Gaita’s first
On its 18th anniversary, a portrait of Cibo through the cherished stories and memories of Margarita Forés
On its 18th anniversary, a portrait of Cibo through the cherished stories and memories of Margarita Forés
Cibo literally means “food” in Italian. In Italy, it’s crazy to name a restaurant as “cibo.” In the Philipinnes, however, back in 1997, naming a modern Italian restaurant Cibo was the least crazy thing. It was brilliant. What was crazy, at that time, was opening an Italian restaurant that served pasta that was too al dente,
Bolognese that wasn’t sweet, and oval pizzas that have less than five toppings.
But Margarita Forés, or simply Gaita to family and friends, was never one to go with the tides—especially when it comes to good food. On Aug. 22, 1997, she opened her first Cibo store at an open space that connected Greenbelt 3 and Landmark (there was no connecting bridge between the two establishments yet). Fast forward to 2015, Cibo now has 10 stores (and a few more on the way), has just recently turned 18 years old, and has since been the cornerstone of Gaita’s food empire. And Gaita is beaming like the proud debutante’s mom that she actually is.
AN ENDURING LOVE AFFAIR
Cibo was a product of Gaita’s enduring love affair with food. Her first foray to the food business was through Cibo di M Signature Caterer, the choice caterer of the Philippines’ upper crust. “Catering is where I earned my stripes,” she says. And all eyes were literally on her while she was at it. The attention was overwhelming. There weren’t too many ladies of her background working with their hands and cooking back in 1987. It was quite novel.
“They did like a big article about me in the newspaper, ‘Here’s this girl who doesn’t have to cook and here she is slaving (supposedly) in the kitchen.’ It made good copy. But I was very young, mid 20s; I was not very mature, I was on party mode, and it made me lose my balance a little bit. I’m glad that my clients then were either friends or friends of friends, so they were a little more forgiving, understanding, and supportive. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t be in this business today,” she recalls.
It was a wakeup call. Gaita took a step back and made an honest assessment of herself and her business—to see if she was just going to play around with the cooking thing or she was going to build a career out of it. Only after 10 years of small private dinners and a few weddings did she open Cibo.
“After spending some time in home kitchens and markets in Florence, Milan, and Rome, I noticed that Italians were starting to change the way they did their restaurants,” she says, “They were starting to do some modern concepts, although in Italy everybody’s so traditional. I saw some very interesting panini concepts in Milan, there were modern salad bars in Rome, and I was intrigued. I wanted to do these concepts I saw not only in Italy but also growing up living in New York. I wanted to do something with a repertoire of modern Italian dishes more than the red sauce ones that Manila was used to already.”
At that time, American-Italian concepts complete with plaid red and white table cloths and Chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling were all the rage in Manila. Then there are the US franchises like Friday’s, Hard Rock Café, and Passion Café that were taking franchise fees from Filipino businessmen and then shipping the money abroad.
“I always felt that I can do a Filipino concept, a Filipino homegrown concept that’s Italian but conceptualized in Manila. A restaurant in a mall setting that has good quality food but value for money, a place where you could grab a quick meal but not feel harassed or hurried, a place where you can get modern Italian food the way Italians enjoy it in Italy.”
And so Cibo was born. It started with 12 to 15 simple dishes of pasta (penne al telefono, linguine al nero, Bolognese), soups (squash soup, pappa al pomodoro), salads (ensalata pacifica, ensalata de mare), sandwiches (agnello stufato), pizzas (margherita, magnifico), mains (ossobuco, tagliata), dessert (frozen tiramisu and panna cotta), and, everybody’s favorite, the spinach dip. All of which are still available in Cibo’s current menu, along with 30 other Italian dishes. “They say my menu is too big,” Gaita quips. “I don’t know. The more, the merrier!”
WARM, HONEST, COMFORTING
But, in 1997, not everybody was too excited with this new/old take on pizza and pasta. She got a lot of customers who complained that the pasta was uncooked or too al dente. There were guests who said that they wanted the Bolognese to be sweeter. Diners felt that Gaita and her staff were being too purist about Italian food. Their first menu even had a note at the bottom that said: “No changing of ingredients please.” And now the world has gotten so small and Filipinos have appreciated the real flavor of Italian food: not too sweet, not too saucy, not too complicated.
Gaita’s passion for her first restaurant didn’t stop with the food. She found skewers for the sandwiches, those little stainless containers for the salt and the olive oil, the little tin container for the potato chips. Little things that are now part and parcel of the signature Cibo experience: warm, honest, comforting Italian food in a friendly setting.
“Having a restaurant is not about glamour and just being on the dining room floor looking pretty and charming your guests. A lot of what makes you successful in this industry is having discipline and having a regimented life where you have to be able to open the doors every day, go to the market, make sure that you have what you need, cook, and make people happy.”
Recently, during Cibo’s grand debut party at Cibo Bimbi, Powerplant Mall, Cibo collaborated with the Bantay Bata Foundation (which was also celebrating its’ 18th anniversary) to bring joy to underprivileged and atrisk children. The Bantay Bata beneficiaries along with the members of Club Bambini were treated to a comic book workshop with local cartoonist Rob Cham, DIY pizza class at the Pizza Making Booth, and playtime with the #Cibots (Cibo’s robot mascots). But most important, the event marked Cibo’s pledge to donate R18 to the Bantay Bata Foundation for every order of all Cibo dishes that have squash flowers in it like the linguine ’il giallo, fiori di zucca, and the minestrone soup.
But the party doesn’t stop there. From Mondays through Thursdays, until Sept. 30, Cibo offers its guests the #18PairsFor18Years promo. Available all day long at all Cibo branches in the metro, diners will have a chance to choose from 18 different pairings featuring the restaurant’s most beloved dishes on their special menu. Pay regular price for a best-selling dish and add R18 to get its pairing.
“It’s our way of giving back to our clients for all the years that we’ve been together, all the happy memories and special occasions they chose to share with us,” says Gaita. “Soon, we’re going to open our newest store at SM Fashion Hall. Since it’s our debut year, we also want to inject a new energy into the Cibo brand. We’re going to do our version of Italian street food, Pizza al taglio concept like the way Italians enjoy pre-made square pizzas in Rome, as well as porchetta counters like the ones in Rome where you see a whole pig and somebody’s carving it for you to make you a sandwich. That’s very exciting. We can’t wait to share it to everybody.”
For the list of the #18PairsFor18Years promo: Facebook/ciboPH