Nuts over coco
Chef Chele Gonzalez, a DJ before he was a chef, turns the coconut into a tasting menu: kare-kare bonbon, refined nata de coco, Wagyu with bistek sauce.
A chef preparing a tasting menu is like a DJ curating a setlist.
A great DJ set builds energy, tells a story, and takes the audience on a journey. Similarly, a well-designed tasting menu has a progression — starting light, building in complexity, hitting a peak, and then winding down smoothly. A DJ brings out a bag of deep cuts; a chef combines beloved flavors with unexpected twists. A smooth transition between tracks or dishes is essential. So is knowing your audience. According to an observer, “Whether it’s beats or bites, the goal is the same: to create an unforgettable experience.”
One man who has mastered the mix with both the grill and the turntable is Spanish-born chef Chele Gonzalez. He was a professional DJ in the late Nineties who opened a club and, for a time, rode the high of nightlife. But soon an epiphany disrupted the nightly spin. Inspired by visits to Michelin-starred restaurants, he decided to make a dramatic career shift. “When I told my family I wanted to become a chef, they laughed,” he says. “They saw me as a club owner, someone who was used to running a business. The idea of me working in a kitchen, cleaning fish, getting my hands dirty… nobody believed in me. But my passion for food was so intense.”
He paid his dues like a bluesman. But Gonzalez persevered, training under some of the world’s best chefs and enduring the notoriously brutal culture of fine dining kitchens. “Back then, it was almost military-style discipline,” he says. At boot camp levels. “It was tough, but I never gave up. Becoming a chef saved my life.” The path eventually led him here to the Philippines—where Chef Chele, executive sous chef Carlos Villaflor and the team at Gallery by Chele in BGC have taken on the daunting task of curating a tasting menu based on our country’s most omnipresent produce: the coconut.
For the chef, it is more than just an ingredient. It is a symbol of resourcefulness, a cornerstone of Southeast Asian cuisine, and the inspiration behind a carefully curated tasting menu titled “The Tree of Life.”
“We wanted to showcase the infinite possibilities of coconut,” Gonzalez explains. “It’s everywhere in the Philippines, but we often take it for granted. This menu is about reimagining it in ways that surprise and inspire.”
The result is an experience that pushes the boundaries of what coconut can be, drawing from traditional techniques while incorporating modern culinary innovation.
Sampling this bold, adventurous menu inside a space that looks more like a gallery than a restaurant is quite a treat. You have paintings (my favorite is the Rodel Tapaya) and sculptures, as well as a vintage balikbayan box framed, a tribal mask, and lids of pianos transformed into artworks.
“We’ve developed so many techniques over the years—fermentation, distillation, turning coconut water into nata de coco,” Gonzalez says. “The goal was to make the coconut’s presence—which can sometimes be very heavy and overpowering in the mouth—subtle, refined, and elegant.”
The menu takes diners through an immersive experience, starting with bites and beverages at different locations in the restaurant before culminating in a multi-course meal. We feast on grouper in a sauce of coconut and collagen; Duck Roselle (with cacao, banana, and hibiscus); oyster with banana and cacao; and other dishes with every aspect of the coconut utilized, its water, milk, and sap. The undisputed winners are the kare-kare bonbon with peanut bagoong sauce and the Wagyu A5 steak with bistek sauce. Bitin!
The chef also puts a spotlight on nata de coco, a fermented coconut delicacy with a jelly-like texture that Gonzalez and his team have refined into an art form.
At Gallery by Chele, the goal is to redefine luxury through local ingredients. “Sustainability is a huge part of what we do,” he says. “The best way to honor an ingredient is to use it fully and responsibly.”
Just like music, cooking is all about energy. Gonzalez, ever the former DJ, likens the process to playing a set: “You prep, you create a mood. Then, during service, you connect with your audience. It’s the same magic.”
And that, in a coco-nutshell, is Chef Chele’s culinary philosophy.
Gallery by Chele is on the 5th floor of Clipp Center, at the corner of 11th Ave. and 39th St. in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For reservations or inquiries, email reservations@gallerybychele.com or call and SMS +639175461673. For details, visit gallerybychele.com.
A version of this story first appeared in The Philippine Star, 2025. Print edition.
