Hospitality runs in the blood of Minnie De Joya-Puno. Her Aunt Leni Guerrero was the proprietor of La Costa Brava, the restaurant and pastry shop in Makati that serves a bouillabaisse soup as unforgettable as their
caramel cakes. In every generation in the Guerrero clan, there is at least one person inclined towards the culinary
arts; the torch was passed on to Minnie early on in her life.
“I learned a lot from my Tita Leni,” she says. “I have no professional training, but even when I was little I was my mother’s helper in the kitchen. Eventually when I grew up I started really getting into it and I took some classes in places like Saigon and Florence.” Minnie started earning a reputation within foodie circles in Manila when she launched her homemade pastry business in December 2006. Her bestseller is called the Minnie Mousse, a chocolate mousse dessert with a twist of liquor (such as Limoncello, Bailey’s, Cointreau, Kahlua and Crème de Menthe). Eventually she progressed into making Asian wraps or fresh salad rolls. Her Thai Chicken Wrap, for instance, would include lettuce, chicken, carrots, green onions, bean sprouts and cilantro, while a Filipino Wrap has smoked bangus, red eggs and tomato. This soon became a trademark concoction when she started selling them at the Legaspi Village Sunday market in Makati.
The idea for a private kitchen enterprise began when she hosted her close-knit group of friends for their traditional Christmas dinner in 2009. “Every year it’s always the same thing, we would decide on a restaurant and it just became too much of a hassle. So one of my friends suggested that I should just cook for everyone and we could all eat here
at my home and they would just pay me what they think the dinner was worth. So I did it and it turned out really good.” It was the beginning of The Home Chef Private Dining.
Minnie got a boost for her fledgling home chef endeavor when she was featured in the blog of popular food and lifestyle blogger Anton Diaz. The friendly mother of three has been a follower of Diaz’s blog for some time, and she gladly accepted a request from his food group to host a casual dinner to introduce her private dining concept. Since then there have been inquiries to host small groups of diners. “For some reason, I get a lot of couples asking if I could arrange something for them. I’ve had to politely turn them down because the idea really is for intimate groups of people, not just couples.”
For this year’s holiday season, Minnie created a menu that was inspired by the Christmas dinners of her own childhood, albeit with a few alterations and updates. The Beef and Eggplant Lasagna, for instance, was originally just beef, but the
addition of the vegetable was, Minnie says, in response to requests for “healthier fare.” The Chunky Chicken Potato Salad with Mustard Mayonnaise Dressing and the Chicken Galantina, however, are pretty much the same recipes handed to her by her mother. “Although when I asked her for it I discovered she pretty much didn’t use measurements for any of the dishes,” she laughs at the memory. Her version of the Callos is a hearty soup of stewed tripe with pimientos and green olives, while the Lengua with Mushrooms and Capers is served inside a puff pastry. “This is all presented for a sit-down dinner, a maximum of eight to 10 individuals. However, I can also do bigger groups, as many as 22. But of course then I’ll have to do a buffet spread.”
Dessert for this set menu is a Glazed Fresh Fruit Salad with Creamy Natilla. “I use fresh fruits instead of canned fruit cocktail,” she explains. Essential to the home chef experience is the home itself and Minnie’s abode couldn’t be more conducive for a casual evening with family or friends. White walls punctuated by burnished wood lend an elegant yet comfortable atmosphere to the two story house. Minnie has also tried her hand in the visual arts, and her paintings hang alongside works of masters such as Malang and Amorsolo. Family pictures are scattered around the living area. The adjacent dining room, painted a cheery yellow, is accessed through sliding glass doors, with one side opening up to a lawn with a table and chairs for al fresco entertaining.
“When I decided to push through with this private kitchen thing, I asked my children about it first, because I knew I would be inviting strangers into our home. My two daughters are both in New York now. Rianna is working in a public relations firm there, while Regina is studying at Parsons Design School. Only my son Gino is with me and he’s in law school at the Ateneo. All of them said it was okay and that I should go for it.” Minnie says she’ll see how the experiment goes before she decides whether she would go all out in promotions for the business. “For now it’s really just a hobby. Especially with this Holiday menu, what we’re really selling is the story of our family’s heritage and tradition.”
