Chicago Kasama (Michelin ⭐️)

🍚 Today visited this one-Michelin-starred spot in Chicago. Previous Michelin dinners usually cost around $200+ per person, but tonight’s dinner felt quite expensive — over $400 per person without drink pairing. 😘 Our Shanghai-foodie friend made this reservation weeks ago, and now bookings are already filled until December. High hopes → slight frown → tears by the end. I feel this Filipino-inspired Michelin restaurant isn’t really targeting Asian or Chinese palates, but rather foreigners curious about Asian flavors but not fully accustomed to them. 😂 For example, the roast beef at the bottom middle of the first photo — tender and springy — came with a dipping sauce that tasted like tomato hotpot base mixed with peanut sauce hotpot dip. Especially now, with prices of once-luxury ingredients from China becoming more accessible: Chinese farmed sturgeon caviar makes up 60% of the world’s production, and Chinese black truffles cost a fraction of French ones. The menu didn’t specify origins, quietly defaulting to affordable, quality Chinese ingredients. 😏 Yet the menu prices didn’t reflect that "great value." It’s definitely pretty food — service was attentive, the chef came out to explain each dish, and the creations were innovative… but also left me wondering who exactly would love these flavors. #ChicagoEats #ChicagoLife #MichelinStar #FilipinoFusion #FineDiningChicago #FoodieReview