Brunch with Gaita

Margarita “Gaita” Araneta Fores got the idea from Manny Pacquiao, sort of. Every time Pacman had a match it would be televised in Manila late morning

on a Sunday. Cibo’s regulars would come in early, expecting breakfast. That’s when Gaita started toying with the idea of offering Weekend Brunch.

“It would open up a new market, and give our regulars something new to enjoy,” says Cibo’s tireless chef-patron. “Besides, brunch means eggs, and many existing Cibo items are perfect with eggs on them. Our popular grilled flatbread, Carta di Musica, is great with pomodoro and two fried eggs on top. Bruschetta Prosciutto with a fried egg. Pizza Patate — pizza with thin slices of potato and pancetta, yes, it seems a little odd, it’s a very Italian thing — with two fried eggs al tegame. Everything is better with eggs.”

You can clutch your heart and reach for your cholesterol medicine, but it’s true. You’re not having it every day, just on the weekend.

“We have new brunch items like Il Sorriso (The Sunrise), egg yolks in hollowed-out focaccia, with truffle mushroom paste and cream,” Gaita announces as the waiter sets it down before me. From their perfectly square receptacles the eggs stare up at me like a pair of eyes. The food in Cibo always looks as interesting as it tastes. I know because I’ve been eating here for 13 years. Thirteen years?! It’s been that long?

“The first Cibo was in the hallway of Glorietta 2 outside Landmark, remember?” That was before the connecting walkway was built; one day we wandered into the hallway and saw metal tables and chairs and a circular counter. “We opened on August 22, 1997,” Gaita recalls. “We were warned that nobody opens in August, it’s a ghost month, but we did it anyway.”

Cibo owes much of its success to Margarita’s stubbornness in the face of conventional wisdom. She was told that August was a bad month; she opened Cibo in August. She was advised to simplify and translate the menu; Cibo’s menu is entirely in Italian. She was advised to change the ingredients for the local market; she refused.

Of course, the food had something to do with it. Before she opened Cibo, Gaita had to convince her culinarily demanding family that people would come to eat her food. She served them the Spinach Gorgonzola, Rigatoni Alfonso, Tenderloin Tagliata, and Tiramisu Croccante, and that persuaded them that she was ready. These four items are the cornerstone of the Cibo menu, and the most popular among the Italian cafe’s regulars.

That first Cibo in Glorietta had a tiny moveable kitchen in a circular counter, and there were eight people in the kitchen. Those eight people are still with Cibo; they’re now managers and department heads. “There’s still a stain on the floor where our counter was,” Gaita laughs. That circular counter is now at the Cibo on the second-floor hallway of Shangri-La Mall in Mandaluyong; if you have nothing to do, stand on the third floor overlooking the cafe and watch the efficient kitchen workflow.

As for the cafe itself, there are now 12 Cibo outlets in 10 locations (There are two Cibos each in Power Plant Rockwell mall and TriNoma in Quezon City: one regular cafe and one Bimbi, the kid-friendly Cibo). The 13th outlet will open in Eastwood in October. “Hey, it’s our 13th branch on our 13th anniversary,” Gaita notes.

Weekend Brunch is another 13th-anniversary offering from Cibo, and, just as everything tastes better with eggs, the experience is sweeter with cocktails. (Clutch heart, reach for pills, remember it’s only on weekends.) You can have your brunch with Prosecco, the sparkling Italian wine, or Cibo’s Prosecco cocktails: Mimosa (orange), Plum Bellini, Mango Bellini, Rossini (strawberry), and Tiziano (grape). Or a Bloody Maria. I would be remiss in my research if I didn’t try them all.

For dessert there’s Bruschetta Dolce, grilled bread with sliced bananas, chocolate, and cinnamon. Or you could just order your favorites with eggs on them.

Let’s not forget the excellent service — most of the staff have been with Cibo for years. “Many of our staff leave to work on European cruise ships, then they come back after they finish their contracts. It’s good for us because they get exposed to international standards, and they bring it back with them.” She is especially proud of her tight management team — they open the new branches and get them up and running.

Every so often she takes her managers to Italy for exposure trips and training. “It’s a big investment, but they have to understand the culture and the psyche behind the cuisine. This is important. It’s like cloning myself.”

Cloning Gaita sounds like an excellent idea. She gives the lie to the notion of “the idle rich”; people are literally begging her to slow down. “I was pushing myself too hard,” she admits. “Before my cancer scare I was sleeping four hours a day. I thought it was enough, but it wasn’t. So 2006 was a real waker-upper for me.”

Does this mean she is getting more rest and sleep? “I now get six hours a day,” she laughs. Wake up at 6:30, pop a thyroid pill, then back to bed for another half-hour. Exercise class at 8 a.m., then meetings at The Commissary in Pasong Tamo, Makati. Store visits in the afternoon — she visits each branch at least once every two weeks.

Now she studies the focaccia and eggs on the table and calls the waiter. “Could we add a bed of cream under the bread?” she asks. “Just a smear.” It’s the little details that make all the difference.

Next week she’s taking her son Amadito to college — he’s enrolling at Holy Cross, the Jesuit-run college in Worcester, Massachusetts. “I remember that when we opened Cibo Amadito was 6; he wouldn’t eat our food, he would go to Kimpura and have tempura. Oh, no, my son’s going off to college! And I’m such a helicopter parent, always hovering. Can you believe he’s turning 20 soon? It’s traumatic.”

It’s a good thing we already have drinks.