Somewhere in the rabid metropolitan landscape exists a testament of how paradise is sometimes nothing more than a good meal, some twinkling lights, and old-style hospitality. Even more so after losing one’s way more than a few times in search of it.

Such is the idea with Isabelo Garden Restaurant, tucked away within the narrow backstreets of the Marikina district. Deemed by patrons as a secret garden, the restaurant stands as a sharp and welcome contrast, with its pleasant, charming setting of lush greens, intricate junk art, and a rustic, homey atmosphere – all located behind gray, lifeless concrete urban walls.

The restaurant today stands as the brainchild of advertising executive-turned-cook Portia Baluyut, and her mother (and business partner) Stephanie. And adding to Isabelo’s uniquely customer-friendly touch, Portia gives guests a more personal experience by greeting them as they enter, and giving them a tour of the area.

Isabelo stems from a passion that courses through the veins, and runs in the family blood: Portia credits her grandmother’s love for cooking good food, and entertaining family and friends, as the source of inspiration for her brave venture. And it has paid off, one would realize while sitting in the middle of the garden, taking in the quaint, humble beauty and, while dipping toasted bread in a bowl of steaming home-cooked artichoke dip, slowly forgetting the world that lies just outside the silver gates.

GabLifestyle was recently fortunate enough to sit down with Ms. Baluyut, who more than accommodatingly shared the story of how Isabelo came to be.

How did Isabelo start?

I was really in to advertising, which was my business before. I had my own ad agency, which was running for five years. And then after some time, I realized my heart wasn’t in the business anymore. [I realized] it wasn’t really what I wanted to do. And so I just stopped looking for clients. And I was idle, but I couldn’t stay idle, because that’s just not who I am.

So what I did was research. [At that time,] all I had was instincts, and I had to pay bills. [And I had the idea of making] a spinach artichoke dip, which is now a bestseller here. I sold [it] to family and friends.

And then my Mom told me, “Why don’t you sell sandwiches to our family? [We’re] a big family… you have a ready market.” And then that’s when I started to have ideas of putting up a restaurant. [There were challenging] factors… I didn’t have money, [our location was hidden, and] you have to enter a narrow street [to get to this place.] And I could not hire a chef. Hence, the “secret garden” concept of Isabelo [was born].

Romance and intimacy amidst foliage, vines, and gentle lights.

Yes, it’s as if it’s a secret garden that was turned into a restaurant. Did you want that to be the feeling?

Well, the thing is, I [have always] really loved anything about Tuscany and Florence but it never really occurred that I wanted this to turn into a garden first, and eventually a restaurant.

I guess the idea is from my Mom, and my concept. Everything just jived and turned out to be [what it is now.] But I didn’t know that that was the kind of impression that it was giving the clients.

Actually, it’s a very refreshing surprise because while you’re outside with your car looking for a restaurant, but instead you’re facing a very inconspicuous gate in a narrow alleyway, you begin to ask, “Is this really the place?”

Well I’ve had several comments like that [laughs]. Actually that was the first thing they’d tell me, because a lot of them would be surprised that there’s a garden right in the middle of the city and then only a few people know [about] it. Usually a lot of people have second thoughts upon arriving because my gate looks like a dilapidated, worn-down factory gate.

What were your plans when you decided to keep it hidden? And why did you decide to keep it so?

Well ok one factor is that I couldn’t afford to advertise and I think that’s the part where my advertising skills helped. I was advertising it by not advertising it. Because the more that you can’t be found, the more people will look for you. Plus, I didn’t have enough money, because in the beginning the money was going outwards, not in. I closed my advertising business, so all the expenses were coming in from my funds. So, I could not afford to put up a signage.

Ever since the very beginning this was all built purely on faith and prayers. I was asking God to give me sheer discernment or walk me through this whole thing. And even up to now, my mom and I are very surprised how people from all over, not just Marikeños, would discover this. So keeping it hidden as a concept up to now has been working, so why change it? Right?

A modest, old-fashioned style brings a tranquil, homey feel.

Have you had foreign visitors come in and dine here?

Yes a lot. [One of my loyal customers is] a male foreigner who comes back to the Philippines every two or three months, and he eats here every time he comes back. He’s actually eaten everything on my menu, so every time he comes back he’d tell me “Portia, this is what I feel like eating when I come over there next week.” He’d be emailing me from the US or from Japan because he travels. And then I would just create something new for him and then if it clicked, and if it was good, I added it on my menu. One of those dishes is in fact now a best seller.

So I guess you could say that, with the unique concept, the comfortable close-to-nature setting, and the unorthodox advertising strategy of Isabelo, you’re happy with the turn out.

Yes I am. In the beginning I wanted the news of this restaurant to spread after two years. And true enough, my second year would be this coming September, and I’m very happy and surprised really that every day I already have clients coming in. Before, no one would come in for two weeks. Or if not, only one table would be occupied, and it would be a couple. If it was a table of 20 people, it could have covered my entire week.

But now, every day I have clients, some coming from overseas. They’d call me from the US or from Spain or from Maldives telling me that they’ll be coming home to the Philippines in a few weeks and that they would like to bring their family to dinner here. Last night clients came all the way from Tandang Sora. And you know, I’m very very happy actually that people would really go out of their way to travel through the traffic just to dine here

Recycled bottles, beaded curtains, and other knick-knack décors spell rustic artistry.

Actually if you think about it, going to the traffic is actually part of the experience.

I’ve always asked my clients if they got lost, or if they had a hard time looking for the place? And if they did, I would always tell them with a big smile, “Oh that’s normal, that’s fine. Getting lost is part of the whole experience of having to discover Isabelo. That’s just fine.”

I even have clients that call me or email me saying “Portia we’ll be in the Marikina area 30 to 40 minutes before our reservation time because we’re allowing ourselves to really look for the place and get lost.”

So you know, it also became an adventure for a group of friends who will actually go looking for the restaurant together.

You cook the food yourself right? Is it just you?

Well basically yes. Of course I have assistants who help me with tasks like the chopping. But all the items are my recipes and concoctions.

Isabelo’s best-selling artichoke dip with bruschette

How do you find the time to manage the kitchen, and everything else at the same time? I mean, you’re taking care of the food, you’re taking care of how the restaurant runs, you’re managing a continuous advertising strategy of using merely the word of mouth, and nothing else. That’s a lot of work for one person.

Actually, now that you asked me, I’m beginning to wonder about that myself. Well I don’t know. You know my only answer to that is that it’s because of the grace from God, really. Even now come to think of it…how WAS I able to manage it?!

Because this isn’t just some house with a few tables outside. This is an actual restaurant, with an actual menu and everything, and this is a whole area that you have to take care of.

Well you know, I guess I am also blessed with workers who are kind and who also love the business. And I also have my mom who helps. This is all her work: the garden, the venue…and then when it comes to the kitchen, since dining is strictly by reservation and everything is preordered, everything is more manageable. But I do experience kitchen panic when the place is completely booked. But I have assistants, so I do manage. I still don’t know how I’m able to do that, but I still find time to go to the parlor and have a pedicure.

But I mean, I answer the phone. I answer the emails, I answer everything. I’m a one-woman business. And I think that’s another reason why the business is very unique. Because it’s a personal service restaurant. I have a lot of guests who celebrate anniversaries here, birthdays, even surprise celebrations, with me as their ka-kunchaba (accomplice). “Portia I want to surprise my girlfriend with a bouquet of flowers.” Ok fine, what color does she like or what flower does she like? I take care of that too. If they want a cake with a message written on it, I order the cake but I write the message myself. And it’s okay because everything is scheduled and everything is ordered in advance.

A taste of the sublime: creamy chicken & mushroom pesto, and Italian sausage pizza

It seems that the personal touch is very important to you.

Yes.

Is that the reason for the very strict policy of reservation only?

Yes [laughs] because otherwise I’d die if people just came in and started ordering. Plus, this is what I really want to do. Even before I opened my restaurant I would invite my friends to come and I’d cook for them. I’d cook a feast and it makes me glad to see people eating at my table happy and full. And it’s very fulfilling whenever I see couples or families celebrating and I know that I was able to make their anniversary a little more special. Because I personally think it would be a pleasant difference when the chef or the owner of a restaurant approaches you and asks you, “How’s your dinner? Did I cook your food well?”

Ms. Portia Baluyut: “I’m a one-woman business”

What’s the most common occasion that guests celebrate when they make a reservation here?

I don’t know if there’s a [specific] one, really. It’s a celebration restaurant: people come here to celebrate. They don’t come here just to eat. But there are some who just wanted to try it out, to have the experience. But 95% of my customers come here to celebrate.

Do customers often ask you to change or at least tweak a certain item from your menu to better suit their preference? Do you allow that, and how often do they do that?

Well I’ve had customers like that. I’m open to [that] as long as they [let me know] ahead of time [and not like] when their reservation is already for the following day.

Although yes, I do that. I’ve had customers with cancer, and I had to take out the sugar, I had to take out other ingredients… I gladly do that.

And I also had a client who had eczema, and the restrictions on her diet left us with only ten ingredients to work with. But I worked my way around it, because it was her first time to eat at a restaurant. What we did was, we made her a feast that fit her dietary restrictions, and something that her friends would have to adjust to. So it was all about her. And she was very happy and of course, so were her friends.

Sweet heavens: a cold creamy fruit trifle, and scoops of melon sorbet

I understand that this place was greatly affected by flooding. How badly?

Yes, during Ondoy. Everything was totally washed out, nothing was spared. The mud was up to the shin. I [had to start] from scratch again. Everything that I was able to save was just spent on cleaning the place. Because we had to hire 15 skilled construction men; we couldn’t just hire anybody. They had to be skilled men who knew how to fix up the place, and were used to really big tasks like shoveling the mud. And I had to get it done fast, because the day before Ondoy happened, I was interviewed for a full spread for a magazine, and the article was scheduled to come out by December. So I couldn’t be closed after the article came out. I had to reopen before December [which was three months away].

How long did you have to close it down?

A month and a half. Almost two months. And because a lot of my clients here are repeat customers who come here about three times a month, they were really kind to support Isabelo and to dine here again. Just to help us start over. Because all of our funds ran out, we were pretty much back to square one.

The garden’s art studio, now standing after being ravaged by Ondoy flooding.

Have you developed any friendships with your customers?

YES. YES. This is my social life now. My customers become my friends.

It’s a fun and pleasant feeling. And it’s nice when they come back. I have two customers who started coming here when they were still a young couple. It was their whole love life. They would dine here every time they celebrated birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and they still came over after they got married, after they had kids, they even had a baby shower here, when their kids turned one…and I witnessed all of that, and accommodated them for every episode.

And just last week a client of mine told me that he recommended Isabelo to a friend, who decided to bring his wife here as a surprise. He told me that the wife was really touched that she cried. You know, it’s stories like that. There are people who proposed here too.

I even had nuns for customers, and they too became my friends. I had the family of Sr. Sonia Aldeguer, a prominent family of Iloilo and Cebu. At first she couldn’t find the place; she didn’t get mad although it got her a bit irritated. And when they finally got here, I offered to treat them to a dinner the next time they came back, if they were willing to. And from then on, they would always come here to dine, and she has become my friend.

Even when it comes to my personal life, including my love life, when something comes up, they email me. It can be tricky sometimes, especially considering this is a very romantic place and, let’s say, I’m going through a recent breakup. But I never questioned the Lord’s will, and I had customers-turned-friends who were there to support me.

And then there are those who sent me cards and chocolates, just because they felt loved when they dined here. So in return, they send me these gifts because of the feeling that Isabelo gave them.

I’ve developed friendship here, in this business.

What would you want customers to take away from this place, after they dine here and return to the world outside?

You know, every day before I cook I always pray. And every day I ask the Lord that my customers would feel and know how much the Lord loves them. Because that’s how the Lord has shown it to us, through this restaurant. Given our history [and how] we started with nothing, and the Lord restored this place even after Ondoy, even without money. Even after we restored it, and we were out of funds, we were really faithful that the Lord would put this up again.

That’s why up to this day, my mom and I are still amazed at how Isabelo got to where it is now, and how clients started coming in even without us not doing anything. I don’t advertise it. So it’s really grace from God. So every time, I pray that the Lord make my clients feel and experience the love that He showed us. That they may experience it also because He loves them also. That’s how I want them to feel every time.

Because we have nothing to claim here. It’s all God’s, we have nothing to claim. And so I’d always hope that my customers, upon leaving Isabelo, feel that the Lord will always provide for you, the Lord will always fill your hearts. If He filled you with good food, then He will fill your hearts with joy and peace. That’s what I want them to take with them.

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