps! When opened, the shrimps are ready to be eaten! This Suahe on the Rocks are literally shrimps cooked on the rocks (lava rocks) which is so cool that it rocks! Woohoo, time to dig in!

Suahe on the Rocks

The Deep Fried Tilapia is another dish which I enjoyed. Despite being deep fried, the meat of the fish is not hard and dry. I also like the sauces that comes with it.

Deep Fried Tilapia

Take a pick from the sauces - vinegar, sweet chili sauce, patis and bagoong (shrimp paste)

The Garlic Baby Squid may not look as grand as the other dishes but this is actually the dish that kept me wanting to get more. Don't underestimate the bold flavor of such small squid!

Garlic Baby Squid

The Honey Garlic Chicken is a crowd favorite! The glaze has the right amount of sweetness and garlic goodness. The chicken is very juicy too despite being fried.

Honey Garlic Chicken

To wash the palate, the Binakol is just perfect! It's chicken soup that uses coconut water as its soup base. It's very fresh tasting and good for breastfeeding moms like me since it increases milk supply!

Binakol

The 2-Way Laing is another of my favorite from the dishes I've eaten there. There's a saucy and a dry laing. I actually love any of them! I don't might if it's saucy or dry. I just love the taste of coconut milk sweetness with a bit of spiciness drenched into the gabi leaves. It's full of flavor and good with rice....LOTS OF RICE!

2-Way Laing

So here's the rice which is part of our feast: Duck Basil Fried Rice! It's aromatic and tastes like duck soup being poured on rice that dried. Very flavorful!

Another small yet bold in flavor are the Hito Flakes. It's served in individual spoonfuls with green mangoes, a dash of vinegar with a chili on top. Each spoon is a bomb of goodness!

Hito Flakes

After having all these yummy dishes, I was too full for dessert but had a Kamias Cooler instead! The sweet and sour Kamias Cooler has helped in cleansing the palate and making me feel refreshed after that food coma goodness.

Kamias Cooler

Here's our group picture with the Managing Director Erik Dee who is very hands on with managing the restaurant and told us some back stories behind some of the dishes like the Honey Garlic Chicken whose recipe was made by his grandma. It's just awesome that what's in Mesa Filipino Moderne is actually what Erik's family love to eat! No wonder the food is just so good!

The gang

This Chinese New Year weekend, go ahead and have a feast at Mesa Filipino Moderne to usher in the good luck of the year of the monkey! No need to go to Chinese restaurants since it might be too crowded to even get a table. What's important is feasting with friends and family to enjoy the occasion, right?

Admit it, you want some! :)