A table of ‘moderne’ cuisine

THE words “modern” and “new-fangled” have just found a new niche in one of the busiest dining destinations in Cebu City.

Mesa, the recently opened restaurant in Ayala Center Cebu’s The Terraces, dubs its cuisine “Filipino moderne.” (Moderne, the French word for “modern,” refers to a style of architecture that became a hit in 1925 and was described in the 1960s as art deco.)

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The visual art terminology has just stumbled upon a tasty new interpretation, especially with duck. So how does the restaurant treat moderne to fit your table for two?

Mesa (which means “table” in Spanish) features classic Filipino cuisine updated with the use of special sauces and through a novel way of presenting dishes, like river shrimp served “on the rocks” (literally, shrimps are cooked over hot rocks inside a crock pot and prepared in front of the diner).

Even laing (a dish made with taro leaves) is served in two ways: pasty, as it is usually served, or crispy.

Asparagus is used as skewer for shrimp paste cake. Hito (catfish) is flaked, made crispy and served on a spoon with mango salad (watch out for the finger chili here).

Expect for novel recipes. Pomelo salad is a creative dish made with pomelo segments tossed with toasted, grated coconut and served on a banana leaf cone. The tofu salad is a concoction with century eggs and shrimps. Boneless tilapia is served with four sauces.

Here is also where you can find duck served in many ways.

According to one of its owners, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Filipinos are not duck-eaters and he wanted to promote the eating of ducks to increase the variety of meat in Filipino cuisine. That is why there is duck in the Mesa menu: as adobo (stewed meat), patotim (marinated duck and boiled or baked till tender), crispy duck and duck curry. And yes, it also serves duck rice. Another meat not usually found in Filipino cooking is ostrich. Mesa serves this meat as salpicao ostrich, drunken ostrich and tenderloin ostrich.

Mesa has a sister restaurant, La Mesa, and carries some of the food items found there, like crispchon, which is lechon wrapped in pandan crepe or tossed in chili and garlic. It also carries pinatayong manok, or whole chicken served “standing.”

There are a great deal more Filipino and also Asian fusion food choices in Mesa that need to be tasted and relished, and waiting to be discovered by the adventurous food lover or any other hungry Pinoy. The restaurant will not disappoint because the food here is wonderfully good and refined, but always geared to the Filipino palate.

There are two Mesa restaurants in Metro Manila, in Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center Makati and at SM Megamall’s Atrium.

The concept was brought to Cebu by partners Gabby and Lia Cruz, Edwin and Monet Ortiz, Ato and Gigi Alvarez, and Nonoy and Alice Ty, and with the participation of franchise owners Sen. Pangilinan and restaurateur Rikki Dee.