RAKI URBINA

Restaurants: Café Laguna, Laguna Garden, Lemongrass, Ulli’s Streets of Asia, Laguna Catering

Best sellers: Kare-kare, Roast Beef, Mga Pinangat, Siu Yuk ( Hong Kong- style Roast Pig)

Profile: The recent years have seen a rise in the popularity of Filipino cuisine. Our food has just gotten the recognition that it rightfully deserves, but one person who has always believed in the potential of our very own dishes is Raki Urbina, executive chef of the Laguna group.

Originally planning a career in banking, the pull of the kitchen was too strong for Urbina, who was greatly exposed to it by his mother at a young age. After finishing an Advanced Culinary Arts Program from the Culinary Institute of America in California, Urbina came back to Cebu and did a complete overhaul of Café Laguna, from retraining their staff to changing its business model, eventually transforming it into what it has become today, a family corporation that boasts of a number of specialty restaurants and one of Cebu’s most in demand catering services.