Celera’s New Discovery Menu Is Full of Delicious Surprises

T’was close to midnight, and the place was almost empty. Nicco Santos, the chef of the one-Michelin-starred restaurant Celera, was sitting casually around a table with friends from the media. Service was over, which meant it was time to relax. His back had been killing him for weeks after an injury, he told us, yet you wouldn’t know it from the food that evening. As expected, the new menu was exceptional, a showcase of what Chef Nicco, his close collaborator Chef Quenee Vilar, and the talented team at Celera do so well: honest-to-goodness, delicious Asian cuisine.

Celera had earned its reputation as one of the best restaurants in Metro Manila long before it won its coveted Michelin star in 2025. Not through “novelty themes” that try to hard-sell a story, but through a certain confidence in the way it cooks and the techniques it showcases. Known for upscale Southeast Asian cuisine, Celera carries that tradition into its new 10-course Discovery Menu, bringing together the best of regional flavors in a modern, inventive, yet cohesive way.

Chef Nicco admits that the new menu was a true labor of love that took up to three months to perfect (if anything can be perfected). It involved plenty of trial and error, including testing dishes on customers and friends one at a time to get their feedback. The result is a fascinating collection of familiar techniques and new curiosities that work brilliantly well.

Some dishes seem like they could only have been concocted by a culinary mad scientist. Take, for instance, the leek tartlet filled with grilled local mushrooms, buah kulim (also known as jungle garlic), and shaved dark chocolate. Sounds weird, right? It really shouldn’t work. But it’s so good, and completely original. Then there was another small bite featuring chunks of watermelon, bonito, and beetroot. Its fiery red color was already a feast for the eyes, but the flavors themselves worked so well together that, halfway through chewing, I could have sworn I was eating premium sashimi.

Another impressive creation features flavorful noodles made from the collagen of fish bones. Alongside them are a bright jalapeño tosazu, chicken crumbs, and an umami-rich dried sambal that explodes with flavor. The combination provides a distinctive texture with every bite. The real surprise, though, is the bowl’s lid, covered with thinly sliced pieces of raw tuna, so delicate that you almost feel they’re part of the lid itself. There’s a clever sustainability story here, too: the dish makes use of different parts of the fish, from meat to bone, a practice Celera has explored before. In an earlier menu, the kitchen used every part of a quail for a single main course.

The menu also includes a variety of proteins. But in true Nicco Santos fashion, you won’t find the usual suspects that dominate other tasting menus, such as wagyu beef and pork tenderloin. That doesn’t mean he’s skimping on the good stuff. He simply looks to other proteins that pair better with Asian flavors.

There’s a Maine lobster served with Padrón pepper, sweet corn, and beetroot that, without exaggeration, practically melts in your mouth. And then there was my personal favorite: 14-day dry-aged duck served atop sampinit, smoked carrot, and duck liver sauce. The duck meat was incredibly tender and flavorful, while the skin was so crispy that it satisfied my persistent craving for Chinese-style Peking duck.

It would be a disservice to keep listing everything worth eating at Celera. The restaurant calls it their “Discovery Menu,” and I get the feeling they mean it. Chef Nicco Santos and his team aren’t afraid to push their creativity, pairing unexpected ingredients and flavors in ways that might seem strange on paper but work beautifully on the plate. The drink pairing, featuring everything from in-house cocktails to La Mesa Mead, only adds to the overall experience. Now go and discover it for yourself.

For reservations, visit restaurantcelera.com.