Ramilo Villaluna strives for perfection in every dish
Ramlo Villaluna dishes perfection to suit
everybody's taste.
Cindy's Restaurant was put up in Antique 30 years ago by Ope Pefianco. The restaurant has grown into a favorite among Antiquenos as they continue to innovate. After all, Cindy's influence in the province's food industry had been the introduction of the latest in their area of expertise.
Now, the son of Ope is continuing such legacy by making the business develop more as well as enter Iloilo City in the process.
He is no less than Ramlo Villaluna, who busies himself traveling back and forth Antique and Iloilo to attend to this thriving business as well as his work as a mentor for Culinary Arts in the University of San Agustin (USA).
Expertise
Ramlo is armed with expertise in Management (the course he graduated from) and trainings in the culinary arts. He studied at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies under food guru Gene Gonzalez, Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kumpps) in New York where he took up bread making, and he studied food styling under Delores Custer of the Culinary Institute of America. His hands-on training in the family business since his graduation in 1997 is also a plus.
With Chef Melanie Underwood, teacher for Culinary
Education in New York.
The USA team he coached won second place in the National Adobo Challenge held in Bacolod in September 2007 after they cooked up a fabulous recipe of prawn adobo.
He's a speaker for remote resorts as regards food handling, which is a project of the Department of Tourism. This task has brought him to several places in the region, including Palawan.
Ryan Sebastian, tourism operations officer of DOT, said that they are thankful for Ramlo's assistance in the said program. "He trained our partner stakeholders in the community on how to prepare, cook and plate dishes for tourists. Tourists compliment the delicious food served in Guimaras Guisi Discovery Tours."
Perfectionist
Ramlo is a perfectionist when it comes to food handling. "Food is a serious matter that you need to handle well," he said. This is why Cindy's Catering Services , which has an office in Molo, is a favorite among Ilonggos. "I offer gourmet food and I use the freshest ingredients. I don't scrimp on ingredients. I go out of my way to give traditional food a twist. I create fusion recipes," he said.
With the University of San Agustin Culinary Arts
students.
His catering services already includes waiters and arrangement.
What they say about him
Norma Chikiamco, Lifestyle editor of Philippine Daily Inquirer has this to say about Ramlo: "My impression of Ram is that he's very pro-active. When the international food stylist Delores Custer gave a food styling seminar in Cebu, he made it a point to fly there just to attend, which shows he's very interested in constantly learning more about the industry. That's an important factor in being successful. It was also through Ram that the culinary school of the University of San Agustin invited me to be the guest speaker in their graduation ceremony last year. The people in that school seem to hold him in high esteem and I think they're lucky to have him as part of their faculty department."
Chef Jill Sandique, lead trainer and program director of USDA Culinary Theater said, "He is a very diligent and dedicated student."
Handles the dining table arrangement to
perfection, too
Meanwhile, Micky Fenix, editor of Food Magazine, considers Ramlo a true culinary professional. "He keeps up with industry trends by attending pertinent seminars. And he is an invaluable help to researchers like me by giving his time, resources and knowledge about the cuisine of his Panay Island home."
Ramlo wishes nothing more but to give pride to Antique cooking. This is the reason why he is now compiling province-grown recipes and historical background on such, which he will incorporate in a book. "It has no title yet, but I hope to launch it by October this year," he said.
Cindy's Catering Services can be reached through mobile phone number 0927-3851-778.