Margarita Forés, chef, restaurateur, Filipino cuisine advocate; 65

“It is with a heavy heart that I share the sudden passing of my Mom, Margarita A. Forés ...,” restaurateur Amado Forés broke the shocking news in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

His mother, Margarita—Gaita to many—Forés, the chef and restaurateur behind beloved places like Cibo, Lusso, and Grace Park, died unexpectedly in Hong Kong after visiting Morocco and Madrid. She would have been 66 next month.

Margarita, the daughter of Dr. Raul Forés and style icon Maria Lourdes “Baby” Araneta Fores, had always been passionate about food.

“I was a fat kid who loved to eat,” she told the Inquirer in an interview. “Coming from a Negrense family who loves to celebrate around the table... Negrenses are so proud of their cuisine. We grew up in Manila but that heritage was around us all the time and we had regular trips to Bacolod, our home province. That was the seed that was nurtured through the years.”

Margarita moved with her family to New York in the ’70s and there, in the Big Apple, she continued to nurture her love for food. “My exposure became even more global. The Italianization of New York in the ’70s, that really affected me a lot.”

Mixing fashion and food

Also passionate about fashion, she worked for Valentino during the day but at night, she toiled away in the kitchen. “It was cooking for my friends that really got me in the gut.”

She launched a catering business when she returned to Manila in the ’80s. “I was getting attention, with me cooking at The Hyatt and entering an industry where supposedly somebody from my background would not be normally working with their hands. That’s the kind of image that people started to play up—here’s Margarita Forés, she doesn’t need to work, but she’s working in the kitchen.”

She got serious about her career in food when her son Amado was born, she told the Inquirer. In 1997, she launched Cibo, changing the way Filipinos understood and enjoyed Italian cuisine. Hers was a modern Italian cafe concept inspired by her travels to Florence and Milan—and she decided to put it in malls. Cibo would grow over the years to 26 branches in the country as of last year. In November 2024, it was awarded 44th Best Artisan Pizza Chain in the World by 50 Top Pizza.

Sought-after caterer

In 2016, Forés was named Asia’s Best Female Chef by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. She was also an advocate of Filipino cuisine, pushing it forward on the global stage. In 2024, she was one of the Women of Power awardees honored by the Inquirer.

Forés devoted decades of her life to food, opening restaurants like Cafe Bola, Pepato, Lusso, Grace Park, and The Loggia at the Palacio. Her catering business is also a favorite at weddings, diplomatic events, and other big-ticket affairs.

Not one to rest on her laurels, she had plans for further expansion. Last month, she opened a third branch of Lusso at The Podium. And later this year, she was supposed to open her signature restaurant, called Margarita, at The Shops at Ayala Triangle Gardens.

She told Inquirer in an interview, “I love when people say our food is super consistent. I think that’s a feat. But I think what’s even more fulfilling is when people say that they love the service at all our restaurants. It’s like being able to have that warm embrace from me and from those of us who created this wonderful experience, and sharing what comes from our home and from our hearts.” INQ

 

(2025/02/12-05:20)