A Seat at LaMeza’s Shared Table

There is a difference between being served a meal and being welcomed to the table. You notice it in the room, in the way the dishes are introduced, and in the way conversation starts to matter as much as what is on the plate.

That was the mood at the press preview of LaMeza: Salo-Salo at Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, where Megaworld Global Hotels & Resorts (MGHR) introduced a new culinary collaboration with Filipino-Australian Chef Fhred Batalona, whose acclaimed concept, Palay+, makes its Philippine debut on September 26, 2026.

What unfolded that afternoon felt less like a formal preview and more like an invitation into a distinctly Filipino kind of welcome—one where food, conversation, and shared presence matter in equal measure.

Chef Fhred returned from Australia for the first chapter of the series with curiosity and humility. There was pride in the room, but also warmth and a genuine sense of exchange. LaMeza takes its name from the Filipino table, while salo-salo speaks to something every Filipino already understands: eating together, sharing what is on the table, and making space for one another.

A Filipino table, shared

LaMeza has served as MGHR’s culinary platform since 2022, conceived as a modern Filipino table where the hotel group’s chefs reinterpret local dishes while exploring the stories and traditions behind them. Salo-Salo expands that vision by bringing Filipino chefs from abroad back to the Philippines to cook alongside local culinary teams.

Rather than treating Filipino cuisine as something that still needs validation, the series creates space for exchange: between chefs shaped by different kitchens, different migrations, and different understandings of home.

Chef Panky Lopez, MGHR’s Corporate Chef, addressed that point directly during the preview. “Why do we have to elevate? Are we under?” he said, in a remark that cut through one of the most familiar clichés in conversations around Filipino food. What Filipino cuisine needs is not permission to belong, but representation and more platforms where Filipino chefs can tell their own stories on their own terms.

That is what gives Salo-Salo its appeal beyond the novelty of a guest-chef collaboration. It is designed as a conversation—between overseas Filipino chefs and culinary talents at home, between contemporary technique and regional memory, between what is carried abroad and what is rediscovered on returning.

“MGHR is bringing Filipino chefs from overseas to our kitchens, providing an opportunity to learn from each other. While they bring new ideas and techniques that they have adapted from working in foreign kitchens, our chefs pride themselves on their knowledge of Filipino ingredients, tradition, and hospitality. We hope to continue building these connections because every exchange not only strengthens our chefs, but also helps us discover new ways to tell the story of Filipino cuisine,” Chef Panky said.

The initiative also extends MGHR’s Sampaguita brand of service, built around the values of Love, Honor, Dignity, and Healing. That matters here, because salo-salo is not simply about serving food. It is about what food can create: welcome, generosity, memory, and shared presence.

Chef Fhred framed the larger question most clearly that afternoon.

“I don’t think the question should only be, ‘How do we bring Filipino food to the world?’” he said. “I think we should also ask: ‘What can Filipino food give to the world?’”

Homecoming through food

Chef Fhred Batalona has spent the last eleven years in Melbourne, where he built his career and eventually opened Palay in Fitzroy, serving food inspired by his homeland and shaped by techniques he picked up while cooking other cuisines. Before that, he introduced Filipino food to Australian diners through pop-ups such as Palay and Barangay.

Now he is bringing that story back to the Philippines through Palay+, an immersive 10-course Filipino dining experience developed with the chefs of MGHR’s properties in Metro Manila.

“I think leaving home also makes you understand home differently,” he said. “For years, I’ve been cooking Filipino food from thousands of kilometers away. And when you’re away, food becomes more than something you eat. It becomes a way of remembering where you came from, the people you love, and the things you carry with you wherever you go.”

He also spoke about returning with the mindset of a learner.

“I’m proud of everything Australia has taught me, but I’ve never come back thinking that I have all the answers. I came back knowing how much I still have to learn,” he said. “There are so many amazing chefs, cooks, producers and people here in the Philippines whose knowledge comes from experiences completely different from mine. I want to listen to them. I want to cook with them. I want to understand more about our ingredients, our regions and our stories.”

The homecoming is personal, too. During his speech, he acknowledged his mother, Alma, who was there with him that day.

“Long before I became a chef, she was the person who planted that love of cooking and creativity in me,” he said. “So being able to come home and do all of this, with her here, means more to me than I can probably put into words.”

What arrived at the table

The preview offered a glimpse into the full 10-course Palay+ experience, with each dish expressing the collaboration in a different way: Australian references meeting Filipino memory, contemporary technique meeting instinct, and regional flavors taking the lead.

We began with Kilpatrick x Pritong Kilawin, featuring fried pork belly, talabang tsinelas (oysters), prosciutto, and bone marrow. Inspired by the Australian Kilpatrick oyster and Filipino kilawin, a method of curing raw ingredients with vinegar and citrus, it balanced richness with brine and acidity in a way that immediately awakened the palate.

Then came the Kansi Noodle Soup, a tribute to Iloilo’s beloved sour bone broth, made here with slow-cooked beef shank and tendon, noodles, kamansi (breadnut), and smoked batuan, the souring agent native to the Visayas. The broth was deep and layered, the kind that only comes from slow cooking. 

The main course, Barramundi x Laswa, captured the spirit of the collaboration most clearly. Grilled apahap (barramundi) was served with utan (boiled local vegetables), pasayan (shrimp), and takway (taro shoots), with mushroom fried rice on the side. Laswa is a humble Visayan vegetable dish that rarely gets this kind of spotlight, and that was part of what made the course memorable.

Dessert brought the lightest touch of the afternoon: Polvoron Tamales x Lamington. The Australian lamington met Filipino polvoron (crumbly milk-based shortbread) and tamales (a savory rice cake) in a pairing that felt thoughtful rather than overly styled. Notes of mantecado (a butter-rich shortbread), sikwate (traditional Filipino hot chocolate), tutong (toasted rice), and asin tibuok (a rare, artisanal sea salt from Bohol) gave it a sweet-salty complexity that lingered gently.

The Sampaguita Lychee drink, part of MGHR’s Sampaguita menu, completed the experience on a quietly elegant note. Paired with lychee, the floral character of sampaguita came through cool, delicate, and lightly nostalgic.

Kilpatrick x Pritong Kilawin, Kansi Noodle Soup, Barramundi x Laswa, Polvoron Tamales x Lamington

A gentler kitchen, too

One of the afternoon’s more meaningful conversations had less to do with the food itself than with the culture behind it. Chef Fhred introduced Kalma, a philosophy he brought from Melbourne that advocates for mindfulness, kindness, and self-awareness in professional kitchens.

Anyone familiar with restaurant culture knows the old script: pressure, hierarchy, and a version of toughness that too often gets mistaken for discipline. Kalma proposes a different way. It is about building kitchens where the next generation of culinary talent can learn, improve, and stay intact in the process.

Chef Panky shared that MGHR is actively working to build more of that philosophy into its own properties, moving away from older models of harsh leadership and toward workplaces with greater psychological safety.

Why it’s worth booking

Palay+ at Eastwood Richmonde Hotel runs on September 26, 2026, with two seatings: 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Tickets are priced at PHP 4,800 per person. Reservations can be made through fb@eastwoodrichmonde.com or by calling (63) 917 821 0333.

If the preview was any indication, Palay+ will be more than a special lunch or dinner. It promises a thoughtfully layered dining experience shaped by memory, migration, collaboration, and the enduring generosity of the Filipino table.

That, in the end, is what salo-salo has always meant. Not just eating together, but being present together. At LaMeza, that idea comes through clearly and makes this one seat at the table worth taking.