Ask Margarita Forés how her passion for food started and she will tell you, “I was a fat kid who loved to eat.”

Her family played a big role in igniting the chef and restaurateur’s love for cooking. Forés said, “Coming from a Negrense family who loves to celebrate around the table … Negrenses are so proud of their cuisine. We grew up in Manila but that heritage was around us all the time and we had regular trips to Bacolod, our home province. That was the seed that was nurtured through the years.”

That seed continued to grow in New York. “We were suddenly uprooted to New York in the ’70s and it made me fall in love with food even more because my exposure became even more global. The Italianization of New York in the ’70s, that really affected me a lot.”

While she worked in fashion during the day, she sank her teeth into cooking at night. “I was working for Valentino and though I loved fashion, it was more cooking for my friends that night that really got me in the gut.”

Forés kept cooking, even when she returned to Manila. “I was getting attention, with me cooking at The Hyatt and entering an industry where supposedly somebody from my background would not be normally working with their hands. That’s the kind of image that people started to play up in the ’80s—here’s Margarita Forés, she doesn’t need to work, but she’s working in the kitchen.”

She launched a catering business, but, “I was still sowing my wild oats. I was partying too hard. It was embarrassing, I would do catering jobs and I would be late, or I would end up in a place and realize my food was not with me. It was crazy.”

Wakeup call

Those years led to a wakeup call for Forés. “You’ll realize that this business is not about the attention that you get at the front of the house when people say, ‘Oh my god, your food is so delicious.’ It’s more the structure and the discipline which was not something that came naturally to me. I had to step back and really think, am I going to do this as a career or is this just playtime?”

It was the birth of her son Amado in 1990 that really changed things for her. “I realized, ‘Oh shoot, I’m now responsible for another life.’ That’s when I decided, yes, I’m gonna do this as a career.”

In 1997, she launched Cibo, which was different from the classic Italian restaurants that were in the market then. “What I wanted to bring to Manila when I came back from spending time in Florence and Milan was that modern Italian cafe feel.”

And she put it in the malls. “I wanted to do a full-grown Filipino-born concept that was super authentic Italian… I wanted to make sure that the bolognese was not sweet and the pasta was al dente.”

That was in 1997. Today, Cibo has 26 branches, and has changed the way Filipinos enjoy pasta. “People say that and, in all humility, it’s super heartwarming that people feel that way,” said Forés.

She has also continuously made the local dining landscape more exciting by opening new concepts like Cafe Bola, Pepato, Lusso, Grace Park, and The Loggia at the Palacio.

Lusso is like a love letter to her mother Baby Araneta Forés, who died almost a year ago. “She was such a big presence in our lives. Her style and the way that she did things is super ingrained in me. I feel her the most in Lusso…

“There I really wanted to try to offer the experience that I had with her growing up, whether it was our first meal at the Peninsula lobby in Hong Kong, where she made me try my first sip of champagne, or taking us to Europe and experiencing the Excelsior hotel in Rome or Harry’s Bar in Venice, or having a taste of caviar and French omelette late in the morning. There’s so much of her in all that I do.”

Service culture

Forés also still does catering—and guests know they’re in for a treat when she’s in charge of the food.

“I love when people say our food is super consistent. I think that’s a feat. But I think what’s even more fulfilling is when people say that they love the service at all our restaurants. It’s like being able to have that warm embrace from me and from those of us who created this wonderful experience and sharing what comes from our home and from our hearts.”

In 2016, she was named Asia’s Best Female Chef. Hers has been a storied life and career—she’s survived cancer twice, she’s cooked for world leaders, she’s won many awards—but she’s proudest of three things: “First would be changing the landscape for Italian cuisine in the Philippines. The second would be pushing Filipino cuisine forward. A lot of us really felt strongly about getting Filipino cuisine out on the global stage. I super love the fact that the next generation chefs has taken up the mantle, and they’re doing amazing things.”

Third, and most important to Forés, is seeing her son build his own career in the food industry. Her eyes shine every time she speaks about Amado, the man behind A Mano, Ramen Ron, and Steak & Frice.

“For him to decide to eventually go into the same field and seeing him soar, I think that is probably my biggest achievement. In all honesty, his restaurants do better than mine. He’s learned a lot not just from me but from my siblings. And I learn a lot from him. I’m not a numbers person but Amado’s very particular about the financial part of making the business succeed… It makes me think that maybe I can almost retire and let him just take the helm so that he can continue to grow what I’ve started to build.”

But Forés isn’t retiring just yet. In fact, she’s gearing up for a big launch on her 65th birthday on March 23.

“I always still like to have that childlike wonder and that stance of still wanting to learn,” she said. “I think that’s what keeps the whole business fresh and my whole approach to things fresh, because the minute you say that you know everything, that’s the end.”