A garden restaurant in the heart of QC

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep;" the gardens are in bloom with flowers and other ornamental plants and the ponds in them are alive with kois. Truly a feast for the eyes you’d think it’s a provincial dreamland for the haggard city dwellers.

But picture this: The place is right in the heart of the city, the capital of the Philippines, no less: Quezon City. Perlie’s garden restaurant sits right across the Quezon Monument surrounded by the Elliptical Road.

It’s a thriving business establishment inspite of certain economic distractions. Says Rorie D. Lizardo, the manager: "Our friends and ‘regulars’ are sighing that times are hard, so they have spaced out their coming. It’s true and we are affected somewhat. We are, however, confident that when the chips are down there is nowhere to go but up. Though business is not so good like last year, we get by somehow."

The enterprise gets by raising and selling expensive kois – P900 for each with a length of five inches and P150,000 for each of the one-and-two-thirds foot long Japanese carps. By the price alone you’d know who the market is: people in trendy cars and plush homes.

It is also doing well in selling cutflowers and contracting floral arrangements for weddings and celebrations of Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and All Saints’ Day when the sale of flowers and ornamental picks ups. On any given day, business is brisk at 7 to 10 in the morning and 5 to 7 in the afternoon. In the pipeline is high-tech vegetable-production hydrophonics.

On the food cum entertainment side, Perlie’s which is open only from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight, Monday to Friday, serves Filipino and Chinese dishes to satisfy the urbanites’ dining capriccio. Saturdays and Sundays are for reservations (birthdays, graduations parties and other celebrations). Otherwise, it’s rest days for the staff and employees. To those who go there to unwind in the after hours, beers, wines, tequila and hard liquor go well with a wide choice of pulutan to match the drinks and perk up the spirit and conversation.

Although Perlie’s is now a popular landmark as a garden restaurant there was a time when the owners preferred that their venture be known, first and foremost, as an ornamental garden specializing in anthuriums and roses, the restaurant being simply an after-thought.

But times do change!

In the late 1960s, the husband and wife team of Alexander and Pearlie Asuncion bought the rights to the ornamental garden from an ageing couple who can hardly, by then, cope with the rigors of running the business. After sometime, the new owners thought it is a good idea to set up a refreshment parlor for joggers. It proved to be such a success the parlor evolve into a garden restaurant, with Pearlie’s brother, Jun Lizardo, coming into the enterprise as partner/manager. Another Lizardo sibling, Denny, would later manage the family business until Rorie Lizardo took over in 1992.

Kois and Ponds which is engaged in the Japanese carp business, owned and managed by Mike Hernandez and Alexander Asuncion Jr., is a later addition and attraction to the one-hectare site. It was established on Dec. 1, 1998.

What can be said about Pearlie’s, is that inspite of the economic woes the country is surmounting it can keep its business going with plenty to spare and ready for the coming of the big turnaround. – PAJ News & Features