From the Holiday Inn Manila Galleria where we were staying, we walked a few blocks to Megamall for dinner. Traversing the early evening sidewalks with yuppies donning headsets and earphones on, we excitedly wended our way to Chelsea Kitchen. While I really have no idea what food they serve, my good dining experience with the Raintree group of restaurants like Kabila and Simplé Lang, were enough to whet my appetite.

CHELSEA KITCHEN AT MEGAMALL

Chelsea Kitchen is located at the ground floor of the relatively new Building D of Megamall. It sits right by the entrance and isn’t bound by any walls but rather by shelves and what-nots acting as a barrier for seats and tables set in a somewhat al fresco style. But since it is within the confines of the mall, it has air-conditioning! Lol.

RELAXED DINING ATMOSPHERE

Their menu is rather diverse—from bruschetta to schnitzel rolls to bulalo—I can’t seem to pinpoint exactly what their specialty is. From their site, it says they serve feel good food. Comfort food, perhaps? Your guess is as good as mine.

TEDDY BEAR ICED LATTE ~ PHP195.00

After much hewing and hawing with their menu—it was quite hard to choose what to order since they have so much—we finally came up with Chorizo Arroz a la Cubana, Loco Moco burger steak, CK Chicken Salad, Cheeseburger, Chili Lime Chicken & Chorizo Nachos, 4-hour Cola Ribs and Smoked Tinapa Aglio Olio pancit. We were eight in the group and we decided on trying out each other’s dishes.

Serving time took quite a while and we took the time to catch up with the gang, reliving our recently concluded two-month Beach Hop Asia adventure while waiting for our food.

CHORIZO ARROZ A LA CUBANA

LOCO MOCO BURGER STEAK

The first to arrive were their arroz a la Cubana and burger steak. It was interesting to see strips of crisply fried bacons on their arroz a la Cubana along with the usual fried egg, ground meat (made from chorizo) set with green peas topping the garlic rice. The loco moco burger steak, made from char-grilled U.S. burger, is heavily lathered with thick gravy and set with a sunny side up egg and crispy fries.

The rest of our dinner arrived right after and our table was soon filled to brimming.

CK CHICKEN SALAD ~ PHP250.00

CHILI LIME CHICKEN & CHORIZO NACHOS ~ PHP320.00

The smoked tinapa pancit and the super tender cola ribs were too far off the table for me to try, but both my friends who ordered them assured me that they were excellent. The nachos and chicken salad were also good, or so they said, but I wasn’t really in the mood for nachos and veggies.

CHEESEBURGER ~ PHP395.00

What I set my sights on, ever since scanning their menu, was their cheeseburger. A burger?! I know right. But after two months of no burger, I was really craving for a heavy beef patty in between two soft buns to fill the ache left by too much curry after our last two weeks in Sri Lanka.

Not that Chelsea Kitchen’s cheeseburger fits the typical fast food burger; the meat is made from 100% U.S. ground beef and is sandwiched with American cheddar, mesclun salad mix, tomatoes, and sweet onions. And it taste as good as it sounds. Add the crispy fries on the sides and the gravy dip that I stole from the loco moco plate—forget everything else, I’m a totally happy camper. Comfort food, indeed.

~ OUR MEAL WAS SPONSORED BY OUR FRIENDS FROM RAINTREE RESTAURANTS. VIEWS & OPINIONS ARE ALL MY OWN.

Chelsea Kitchen
Address: Ground Floor, Mega Fashion Hall, Megamall, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
Contact Number: (+632) 958-6777
Open Hours: 10:30AM to 11:00PM
GPS Coordinates Map: 14.583757, 121.055839

• BOOK DISCOUNTED FOOD TOURS IN METRO MANILA •