It started with inun-unan

CEBU, Philippines – More than four decades ago, a young boy named Glendo Lomoljo cooked his mother a local dish called "inun-unan,"  or fish cooked in vinegar with ginger, garlic and pepper.

"Lami ka muluto, dong," his mother told him, said Glendo.

This gave the young boy a feeling of satisfaction, which made him realize that he wanted to learn more dishes and eventually make other people feel good through his cooking.

Fast forward to the year 2015, the young Glendo is now fondly called Chef Glen and from the confines of their kitchen at home, he is now the executive Chef of one of Cebu's top hotels.

"My passion for cooking has taught me a lot in life and has opened doors for me all over the world," said Chef Glen in a  sumptuous lunch at Kai's at the Best Western Plus Lex Cebu.

Chef Glen narrated how his journey began - from helping out in the kitchen of a restaurant in Cebu and eventually climbing his way up and proving to his bosses that he can actually cook. From there, he worked as a chef in a Japanese restaurant, then to an Italian restaurant then to a continental restaurant in Manila.

After a few years, the determined and free-spirited man was one of the eight chefs hired from Cebu to work on a cruise ship. That, for Chef Glenn, was the biggest break, as he got the chance to tour the world and, at the same time, learn the different ways of cooking from the countries he visited.

Chef Glen also acquired formal culinary training in Boston, and other parts of the United States. But after a while, nine years to be exact, the true-blue Cebuano started to miss home.

"Life abroad, especially on board the ship, is not easy. It came to a point when money couldn't fill-in my longing for home," said Chen Glenn. In 2010, Chef Glen returned to Cebu, just when Best Western Plus Lex Cebu was gearing up for its opening.

As a hotel that hoped to open a restaurant that would serve not only Western food, but local and international dishes as well, Chef Glen didn't think twice when offered the job.

"Luckily I was hired in this hotel which is known as the biggest hotel chain in the world. I thought this is my chance to share to everyone the different kinds of dishes I have learned all through those years when I was going around the world," said Chef Glen.

"Cooking is not just coming up with a menu. But it's on knowing and serving authentic dishes," he added.

Chef Glen said he does not have a specialty because as chef of a cruise, they had to learn and serve anything that their passengers wanted to eat, which meant any type of dish. This he said is his and Best Western Plus Lex Cebu's niche in the market - they can serve any kind of food their clients would want.

The life on board a cruise ship was definitely life-changing, said Chef Glen. But he said that he doesn't regret giving it all up. "I'm with my family, I'm in Cebu, I make a lot of people happy with my cooking. What more can I ask for?"