Adrian Diongzon
AFTER a month of much-deserved hype, TV personality Adrian Diongzon brings to our table the ABCs in coolness with Eat and Treats Café (ETC).
Make a stop on Ranudo Street along D. Jakosalem Street and the byword there is ETC. Trust me, it’s better to lose all expectations and just take in this gastronomic wonder—indulgence has always been bliss.
“It started with the Mango Float Ice Cream and right now we have made seven flavors,” Diongzon said, when asked how the buzz surrounding ETC started, prompting the curious to check out his cozy place.
The exciting rise in Cebu’s food and restaurant culture encouraged Diongzon and his business partner, Murphy Mayol to take their chances, marrying their food’s quality and flavor with that street-type charm. The gamble paid off.
Thus, from the highly in-demand Mango Float Ice Cream, ETC now offers Creamy Oreo, Strawberry Cheese Cake and Ube Halo-halo, which have pure delectable ice cream as base, insted of the usual crushed ice.
As for ETC’s eye-catching interiors, Diongzon explains that everything is personal, with a touch of the whimsical.
ETC’s colorful and playful interiors
“Everything that you see here is part of my life. When you come in, you will see a mounted TV with full color bars and since I’m already off the air, this one is always on. It’s all symbolic,” Diongzon said, turning misty-eyed when talking about the TV job (and the family) that was part of his life for 20 years.
It’s all in the details. There’s a TV-themed menu, Broadway-related knickknacks, and a special Mickey Mouse corner where your food is served on a Mickey Mouse plate. There’s also a wall displaying Adrian’s Starbucks mugs collection, as well as wooden boards with uplifting quotes. Conversation pieces are the plates from Ikea, as well fixtures like serving boards made from mango wooden planks, a symbolic tribute to its famous mango ice cream.
“In my former program (the magazine show, “MagTV”), I worked with many interior designers and upon consultation with them for this cafe, either they’d find my vision too challenging or their schedule won’t allow it. So it was from there na I decided na I might as well do it na lang,” Diongzon said.
Up next for ETC are a number of food choices cooked in homegrown barbeque style.
“My comfort food is barbeque. I used to live in different houses—from V. Rama to Consolacion and Mandaue—and I always make it a point to discover barbeque places. I remember my Mom would order me to buy some in a neighboring stall. Barbeque has always been a comfort food for the family,” Diongzon said.
Memories of home and family, after all, are a big part how ETC came to be and what Diongzon and his partner’s plans for the business are.
“It’s all in the family. I didn’t get to study culinary but I remember that my Lola would cook and I loved her pancit! My father was a sabongero and before he would go to the derbies, he would prepare something special for us. And so to give him honor, I would be having something like “Sunday Specialty” inspired by his favorites, among them the aninikad, sinugba, kinilaw and more,” he said.
Accommodating at most 70 guests, ETC opens at 11 a.m. and winds down as soon as the last customer leaves.
With themed nights and more food items in the works, so much promise is ahead for the business that Diongzon can only be grateful for his second milestone.