Romnick and Harlene’s ‘resi-taurant’

Wearing black chef uniforms with slacks, owners-spouses Rommick Sarmenta and Harlene Bautista hosted a dinner at their newest venture, Salu The Filipino Kitchen, Quezon City’s latest ‘50s-style residence converted into a restaurant. From this fusion we coin the term “resi-taurant.”
The no-nonsense couple makes no effort to hide they are aiming for a steady source of income. This is why they decided to enter into the food business and put aside their respective entertainment careers and film production endeavors in the meantime. Such a strategy allows them to be hands-on parents to their brood of six growing kids.
This is their priority on top being managing partners of Salu, which opened on June 9. The endeavor has required their daily presence, enabling them to troubleshoot small disasters like when steamed rice was served half-cooked (“We immediately replaced it and apologized,” explained Romnick). Or major headaches such as when the air conditioning system conked out.
Surveying the interiors of this residence at the corner of 268 Scout Torillo and Scout Fernandez Scouts, one can almost hear the echo of its former occupants’ laughter and feel the elegance of their lifestyles. Such mid-century residences turned into restaurants are common in the “Scout” Streets around Morato Avenue in Quezon City.
Among them are the widely popular Mario’s and Annabelle’s, Romulo Cafe at 32 Scout Tuason corner Dr. Lazcano (that had branched out in 148 Jupiter Street corner Comet Street, Bel-Air, Makati City) to the newly inaugurated Salu.
The owners had likely passed on or are too old to manage such large living spaces, their children likely married and living elsewhere, while others may have found condominium-living as a practical move.
Renting or leasing these properties is the convenient alternative to selling or constructing new edifices to make it productive. While retaining the assets and turning them as regular source of income, it does not cost to renovate into a “resi-taurant” as that is the start-up cost of the new occupants.
Blurbed as The Filipino Kitchen, Salu invites visitors to imagine the local flavor of the place. Although the quick-eyed will see the Philippine tri-color prominently hanging at the edifice’s third-level watchtower, the black-garbed service personnel may seem disconcerting for a Filipino-themed casual dining restaurant.
These good-looking and well-trained service personnel wear black walking shorts and black Chuck Taylors — not a few of them with tattoos peeping from their black tops. With a walking handicap, a service staffer who was not the doorman, perhaps by virtue of duty, met me at the parking lot and assisted me all the way to the huddle area.
Clipped from the Filipino term “salu-salo” (get-together involving celebration with food) most likely for the lucky numerical count, Salu formalizes the concept of family and friends bonding and entertainment through communal eating. That is why a former home as the setting is so appropriate as it gives a “at home” feeling.
You get that exact salu-salo feel as servings are meant to be shared, explaining the higher menu prices. The tables and chairs are also closely grouped together and the seating areas designed for groups such as sofas with long tables minus the usual two seaters for romantic couples.
With wide frontage the place is spacious enough to house multiple function areas such as an open kitchen, three dining areas in contemporary Asian designs of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao distinguished by maps and murals of each particular region. It includes a dining-cum-play area for kids with a store of childhood favorites.
Salu comes as a hip cross between Via Mare and Kuya J’s Restaurant, but definitely not Barrio Fiesta or even Max’s restaurant. It features a fusion menu it calls Likhang Salu created by chef Francis Oconer from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
It is the only restaurant that has collected favorite dishes from these geographical divisions and made them readily available at Salu. There is a difference, of course. One is that they are not fast-service versions: “safe” selections that can be prepared in minutes and unmindful of eye-friendly presentation.
Rommick and Harlene do not plan as yet to open multiple branches or to franchise the name, although chef Oconer buzzed that they had looked for a second location at Bonifacio Global City. Maybe this is a conscious effort to assess how the first “resi-taurant” will do. There are currently no plans to do multiple restaurant concepts like Marvin Agustin.
Although some of my menu expectations were not met, the experience of sharing the delicious food at Salu made me delirious over the fact that there is a new restaurant that puts a premium on Pinoy cuisine and displays that Filipino hospitality can truly be a unique selling point.