Manila Resto Week to boost recovery
OVER 60 restaurants are participating in the Manila Restaurant Week, a project of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso. The popular local executive launched the dine-in restaurant campaign at the historic Manila Hotel, with Vice Mayor Sheila “Honey” Lacuna and the hotel’s president, former senator Joey Lina. It is a weeklong and citywide celebration running from September 20 to 27, 2020, which aims to promote Manila restaurants—from the most prominent establishments to its hidden gems.
While the mayor graced the Manila Hotel leg of the launch, the week was actually ushered in at multiple venues: Robinsons
Place-ermita, Manila Bayleaf Hotel, Lucky Chinatown Hotel and Mall, and City Hall’s Bulwagang Villegas.
“Business has suffered for so many months, the least…we can do in government is to help them survive in the remainder of the year, hoping that by next year, after the rain, there’s a rainbow. That’s what the national government and local governments are doing, to sustain and maintain [the businesses] that are left,” said Domagoso in his speech.
He narrated a personal anecdote of how one night, he wanted to eat at the Manila Hotel, and found it closed. “My heart was broken when I [saw] Manila Hotel with no lights,” noting it was the first time it happened in all of his 22 years serving as a city official.
Domagoso acknowledged there were 862 active Covid cases in the city as of Tuesday. “It is true there is danger, but we should not live in fear .... The establishments, the people, already know how deadly this virus is. We have learned our lesson for so many months already and now, we know how to adapt. And today we will show the country that we Manileños know how to live with Covid-19; at the same time, we also know how to go back to work safely. This Restaurant Week is just one of those symbolic, simple little ways of your city government and your national government to really push ourselves for a better tomorrow.”
For her part, Vice Mayor Lacuna said the campaign is being held just in time as the city is now under general community quarantine, where restaurants are allowed to operate at 50-percent dining capacity and delivery
service operates for 24 hours.
She added, in Filipino, “Despite the danger brought by Covid-19, we continue to pursue all efforts to deliver services urgently needed by every Manileño.”
Aside from fast-food dining options, other participants in Manila Restaurant Week include the city’s posh hotel food and beverage outlets like Manila Hotel’s Lobby Lounge, veteran comfort-food establishments like Artistocrat and Bistro Remedios, long-running dining outlets in Malate like Casa Armas, Intramuros favorites such as Barbara’s and Ilustrado, and restaurants in popular malls like Lucky Chinatown Mall and Robinsons Place.
Each participating restaurant will offer prix-fixe breakfast, lunch and/or dinner at affordable rates to promote their restaurant by showcasing their specialties and new inventions.
The restaurant week is an event under the Manila Support Local Campaign, which is an initiative of the Bureau of Permits, aimed at supporting the city’s local businesses during the pandemic. The campaign promotes and acknowledges the different businesses in the City of Manila, and is the city’s “patriotic way to support our local entrepreneurs, our city and economy,” said the mayor.
The city has tapped Broadway singer Lea Salonga to help promote Manila Restaurant Week. She sang “Dream Again,” a song composed by Daniel Edmonds and Daniel Boudin, and performed by musicians from around the world, including Salonga herself in Manila, which expresses the hopes of many struggling with the pandemic.