VASK GALLERY

Manila has recently become more and more avant garde at the cuisine front. While Spanish styles have always been a traditional due to her colonial past, the rising popularity of 'tapas eats' globally must be a factor too. Not unlike Hong Kong, tapas bars both authentic and poseurs, are replacing classic Spanish eateries Manila is renowned for. 'The former is cool, cost efficiency, trendy and the latter stodgy, drawn out, over the top' ... a young friend told me. Hello? I fear 'romance' is not in the vocabulary of our next generation, they can hardly spell it, and this is further proof. Well, do not give up hope yet. The cavalry is here, in the form of a new entrant .. VASK .. a play on the Basque region.

I was hosted to a fabulous tapas lunch by its owner last week. My schooling with a Catalan chef in Barcelona can confirm their presentation is as genuine as they come. Sous Chef Carlos Villaflor is an artist and his food is neat and precise. The brainchild of a young artist who partners with a Spanish chef, VASK is built on a 3-prong approach ie a tapas bar, a cozy fine dining restaurant and a superb gallery at the Penthouse with an impressive collection of modern art pieces from budding artists worldwide. My lunch was hugely rewarding to both my palate and my visual faculty.        

The seafood paella is classic Venetian, the Lechon is Pinoy with a Basque twist, and the spread of Tapas and Pintxos will open the eyes of the blind. Go for it!

VASK
www.galleryvask.com
5F Clipp Center 11th Avenue Corner
39th Street Bonifacio
Global City 1643 Taguig Metro Manila