Our nightmare in flowers. :) I could literally write a book on how to open a restaurant and the 3 months or so surrounding the pre- and post-opening of Zubuchon’s Makati branch was the perfect setting for a either a thriller, axe-murderer, comedy, mystery, strangling-in-the woods, zombie, baldness-inducing non-fiction novel that could make you laugh, cry and want to commit murder all at the same time. But that’s for the book, here’s the shortcut version in plants and flowers, a much more pleasant take on it. :)

A few days before our scheduled opening, Mrs. MM and I got into a car and went to Los Baños on a blind mission to “green” our cement-y parking lot and back outdoor area at the restaurant. We hadn’t been to Los Baños in years (me not in at least 20) and we didn’t even know who to look for. So we perused the roadside offerings, stopped the car, ended up being taken to some interior nursery setting, and ended up buying some 2,000+ pots of plants in less than 90 minutes! Everything was agreed our new landscaping best-buddies and it was all delivered that same evening with 4 workers to set it all up. It was the most efficient transaction/implementation of all the things done for this branch, I kid you not.

Back in Makati, the plants worked almost exactly as I had envisioned in my mind, despite all the last minute preparations that were going seriously awry, like firing half of the opening team when it became clear during training that they just simply wouldn’t make it (obviously original screening and selection failed miserably). Fast forward to two days before opening, and we decided to fly in 20 or so staff from Cebu, an emergency measure that saved us by the skin of our teeth.

Meanwhile, a bunch of cats were making their presence felt, and on one “trial” evening, two cats decided to fornicate noisily right on top of our roof directly above the dining room, and when I went out to look at all the ruckus, I watched in amazement as they put on a porno-worthy performance that was youtube worthy. They somehow lost their footing, tumbled in extreme ecstasy, and literally rolled off the roof STILL DOING IT, only to land on their feet!!! If I had the presence of mind to take my phone out and video the whole thing I would have had a viral video for sure…

We busied ourselves with last minute vertical plant placement…

…and realized we would have to put some sort of watering system in place or hire one person just to keep the plants hydrated. Meanwhile, the final countdown had started and test evenings were running surprisingly well, but that was with just 100 or so folks at the same time, and friendlies at that. We were ready for an opening day with up to 300 guests. And now the nightmare goes live… On opening day, we served 600 plus (poorly for the most part) guests, and turned away another 600 more. Why anyone would go to a new restaurant on day 1 is beyond me?!? Besides a quiet announcement on my instagram account, we didn’t announce the opening at all. We wanted a slow start. And while we struggled to cope with the tsunami of guests, we would go on to welcome an average of 500 guests and a high of nearly 800 guests a day for the next 50 days! Let’s just say it almost did our team in, literally. And forget Lent as a “slow time for meat” as we were jam-packed on Fridays and weekends, and folks were definitely eating lots of pork… :)

This was a picture of the final calm before the storm. The last night of testing had a modest display of flowers, a calm crew, an organized kitchen lulled into believing we were ready…

…well-wishers sent pots of phaelaenopsis or butterfly orchids…

…blog readers sent amaryllis, hydrangeas and other potted plants and orchids. Let me tell you, I was just flabbergasted that readers would do this, and you know who you are, we are truly most grateful.

So now cut away from the real pandemonium on site, and let’s float off to floral centerpieces that changed about every 5 days or so. First was a pretty mix of pinkish tropicals paired with oodles of native cymbidiums that were a bargain at weekend markets…

…then some Zubu red tropicals that seemed a tad severe, but the logic was to buy hardy and long-lasting (not true, these lasted just 4-5 days)… and to reality:

Annoyed client waiting more than 30 minutes (my translation) : “That’s so dumb, just remove those damn flowers on the central table and we can eat there! What do you mean I have to wait 30 more minutes? Why would anyone use a table just for flowers??” or “just put benches by the side tables and we can eat bent over…” SERIOUSLY. And “why did you open if you can’t feed everyone who showed up, no??? NO???” and to some I seriously considered this reply but bit my tongue:

“Why would anyone torture themselves by visiting a restaurant during its first few days, when things are bound to be a relative disaster, and when you torture yourself further by insisting on waiting for a table when we indicated at least a 60 minute wait and pointed at a line of 50 people well ahead of you??!!” Take several deep breaths.

Another book on the entitled behavior of today’s social media savvy diners would also be in the offing, but it’s not my place to offend people who are nice enough to want to eat our food.

Another day was all roses…

…then days later roses with alstromeria, for a special evening where the U.S. Ambassador dropped in for a casual meal of lechon and other Filipino dishes. Hello?! The U.S. Ambassador on the third week of operations? Complete with advance security party?! He is really nice, btw, as Mrs. MM and I sat with them for an hour or so… Total professional and career diplomat.

Well into Lent, we decided on a white theme to lighten things up…

…and a pungent centerpiece with tuberoses and thai grass…

Even the bathroom areas had greens. We also had bromeliads, hard greens, etc. at one point or another.

While my Chief of Stuff accompanied me to the wholesale flower market a couple of times, I started going at 4am and made several more trips on my own, hauling tens of kilos of greens and flowers each time. Let’s just say I can find my way around that part of town rather nicely now…

The selection of flowers varies greatly from day to day. My best piece of advice? Go late Thursday night or very early Friday morning for the widest choice. Do not go the day before Easter, you will have to battle it out with nuns for the prime blooms… :)

I briefly toyed with the idea of buying pre-arranged flowers, but the do-it-yourself gene in me is dominant, so we slogged on…

…when roses were abundant and cheap, read PHP3 pesos each or less, we ended up with hundreds of blooms, only to groan at the thankless task of de-thorning them first before arranging them.

Quite a few guests have commented positively about all the blooms, but my pet peeve are those you have to touch and feel them up, only to exclaim “it’s real, really real?!” or they just pull out a few stems for them to take home. Honestly, since when do folks think it is appropriate to just take something on public display and use it for their own purposes?! But for the most part, the arrangements have been a welcome distraction, and very much a part of our opening days…

When pressed for time, or you’ve broken several stems, just cut off the blooms and float them in large glass vases.

Side tables got huge arrangements as well. So everyone sitting in the booths near the side tables felt like they had their own floral arrangement just for their party.

Hurricane lamps and snazzier succulent arrangements made a brief appearance, but I haven’t repeated those yet…

…the most beautiful flowers included these gloriosas, but they didn’t last long enough…

…I wish they did.

A surprise hit were these deep purple statice. They were easy to arrange, cheap and lasted well over 8 days. They we used them on shelves hanging above, as they dried out. Note to self, use more statice.

Alstromeria are another favorite. Economically priced, abundant, but require a lot of prep work to remove leaves and keep changing their water. But we change the water of all arrangement daily for the most part.

A surprise for me was the use of everlasting flowers en masse in a large vase… they are so stiff and woody up close, but so voluptuous in a large massing. Beautiful. I would use them more if there were a steady supply of them. And they dry nicely.

I was never a fan of mums, but they are a necessary evil as they are bright, cheery and last forever.

I wanted to use masses of these hydrangeas for Easter, but the supplier couldn’t deliver them the day before and the markets were closed.

I toyed with using several dozen vanda orchids but worried about vases tipping over.

A part of me wanted to re-create this bounty of jackfruit on the center floral table. Like have a giant trunk with fruit on it’s side, but that is getting fantastical. I just needed a creative diversion every once in a while. :)

If only the nearly 100 lush ferns we have in Cebu were here in Manila, I would use a dozen of them indoors.

The other day, after avoiding bidding for flowers that were church-bound, I ended up with nearly 400 pink roses (good grief, with SERIOUS THORNS!)!!

And they were on display for Easter Sunday, when after a welcome respite and lull over Thursday through Saturday, we were yet again blasted with 600+ guests, but this time all handled like we have been at it for years. Yes, Easter marked our 7th week after opening. And we have figured it out for the most part. Things have settled down. I would come in for a meal now. :)

Sunday saw a basket of over 90 colored easter eggs added to the floral table, and by the end of the day, kids and adults alike had emptied the basket of most of its contents.

So all’s well that ends well. My sincerest apologies to folks who came early in our tenure that had to wait for a table, were served by less than totally competent staff, whose food wasn’t 100% of expectations, and who helped us in no uncertain terms, deal with opening our first Manila branch. Thank you to the nearly 22,000+ people we have welcomed so far in just 50 days, and we hope to see you again sometime soon. Just not all at the same time, please. :)

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While we are “virtually in London” at the Liberty shop, just take a look at this spilling-onto-the sidewalk flower shop at Liberty, that then draws you into the rest of the plants and flowers and gifts on offer indoors… Amazing how retail specialists, stylists, creative people can actually make a flower shop look like a liberty print material in some ways… Something about the mix and choice of colors and blooms in ready-made bouquets for a quick stylish purchase…

The blooms and greens grouped by color ranges…a few garden statues and doodads for anyone searching for a gift for folks with yards or estates…

…when it’s in the 40’sF outdoors, you can just leave the flowers in pails of water… the selection of blooms was just so beautiful.

I was also interested in the amount of greens and fillers. I tend to use all flowers and no fillers, but with the choices and palette available here, I could easily see building up nice huge mixed arrangements if there was no budget in mind.

I spotted a pail of freesias (in the middle of photo) that have always been a personal favorite and of course I bent down to smell their incredibly sweet fragrance.

The ranunculus on the lower right side of the photo above are also a favorite. And just look at the colors of stuff on offer!

Roses, hydrangeas, narcissus…

I have actually coaxed amaryllis to life and bloom in Manila before, but had to keep them air-conditioned at night to mimic a more temperate climate. Never got narcissus bulbs to bloom in Manila though, not for lack of trying… I used to bring in bulbs from trips to the Netherlands and the U.S. and attempt to get potted plants like those in the photo above during the holidays…

Indoors they had some potted evergreens, dried hydrangeas wrapped around baskets, etc. Overall, a stunning mini-shop in a stunning department store.

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I love gardens, but I am certain I have a black thumb. So while I appreciate the green, I rarely get close to the plants and handle them myself. That doesn’t stop the occasional acquisitive obsession, of which I have two at the moment, these Bird’s Nest Ferns and my phalaenopsis or butterfly orchids.

A couple of years ago, I stopped two ambulant vendors on a Cebu side street to ask how much their beautiful and lush mana or bird’s nest fern cost. They started off at PHP300 but very quickly dropped their price to say PHP100 or so. I bought the four they were carrying, but had them delivered to our office in Cebu. I also told them that if they had more, I would buy the “lot”… Fast forward a week later and suffice it to say I was the owner of some 30+ ferns, albeit still babies in size. We planted several of them on trees (most of which surprisingly did not thrive due to an arid and hot summer that followed) and some were “planted” in pots.

I continued to buy every now and then, and after two years, it seems we have some 60-70 ferns mostly thriving in the yard, under partial shade, and very frequently watered (though the rains of the past three months are really the reason they are at their peak of ebullience).

There is something obsessive about observing rows and rows of ferns and I would like to grow the “collection” to some 200 plants if we have enough space and my saki’s continue to bring baby ferns along for the reasonable price of PHP100-150 a piece.

At the FTI market in Taguig the other week, a vendor had a particularly lush specimen but was asking a whopping PHP5,000 for the plant, I was totally stunned! I have several that are almost the same size, and with less than 1.5 years of care from PHP100, that’s a better return than Makati real estate! :)

These four ferns in the two photos above are just outside our office doors. They are particularly happy campers, because they get a daily supply of water that drips downs from our air conditioners! Constant moisture, partial shade and daily morning salutations means they look like kings/queens of the garden.

The ones we placed on trees continue to struggle, perhaps because of their placement or the type of tree. I have the opposite experience in Manila, were several ferns attached to trees have grown to ginormous proportions in recent years.

Not sure what we will do with all of these ferns eventually, but I kind of like the idea of a corner of the garden having some 100-150 lush ferns arranged at different levels… Any ideas? :)

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My “black thumb” is well documented on this blog. Practically everything I have planted has died. Even if I steadfastly avoid ever touching a plant and hand it straight to someone else to plant and care for, it wilts when I look or talk to it. So suffice it to say that growing our own herbs at home is an apparent exercise in futility. But I still buy the darned little pots of green every once in a while. Here several pots of thyme (though they look mysteriously like oregano) and several pots of sawtooth coriander (PHP100 for 3) seem to be thriving 5 weeks after I bought them. Could it be?

And the rosemary, which almost always dies during the rainy season, has managed to remain robust looking several weeks after I bought it. This time around, I am leaving them in pots. I am taking them out of the natural rainfall, and I am watering them rarely, making sure they stay relatively dry in all this current humidity. But it’s a race to see just how long these will stay alive in the vicinity of Marketman, the herb killer. :)

P.S. My bay (leaf) plant from 2005, purchased at 8 inches tall, went on to grow to 12+feet tall, and the gardener managed to get two or three other plants from it, but the original plant died last month, a victim of the drought and apparently bad watering habits. Bummer. These thyme plants, from 2006, didn’t last two weeks, see dead here!! And they are thyme, so the one in the photos above must be oregano?! These sage plants? RIP. And these herbs, never had a chance, apparently.

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We were recently in Hong Kong for a couple of days. Chief of Stuff celebrated 20 years as part of the “family” and so we took him and his family (spouse and two teenagers on their first trip abroad) to HK as a huge thank you for 2 decades of service. He’s been around since our daughter was brought home from the hospital! While COS and family hied off to Disneyland, the Peak, Harbour Ferry and other things on their own, Mrs. MM and I had one main mission. To buy a new artificial Christmas tree to replace our current one that is on it’s last legs.

We headed to Brighten (HK), a multistory shop at one end of the real wholesale flower market in Mongkok, thinking this would be the motherload of artificial trees, and our proximity to China, where 99% of all of the world’s artificial trees are made in April-August must be a serious plus… but were sorely disappointed with the trees they had on offer. So suffice it to say, the mission was impossible to accomplish and we will either have to eke out one more year or find a tree elsewhere (believe me, we tried in Manila in all kinds of places).

We decided to walk through the flower market anyway since we were in the neighborhood and quickly realized that about a third of all the shops on one street seemed to all be related to Brighten, talk about having a near monopoly. At any rate, in one shop we got some seeds for Gejo of Malipayon Farms, and some for me to take a crack at, and we contemplated getting bulbs of amaryllis and narcissus and wondered if we could get them to bloom in time for Christmas… but then decided against bringing them back.

The shops were chock full of choices, and the variety was quite stunning. Most of the blooms were probably flown great distances (think Dutch flower auctions or Australian and South American sources) and were rather pricey, but it was nice to see so much to choose from. Lots and lots of retail buyers were getting blooms for self-styled bouquets they were bringing to friends for whatever special occasion it might be.

Miniature trees with full grown lemons were an oddity (think less than a foot tall, probably marcoted), and bonsai like apple trees on the next street were also bizarre. I can’t imagine having such a small trunk and having to nourish several fruits those those in the photos!

The shops selling orchids were also quite spectacular. Pots with huge blooms were just PHP400-500 a piece, nearly 30% less than wholesalers in Manila, and both get much of their stocks from Taiwan greenhouses… I can’t imagine why Filipino wholesalers have to mark their goods up so much… Retail shops all over HK have displays of upwards of 15-25 pots of orchids… they look so nice.

I didn’t bother to ask how much this bonsai apple tree with lots of fruit was going for, but I am sure it was a pretty penny. Located on roughly two long stretches of road and some side streets, this wholesale market is relatively easy to get to, and a pleasure to stroll around in cool weather…

Btw, I didn’t take photos, but we stayed at this small hotel called Butterfly on Prat, and were pleasantly surprised by how nice the rooms were for the amount of money we paid. We got some discounts for advance purchase and a hotel club I have joined, so it was affordable and well located… :)

P.S. All photos are square as they are all taken on my phone. Didn’t even bring a camera!

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Ilex berries are always a burst of holiday cheer! Their festive red color must brighten many homes in the midst of a very cold winter. When we first moved home to Manila, I used to buy several big branches of ilex berries from an importer at the time. They didn’t seem so pricey then, but maybe it was just because I had only recently gotten off the boat. Today, I find they are exorbitantly priced and are of inferior quality for the most part, so I haven’t indulged. Besides, the berries tend to fall off faster in tropical temperatures, and I wouldn’t want the labrador munching on those…

Another fall or early winter favorite are branches of crab apples. I just took a second look at the photo and am now wondering if these WERE crab apples. Hmmm, they were fruit or berries of some type. We never find these in Manila during the holidays…

More mini-tabletop pine trees. I can’t believe Christmas carols will be playing on Manila radio stations in about 6 weeks!! Yikes!

Hyacinths jus ready to open their blooms.

A wonderful selection of flowers at the Marche des Enfants Rouge in the Marais.

A close up photo of the blooms, and look at those prices, not too bad really.

A pail with ranunculus (upper left hand corner), one of my favorite flowers (along with long-stemmed tulips, hydrangeas, peonies, butterfly orchids, etc.).

One of the lady flower vendors.

Butterfly orchids, probably imported from places far away.

A varied selection of available blooms.

Ready made bouquets for those in a hurry!

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Parisian florists always have a wonderful selection of blooms, at any time of the year. But it’s during the cool to cold months where they sort of spill out onto the streets, a very pleasant distraction every block or so apart. Here is the first bunch of photos from our trip last Fall…up top, yellow-green tinged pink roses in one of the markets.

Ready made bouquets in shopping bags at a neighborhood florist one evening, a couple of hours before the shop was to close.

Mini-pine trees (made from branches of trees) for tabletop displays. They were fragrant and cute. If I was heading straight home to Manila from Paris, I would have packed a few into our luggage!

More roses one evening, in a beautiful palette of colors. It is little known to outsiders or tourists, but if you bargain with the vendor late afternoon or early evening for roses and other blooms that are just opening and won’t look so good for retail the following day, you can bargain down the price quite a bit. So if you are using the flowers for a dinner that night, you might try your haggling skills, in french, of course, and keep smiling why you make your attempt. :)

Little rose bouquets in terra cotta pots. It’s amazing how small but beautiful a gesture you can make with one of these arrangements…

…as little as a single rose in a miniature terra cotta pot for someone on a budget, or who just wants to make a little gift that means so much more than the single rose.

This particular rose shop seemed to be coloring and preserving roses until they dried in what looked like pristine fresh form… And the name of the shop? au nom de la rose

Blue roses were a bit freaky.

This florist near the refurbished Picasso museum had a very interesting selection of blooms and plants on offer…

…fruiting pomelo trees in one pot (with a little squash accent piece).

Cactus, roses and orchids within inches of each other.

A calamansi topiary. Yes, a calamansi topiary! And lots of white butterfly orchids in the background inside the shop.

A rather stunning vertical garden over his shop’s emergency exit door. The graffiti against the plants looked particularly interesting.

Finally, bunches of rather pricey roses at the stalls in Place Madeleine.

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I was at the Centris market in Quezon City at dawn yesterday and picked up seven stems of “sexy yellows” for just PHP200. These are more green than yellow and they are stunning on our side table in the dining room. I last wrote about these in 2011, here, and scientific names and other discussion threads in that old post are interesting if you are curious about the blooms. At any rate, this is a great example of have a a rather stunning and large, almost architectural arrangement for a very reasonable amount of money.

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Believe it or not, roses bloom during the summer. And must be forced or coaxed to bloom in early February (except in parts of the Southern hemisphere where it is warm at that time) for all those crazed folks who have bought into the commercial notion that you MUST give roses, often red roses, to your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day. Ridiculous I say. And I am notorious for my Anti-Valentine’s Valentine’s sentiment. Valentine’s is the one holiday where restaurants, florists, candy makers, etc. can price-gouge the doe-eyed consumers, and the latter play along willingly. :)

So in case you were starting to stress about flowers for the lady, girlfriend, significant other(s), spouse, wife or lover(s), here’s a bit of a reality check. In the Philippines, roses are aplenty in the summer months like June, July and even August. They are grown in greenhouses or controlled conditions in the cool temperatures in the Mountain Province Benguet, Tagaytay, and other cool elevated areas, for the most part.

Wholesale, at the Dimasalang market, roses such as the ones in these photos, purchased last July, were just PHP80 for a bunch of two dozen blooms, or just PHP3.33 per stem/flower. Yes, repeat, PHP3.33 per stem/flower. This massive bouquet, some ten bundles or twenty dozen roses, cost just PHP800 or so. Plus your gas to get to the flower market at 5-6am or so on a Thursday or Friday (when the selection is best).

A couple of weeks ago, I was at the same market and they were asking PHP160 per bundle of smaller and less appealing red roses (the cold weather actually affects the blooms negatively below a certain level of chill), already double summer prices. By this week, the figure will rise to PHP200+ and in the week before Valentine’s you will be paying quadruple the normal prices, for roses that are a mere shadow of their ebullient brethren during the summer months.

And retail in a snazzy city florist? Think PHP1,500 per dozen at least or PHP125 per stem. And imported ones, from Chile or Peru or elsewhere can run up to PHP300+ per piece! So think twice about splurging unnecessarily just because some greeting card company has made rose giving on Feb 14 so darned universal… Surprise your special someone with a massive bouquet in the summer, and take a rain-check at Valentine’s. But then again, Valentine’s is a HUGE day for florists, so if you can’t be bothered to plan ahead, help keep those cash registers ringing! And I must say, florists prices probably reflect huge increases in wholesale prices, so they are just passing on the pain. As for the snazzy restaurants, I guess it is a demand and supply thing, so they charge 20-100% more for meals that pretty much cost them the same… two thumbs down on that practice.

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I purchased these succulents about three weeks ago, and I have been slightly obsessed with “keeping them happy”… :)

At PHP50 for the “large” plants and PHP30 (which should have been PHP20 I found out at another stall) for the small plants at the wholesale flower market at Dimasalang, I thought they were a bargain. Just simply take them out of their black plastic bags and remove some of the soil…

…put them in a ceramic container or any appropriate vessel of your choice, then top with some moss and voila! a quick and architectural plant arrangement for your home. Total cost per arrangement was less than PHP200!

Notice how relatively “tight” the leaves of the succulents are on “Day One”. I brought them indoors, had several dinners and on the fourth day I realized their leaves were starting to “spread out”…

…that’s what these plants do when they don’t get enough sunlight. So I put them outdoors for a couple of hours in the shade but with access to sunlight, and the leaves started to close up again, though they never returned to their original state.

Some water ever two days or so (do not drown) and light every day and they seem to be seriously happy campers some three weeks later. My goal was to keep them happy for at least a month, but it looks like I will be able to exceed that goal rather easily. If that’s true, this is one of the most reasonably priced plant/floral arrangements I will have ever made. :)

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