BAGUIO CITY –What was envisioned to be a bar operated by long-time friends turned out to be a fast growing restaurant serving famous Ifugao delicacies for the satisfaction of people craving for such local food on the table.
Anidu Cordilleran Bistro, a newly opened restaurant located in the corner of Manuel Roxas Street along Brookside and Rimando Road, is now attracting Cordillerans and non-Cordillerans alike to have a taste of their Ifugao delicacies such as ‘pinunug’, smoked meat native sausage from Ifugao, ‘inlagim’ duck, pinikpikan, the Cordillera way of cooking, adobong duck, ‘inalgim chicken’, ‘hinamal rice’, and fried hinamal, among other. They have native drinks as well such as bugnay wine from Bauko and Sagada, coffee wine from Kalinga, tapuy from La Trinidad, and pineapple wine from Apayao.
Anidu is managed by partners Sofia Frances Tegui-in, a certified public accountant and professor at Saint Louis University, who is also taking up her masteral degree, her younger brother, Arnie Tegui-in, a nurse working in Dubai and Renee Robles, a hotel and restaurant management graduate, who is also a real estate broker. All are natives of Ifugao.
Sofia narrated that the trio were scouting for a bar to operate within the vicinity of Rizal Park but the monthly rental of the spaces were financially prohibitive, thus they tried scouting for a place near the university belt where they were able to find the current location of the business.
The young professional entrepreneurs offered the building owner to operate a bar but their offer was denied considering that the vicinity of the structure is a residential area, thus, they continue to look for other options.
When the owner of the building texted Sofia on whether or not they are still interested to rent out the available space in the building, the trio decided to open a restaurant that will offer Ifugao delicacies considering that there is no food establishment in the city that is offering such kind of food.
“We assure our clients that we serve organically raised food because our supply of ducks and pinunug come from our suppliers in Ifugao,” Ms.Tegui-in stressed.
Aside from the owners, the cook, waiters and waitresses of Anidu come from Ifugao, thus, the management and the employees had no difficulty of adjusting to each other in working as a team to work out the success of the establishment.
Anidu is a common term among Cordillerans which refers to warming oneself in a fireplace or in a bonefire or gathering together in a fireplace or in a bonefire to tell stories or learn from elders.
For her part, Robles said that their chemistry in managing the establishment has worked to their advantage because she takes care of supervising the operations when Sofia is in school while all decisions are collectively done to ensure the success of their business which is just over a month in operation.
Anidu is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays to allow the members of management and the employees to have a well-deserved break.
“We always consult each other when there are major decisions that will be done regarding our operations. We make it a point to discuss things together to further strengthen our bond,” Robles stressed.
Sofia claimed their first supply of 30 ducks per week came from the ones that were raised by her parents while the other supplies for the restaurant came from their relatives. Some of the beneficiaries of the restaurant are their relatives who raise organically produced crops in Ifugao.
She claimed with barely a month of their operation it is still too early to predict whether or not their operations are successful although they now have consistent customers craving for Ifugao delicacies which cannot be found in other restaurants in the city.
The Anidu partners are hoping that the growth of their operations will continue, especially in the upcoming Yuletide season, so that they will be able to recover the investments that they were able to infuse in making their plans of operating a restaurant although the bar that they earlier planned will have to be shelved for the time being.
By HENT
