A restaurant that makes you say, ‘Hello, Happiness!’

The restaurant has a rather curious name but if you know the Almario sisters — interior designers Ivy and Cynthia, and foodie Chona — you will understand why they named it such and even say they couldn’t have named Relish: Hello, Happiness! any other way.

“We are happiest when we are eating together and it’s really all about our favorite foods,” says Chona Almario, who manages the restaurant. “Whenever the family gets together, we always bring our own specialties, like mine would be the roast pork belly cooked for five to six hours, Cynthia would bring her artichoke dip and lechon kawali, Ivy would bring her binagoongan, our sister-in-law Rachel would cook her roast chicken and make the cocktails. So, every party becomes an instant buffet.”  

Gourmet comfort food would best describe the menu of Relish: Hello, Happiness! They’re recipes that come from the households of the seven Almario siblings involved in this branch of Relish (the first one opened three years ago in Makati).

The Almarios’ exuberance is also evident in the stylish interiors with its vignettes and décor that include white Eiffel Towers, topiaries and miniature wedding cakes. Ivy did an incredible job of turning an old abandoned house into such a happy place that it’s become a favorite place for debuts, weddings, birthdays and baby showers in Quezon City.

 â€œWe really love to eat — that’s our happiness,” says Ivy Almario. “In fact when we started Relish in Makati we had just seven specialties until our customers said, ‘Dagdagan niyo naman, we’re here every day.”

And they did. House specials include roasted chicken marinated in garlic, cane vinegar and spices; hickory smoked barbecue pork belly served; Louisiana pork chop served with apple sauce and gravy; slow-roasted lamb shoulder served with pita bread, aioli and couscous; baked salmon; lengua with mushroom sauce; osso bucco braised in red wine with Italian herbs and spices; and shitake tofu with cilantro rice.

For starters, diners get to choose from dips and spreads such as artichoke dip, pesto-cheese spread and chicken liver pate; soups range from New England clam chowder to tomato basil, and pumpkin.

If you’re a group visiting Relish, there are small plate selections like salpicao, the famous sisig (cited by Rogue magazine as one of the best in town), and buffalo wings with blue cheese dressing.

Not to be missed are the cakes and desserts or Relish. When Kris Aquino did a food run episode on Kris TV, her third stop was Relish where she tried the panna cotta and declared that it was the best panna cotta she had ever eaten.    

“That very same day and in the following week so many people came here to order the panna cotta,” says Cynthia Almario. “Kris’s following is incredible. From as far as Bohol and Parañaque people came here to eat what she did.”

An interview with the Almarios is always a happy hour and by that we don’t mean drinks but lots of laughter, a bit of gossip, and it leaves one wondering how these sisters can work together every day, be so close, and never get on each other’s nerves.

So we asked their mom Pacita how she managed to raise such happy daughters. “They just always got along. You know, even their cousins are surprised kasi kahit araw araw silang magkakasama, sa mga parties sila pa rin ang nagkukumpulan,” she says with a laugh.

“What’s nice about Relish is that it gives us the opportunity to see each other, to be together, and to have a business that’s something we love best,” says Ivy.

It also somehow keeps the spirit of their father Romy Almario alive. When the children were young, their parents owned Luigi’s Steakhouse and Triple Treat Burger & Pizza for 16 years.

“The day before our dad died in a plane crash (he was a pilot but he wasn’t flying the plane), we were all together enjoying a meal,” says Cynthia, who adds they were all so young when he passed away. 

Their best memories of food? Cynthia says that hers are also about their father. “My dad introduced us to Japanese food. I was eating sashimi and sushi at the age of 10 and back in the ‘70s there were only a few Japanese restaurants around. Daddy would say, ‘Do you know what you’re eating? That’s raw tuna.’ So I faked it till I liked it.”

Ivy says, “I had an appendectomy when I was 12, and when I was in the hospital Mommy said, ‘What do you want to eat?’ I said, two things: tempura from Matzuzakaya and hototay. As you can tell, my pairing wasn’t very sophisticated.”

Chona says, “My dad was a pilot and so he was traveling all over, that’s why when we were young we were already observing Thanksgiving kahit di pa uso noon and it wasn’t easy to find a whole turkey here. Also memorable are our Christmas Eve dinners with our titas and cousins — there would be about 50 of us — and these dinners were really a celebration of life and food.”

Their mom Pacita herself grew up around food. Her mother was a Kapampangan and she loved to cook for the family. “We had three restaurants before the Second World War — at the National Legislative Building in Manila, the Metropolitan Water District complex on Aroceros St. and the National Development Corporation in Sta. Mesa. My mother liked to throw parties, so my memories of growing up are about food and I learned to cook from watching her do it.”

So now the tradition has been passed to her seven children whose own families are represented in the recipes that were tested and developed through family get-togethers.

Like any Almario-designed interiors that leave you feeling light and happy — as if you were suddenly part of a family — the food at Relish: Hello, Happiness! leaves you feeling the same way.

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Relish: Hello, Happiness! is located at 74 Scout Limbaga St. corner Tomas Morato, Quezon City. Call 352-5429, 352-0774, 0926-695-9885; email relishqc@yahoo.com.