MINDFUL LIVING AND DINING MEANINGFUL
You can always count on FLORABEL CO-YATCO’s kitchen to serve a feast that tastes as good as it looks
"My interest in food started when I was very young because my family and I enjoyed eating together. Sharing meals with them meant spending time to find out what went on during their day and good food really put us all in a good mood," shares Florabel Co-Yatco. Growing up as one of the oldest in her cohort of cousins meant that she was always in the kitchen, learning from her elders and helping cook up a storm for everyone. "I think bonding over delicious food brings people together, and I wanted to do that for other people," she says.
Florabel's first foray into the food industry was when she was a teenager, selling cookies and cakes to her classmates. Her favored recipes were those by Martha Stewart, along with local chefs like Nora Daza, Glenda Baretto, and Chef Jessie Sincioco. At the University of Santo Tomas, Florabel took up Hotel and Restaurant Management during her undergraduate years, where she realized it could become a viable career. "It was there where I realized that I continued to enjoy making delicious food," she says, "I guess it was good enough to capture the attention of several institutions as I was able to win a few competitions before I even finished college."
Unlike many famed chefs, Florabel did not partake in any formal culinary training after graduation. She found herself straight at work under the tutelage of Glenda Baretto at Via Mare, who she worked with for two years, and where she learned everything there was to know about making good food. Following that, she joined Chef Jessie at Lé Soufflé. This formative experience at one of the most, if not the most popular restaurant at the time was when Florabel gained the knowledge about the ins and outs of running a restaurant beyond the kitchen doors. "At Lé Soufflé, I started as a chef de partie, rose from the ranks, became sous chef, and eventually head chef. I guess you can say I learned everything I knew on the fly, with the guidance of Chef Jessie. Her trust and faith in my potential and my work ethic were really what jumpstarted everything," she shares. "After learning what I could in the kitchen, she went on to train me with managing the restaurant, from the frontlines as manager to the back end of accounting and procurement."
In 2005, Florabel opened her first restaurant, Florabel at Podium Mall in 2000. Beyond developing the menu, she experienced for the first time the other side of owning a dining space: managing construction, setting up the back end of the business (hiring the kitchen, wait, and administrative staff), dealing with contractors, and getting the place ready to open on time. It taught her to keep a tight grip on everything happening in the business, a practice she continues to this day.
The concept behind Florabel is fine dining continental cuisine, which was where the chef built her expertise. "I developed my menu from the food I’ve discovered during my travels and the food that my family loved to eat. I also look at local produce and what is available locally. But I also love incorporating foreign ingredients as much as I can—so much that a lot of the things I buy when I go abroad are food," she says. The menu was based on personal preference— what she enjoyed eating and what she thought other people would like to eat too. "My favorite dish on the menu is the homemade foie gras
terrine or the foie burger; I LOVE foie," says Florabel.
MAKING THE RIGHT DECISIONS
As anyone in charge of his or her own restaurant will say, the hard work does not stop, despite the success. "While I have a number of restaurants today, finding the right service proves to continuously be a challenge," says Florabel. She adds that every diner has different expectations, and her team are constantly on the move, trying to satisfy them in the best possible way.
In the kitchen, Florabel never stops learning. One of her biggest focuses for improvement is localizing foreign dishes. "Finding out the right ingredients that you can use with local produce requires you to go through a lot of trial and error before you’re truly happy with the result," she says, "But nothing has ever caused me to even think of quitting. This is what I really want to do, and I know that every problem has a corresponding solution to it. It is all about making the right decision even if it is a difficult one."
Nowadays, innovation is the name of the game in the world of cookery. Florabel cautions that people still want food that is delicious and reasonable. "When it comes to innovation, there are so many and I feel that we’ve done a good job to be updated with the global stage," she says, "It’s all about serving our food to the right people so they can personally experience it. Filipino food, in my opinion, is definitely comfort food."
EXPECTED CHANGES
When the Enhanced Community Quarantine was declared, Florabel had to shut down her restaurants. “Our daily operations stopped without warning. To keep our customers and staff safe, we decided that it would be best to cease operations until it was safe for everyone,” says Florabel. “We had to work around the situation by coming up with meals that were available for our clients to order and enjoy at home.”
Right now they are easing into reopening slowly, but surely. Ordering processes are in place to give diners the option to have dishes taken out delivered or picked up curbside. The focus is to make everything convenient for their customers.
Florabel’s business operations have adapted to working with a smaller staff, a change brought about by the lack of proper public transportation. “We are limited with our workforce and need to do more with less. We had to come up with efficient ways to serve our customers and listen to them – whether it’s through our social media platforms or direct channels we have with them,” she says. Internally, they have also needed to maximize time and effort to ensure everything is accomplished accordingly.
New rules in place at their dining locations include a no mask, no entry policy, and vigilant sanitation and disinfection procedures throughout the day. They make sure to sanitize door handles and other high traffic contact areas every half-hour, and contactless payment is highly encouraged. Staff members at Florabel have been subjected to testing before their return to work, and they will have to change their clothes upon arrival and departure of the outlets. Besides the temperature scan and check for all visitors at the entrance, hand sanitizers and alcohol will be placed around the restaurants to remind visitors to clean their hands.
Because of these new regulations, Florabel expects that the dining experience will pivot to people preferring more intimate groups. “Instead of huge groups flocking in, there will be more groups with less people in their party that will go and dine in the restaurants,” she says, “And because people don’t have the liberty of staying for prolonged periods of time like they used to do before ECQ happened, turnover might be a little quicker which means we need to make sure that their experience still remains remarkable.” Large dining groups will always continue at home, of course, so Florabel is prepared to offer party and potluck trays for those customers who prefer that option.
For Florabel, the industry has already changed. “We’ll have to be more mindful of how we serve and pack our food, and to be where our customers need us to be. Right now, we’re doubling our efforts to make our products more accessible online, and to give our diners the same experience they would when they would eat at our restaurants,” she says. “Intimate gatherings for our catering business is something we’re already doing, which will eventually lead to a more meaningful dining experience wherever our customers prefer to have it.”
MEANT TO BE ENJOYED
In the future, Florabel would like to expand, and is open to exploring the dining scene for new concepts, adding that "It’s going to be more casual but definitely family-oriented." Another famous restaurant with Florabel's stamp on it is Crisostomo. Her favorite Filipino dishes are Pork Sinigang and Beef Steak Tagalog, and when she put up Crisostomo, the reason behind it was to attract more people to local cuisine. "I wanted people to know what delicious, home-cooked Filipino food tasted like, and that’s what they get when they walk into Crisostomo—it’s a no-fuss take on Filipino cuisine, where everything is meant to be shared and enjoyed with family and friends," she says.
If Florabel could cook for anyone in the world, it would be Thomas Keller, Jean Georges, and Jose Rizal. "For the food I would serve to them, I’d most likely make my signature sea bass or make them taste my version of Sinigang or Chicken Binakol," she says.
If there are no shortcuts in life, Florabel says it is the same in the kitchen. "I’m always for serving good food that is prepared the proper way," she says. "You don’t want to make the mistake of making your food look better than it tastes because food is meant to be enjoyed, not just photographed, posted, and shared." It is important for all chefs to know and fully realize if the food they are serving is good or not. "At the end of the day, it’s supposed to be delicious first and foremost, with presentation coming at a close second. You can’t have one without the other, but taste will always come out as my top priority," she says.
“This is what I really want to do, and I know that every problem has a corresponding solution to it. It is all about making the right decision even if it is a difficult one."