Chef Pauline
Pauline Banusing’s culinary skills and enterprising spirit liven up Iloilo’s restaurant scene
By Teodoro Y. Montelibano
At 32, Pauline Gorriceta Banusing wears several hats, and if left to her own devices, she could don some more. The indefatigable Ilongga was born to a family noted for its entrepreneurial drive and business acumen. The family of her mother, Sandra Sarabia, is noted for having established Sarabia Optical, the oldest optical business in the country, while her maternal grandmother oversaw a thriving jewelry business that continues to be among the most respected in the business in the Visayas.
Hotels and restaurants also count among the businesses on her maternal side of the family. The Sarabias put up Sarabia Manor, one of Iloilo City’s first modern, deluxe full-service hotels. For a while, her mother was immersed in operating a chain of restaurants until she gave it up to devote her time to running the hotel.
From her late father’s side (the Gorricetas), Pauline also got more entrepreneurial blood, along with a smattering of politics (her father was once a mayor). It seemed inevitable, therefore, that she would also choose the path of entrepreneurship after she graduated from college at the Ateneo.
Initial Detour
The rebel in Pauline, however, had her thinking for a while that perhaps she would become a psychiatrist. In college, Pauline took up psychology and social sciences as double majors—courses she deliberately chose because she wanted to venture into fields alien to her family background. “I wanted to be a psychiatrist,” she relates, until she realized there wasn’t much of a market for that kind of specialized practice in Iloilo. “I also feel drawn towards politics,” adds Pauline, and declares, “In the future, I intend to run for governor of Iloilo province.”
In the meantime, there’s plenty to occupy her restless soul. A dozen years ago, at the tender age of 20, she put up Karat World, a jewelry shop that her partner, her gemologist brother, runs full time. “We went into it with hardly any capital,” she claims. “We went to jewelry suppliers who knew our mom and our maternal grandmother. We told them we were opening a jewelry store but we had no capital. We asked if we could purchase items from them and pay when we could.”
What her mother had been pounding on her and her siblings, that “the only legacy you’ll have from me is not money but a good name,” took on full meaning when the jewelry suppliers she and her brother approached responded positively. Today, Karat World has seven branches covering Iloilo, Bacolod, Manila, and Pampanga, with another one in the works.
True Calling
It is in the food business, however, that Pauline seems to have found her true calling. Her father died of cancer when she was in her senior year in college. After graduation, she went home to Iloilo to help her mom run her fast-food restaurant chain. After three years, she wanted to spread her wings and felt she was ready to take up formal culinary studies. She got her mom’s nod and with further nudging and support from her then boyfriend (now husband), Pauline flew to New York and enrolled at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.
She was 22 then and all her youthful energies were stimulated to the max by big, pumped-up New York. Within a year, she was able to cram into her belt credits for a master’s degree in baking and Italian cuisine from CIA and another one in cooking (professional level) from New York’s New School. As if those weren’t enough, she also went through a two-month summer course in food costing and beverage management from New York University.
At the same time, armed only with Ilongga charms and a lot of chutzpah, she gained a lifetime of experience by actually working in the Big Apple (at Anita Lo’s former restaurant, Mirezi, and at Foodworx) and sampling food from establishments run by such culinary icons as Daniel Boulud (Daniel, Café Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne), Mario Batali (Babbo, Lupa, Esca), and Keith McNally (Balthazar, Pastis).
Cooking Up a Storm
After a year, she flew back home to get married and, unheeding of all dire warnings by friends and family, opened Al Dente, the first genuine Italian restaurant in Iloilo. “Everyone said I was crazy to put up that kind of restaurant because everyone believes only establishments serving grills and barbecues would survive in a place like Iloilo,” she relates. “But seven, eight years after I opened it, Al Dente is still very much around.”
Over the years, however, the restaurant’s ambiance and menu have evolved. “Initially, I kept on changing the menu, doing things all on my own and wanting it to be the ‘it’ place in Iloilo where young, cool, and hip people would congregate. In due time, I realized that there isn’t that much money to be made in that kind of place. As I grew older, Al Dente matured too, and it has now evolved into a family restaurant.”
After Al Dente, she opened another establishment, Citrus Global Bistro, which showcases her repertoire of various international cuisine. This was followed not long after by still another dining place, Villa Regatta in Villa Beach, a traditionally popular place for weekend dining among local families.
When she came into the scene, Villa Beach was dominated by more established restaurants, particularly Tatoy’s and Breakthrough. Many other eateries had already tried to challenge the dominance of these two establishments in Villa Beach, only to fail miserably. Pauline knew she had to introduce something novel and catchy to snag the attention of customers, and that was exactly what she did. Her Villa Regatta was the first to introduce buffets in Villa Beach, and at rock-bottom prices, too. The Japanese, barbecue, and fresh seafood buffet on Wednesdays, for instance, costs only P175 per person. Her “Dalawang Dosenang Sarap” buffet on Fridays features 24 Filipino dishes for only P220.
“I really don’t want to compete with these restaurants that have been there long before mine opened in Villa Beach,” points out Pauline. “I admire and respect them, and I can say Tatoy’s is still the best for chicken and Breakthrough is still very good with seafood. But I’d like to create my own market. If my mom and her generation grew up with Tatoy’s, maybe the people my age would grow up with me, too.”
In May, Pauline’s delicious way with food, particularly with authentic Visayan dishes—manok na may kadios kag ubad; kadios, baboy, kag langka; linusgusan na lukon; managat; panara nga togue; and binuro—were put on center stage in the Ilonggo Culinary Festival organized by the Mandarin Oriental Manila in Makati. That such a young chef was able to capture the flavor and distinct touch of old Ilonggo cooking says volumes about her culinary talent.
More Aces Up Her Sleeve
Of late, Pauline has ventured into other endeavors, including food catering and food consultancy. Freska, the seafood restaurant in Libis, Pasig, of her lawyer brother, Mark, was her initial client.
Ever the restive spirit and not wishing to lean on her already numerous accomplishments, Pauline flew back to New York in 2004 to take a course in food styling at the Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kump’s New York). “That’s part of my back-up plan,” she reveals. “If, for any reason, my restaurant and food catering and consultancy businesses flounder, I’d like to know there’s still at least one more ace up my sleeve for me to draw out.”
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