Enye by Chele Gonzalez — Restaurant in Lapu-Lapu

Ñuevo

Enye by Chele Gonzalez is SunStar Best of Cebu's Restaurant of the Year for 2018. Marking its 18th month of serving authentic Spanish fare, Chef Chele himself is back in Cebu to introduce a new selection of comfort food, his favorite tapas, family heirloom recipes, and classic Spanish favorite dishes --- all still with a focus on fresh local ingredients.

Breaded and deep-fried "blonde" "Little Flemish" Wagyu Beef pieces are anchored to a base of toast with Camembert in the Wagyu Beef Flamenquin. Their crowd-favorite croquetas come with mixed mushrooms and truffle oil in Croquetas de Setas y Trufa and with mixed seafood in the De Mariscos variant. Vieras Gratinada --- gratinated baby scallops with bechamel, ham, and cheese, make four in the new series of appetizers that more than just whet our appetites to be good enough as dinner items themselves.

White Snapper and Scallop Ceviche, one of the chef's new creations, was an eye-opener of a starter. The delicate sweetness snapper and the buttery flavor of scallops are magnified by the citrusy-spice of tigers milk --- a Peruvian ceviche marinade, with coconut to temper the spice, and, again, curry espuma for subtle punctuation.

Foie gras is always a winner in my book, and it was a double win with a rich and runny poached egg and the deep, darkly sweet port wine sauce with brioche crumbs for texture and chew. A flaky fillet of grouper was stuffed with shredded swimmer crab, baked and served with a local seafood broth to make the third course.

Their classic Paella Negra, oozing with savory squid ink flavor, is now topped with scallops and grilled octopus for more meat and taste in every bite. Lamb shoulder was braised to a fork-tender and served with rustic roasted potatoes and greens in the Cordero Asado de Manera Traditional.

The new dessert lineup didn't disappoint at all. A dense and savory-sweet cheesecake is topped with a tart red berry compote and paired with the sensational "warm" taste of rum ice cream in the Tarta de Queso Caserta. Choco Mango Cebu is a nod to native dark chocolate and the island's world-renowned golden produce with quenelles of rich chocolate cremeux and sunny mango sorbet on crunchy chocolate soil with candied puffed rice. Roasted apple pieces with roasted apple ice cream sit with vanilla custard and shards of croquante all covered in a cloud of apple in a delightful deconstructed Apple Tart.

"As Chele Gonzalez simply puts it, dining at Enye is all about good food.” Enye by Chele Gonzalez is located at the lobby level of Crimson Resort & Spa Mactan and opens daily for dinner from 6:00 p.m....

We had high expectations coming in, as a few friends raved about Enye. So sad to be disappointed. Apart from the Paella, most of the food we had did not come together, fell flat, or lacked brightness.

Lechon tacos - was excited for this. Succulent lechón, with crispy skin topped with a mango salsa would’ve slapped. We instead got dry lechón with a salsa that had none of the sweetness or brightness of mangoes

Foie brioche - would’ve been great but needed more salt to make the flavors fly

Tamal de Gambas - prawn was good, corn cake was grainy, and again, citrus emulsion with 0 brightness.

Lard torched tuna - the tuna was interesting, the richness of the pork fat worked well with the tuna. But everything else on the plate tasted of nothing.

Grilled octopus - octopus was cooked perfectly and went well with the bread crumbs

Beef cheek banh mi - the beef cheeks were good, but the pickles needed to cut the richness. Again the pickles had 0 acidity. The honey glaze on the bun also made it a mess to eat with your hands

Paella Marisco - good paella, flavors came through. I wish there were burnt crispy parts tho, paella is not paella without this imo

Beef tenderloin - fine

Torrija - I liked the flavors on this one, the crunchy sweet bread worked perfectly either way the anise ice cream. Too bad the bread was hard and chewy.

Service was friendly, but the meal dragged on, gaps between courses sometimes took 15 minutes. This ruined the flow.

I hope it was just an off night for them, there’s good ideas here, too bad they never...

Do make reservations ahead. It was a two hour dining experience for us; from starters to dessert.

We were a party of 6. 4 adults and 2 children below 12.

Being with kids, the hostess was kind to seat us at the back at a 6- 8 seater table where there is a privacy lattice. Just ask the waiter to raise the angle of the air-conditioner so you won't be hit by cold air directly.

The two chandeliers above our table is LED which was a bit harsh but the food did outshine that we forgot about the glare.🥰

The chairs where we were seated were lounge chair sturdy and comfortable. It was farthest from the band so the music was ambiant.

Now about the food! It was a nicely paced meal. That started off light with welcome drinks then hearty by the 4th course.

This 6 meal course showcased the contrasting flavors of individual meat dishes of fish, beef, pork, and lamb for this Christmas set menu. There was definitely the use of truffle in the dishes.

We opted for extra with beverage pairing of premium wines for the ultimate experience of flavor.

We had 2 kids with us. We did not include them in the Christmas set menu. Thanksfully, there is a kids' menu of either chicken fingers, pasta, and more. We made them split 1 Mango juice serving into two for the two kids.

The restroom is common, which is located just outside the restaurant.

The service was great, with the waiter guiding you through the experience as he was serving our dishes.

Curious and wishing for an amazing mini paella in one of the course meal sets should that...