Their line of celebrity fans include Maxene Magalona, Bela Padilla, Sarah Lahbati, Carla Humphries, Fabio Ide, Bubbles and Paolo Paraiso, Jackie Manzano-Yllana, JM Rodriguez, Wendy Valdez, and Bangs Garcia.

Even Anne Curtis and Solenn Heussaff have tweeted about how excited they are to go and try the restaurants’ offerings soon.

“Juday [Judy Ann Santos] was here just a few Saturdays ago unannounced. ‘Di man lang nagsabi. Nag-text na lang sa ‘kin, sabi, ‘Cheffy, I’m downstairs,’ gumanyan lang siya with no announcement.

“She was with Ryan [Agoncillo, her husband] and a big group of friends. Kumain sila, uminom sila, natuwa sila.

“First day of opening pa lang namin in June, Iza Calzado was here with her group. Kasama niya si Karylle and…marami sila, e.

“Richard and Raymond Gutierrez have also been here several times and Ruffa [Gutierrez] spent her birthday here last June 30.

“Champ Lui-Pio [formerly of the band Hale] sang for us on our opening night.

“Celebrities come here a lot, and for us it’s very gratifying na they still support us in our new venture.

“Hindi lang pala sila panggabi, hindi lang sila pang-club. Kumakain din sila and they like to eat well!” says Chef Fern.

Among the top favorites are the “tusok-tusok” fishball appetizers, which he says they make from scratch in their kitchen.

“They also love the chicken inasal here and most of the Ilonggo food.

“The lumpia sisig is also one of our bestsellers. Even the desserts, so always save room for the dolce de gatas and the Chocnut ice cream,” Chef Fern adds.

UNIQUE FILIPINO MENU. As he tells PEP, the hardest part in putting up the restaurant was coming up with a decent starting menu.

Chef Fern says, “Among the group, sa akin nila ibinigay iyong task na, ‘How do I define Filipino food?’

“And believe me, it was mahirap by every sense of mahirap, because I’ve been cooking for the last twenty-three years. And when you eat and you cook for so long, you ask, ‘How do you edit? Where do you start?’