I Tried the Tasting Menu at Kasama Restaurant!

a Filipino cuisine with 2 Michellin star.

Kasama Restaurant is in Chicago serving breakfast and dinner. I tried their breakfast before and the ube coffee is realy delicous. It is first come, first serve and the line is long. If waiting in line is not your thing, they also do pick up. For dinner it is reservation only and it is a tasting menu. I got so curious about it that I decided to try it on my birthday!

Here is my honest review about it.

It is a 13 course meal, they serve appetizer, mains and desserts. They have alcoholic and non-alcoholic option for the drink pairing.

The dish I like best is the Inasal, it was tender and I can really taste the depth of the flavor. They use liver and I like how it brings out the smokiness of the dish. What blew my mind is, it does not smell like someone is grilling. They bring the whole squab on the table, like introducing the star of the show. It was dressed with banana leaves and just right amount of smoke coming out from the plate to draw you in the experience. What set it apart for me is the aroma. The smell that lingered is like perfume. I never understood it before when someone say or write it about food. Why would you want to smell like a grilled meat? But now I do.

The dish I like least is the sinigang. Their take on it is a salad, the vegetables are served cold with ice at the bottom and the meat they chose for this one is shrimp. To tie the whole dish together it is served with a mayo dip. Because it is a salad. My first thought was, this is unheard of. But I still tried it. The okra was old and dry, the radish was cut too big. I feel like I will choke when I eat it and I can't put my fork through it. There's no place to cut the vegetables because the main plate they served it with is not flat. Because again they served it as a salad. The only thing I liked on the vegetables was the snow pea. It was steamed and cooled perfectly. And traditionally we don't use that ingredient for sinigang. So I was really disappointed.

The dish that is average is adobo, they chose mussels as the main ingredient. The mussels is more on the leaner side and there's really no burst of flavor when you eat it. It would have made a big difference if they serve it with a mussel that was carefully selected because it is "tambok". Meaning it has a good amount of fat present on it and I am not referring to added on fat. Back in the Philippines, you will hear it often if the seafood is "tambok" (fat) or not. Specially at the market when they are selling it to you. If it has a good amount of fat it will taste good and will be delicious! For the price of the meal, I am expecting carefully chosen premium ingredients. This one did'nt deliver.

For the dessert, I really liked the croissant with truffle. For the drink pairing my favorite is the watermelon honey. If you are more of a one drink the whole meal kind of person like me I wouldn't suggest the drink pairing. It made me so stuff and I want to enjoy the food! Maybe next time, I will just order a drink to go with the rest of my dinner.

Overall, the rest of the dishes are good.

If you are really curious it is a must try!

For the dress code, it is in the midwest and we don't really dress up here. We went with business casual.

The dinner crew are well staffed and they will take care of you.

The price online does not include tip.

Let me know when you tried it!

Thank you to my husband, Daniel who spoils me a ton and who also reminds me that this is a one time experience. lol

In gratitude,

Mariel

My dear husband enjoying his very expensive dinner.