Review
Having difficulty finding that perfect place to ask your girlfriend’s hand in marriage? Or perhaps, feeling the pressure of the “pamamanhikan”? Chef Myrna Segismundo and Chef Michael Navarra may just have the right place for you. Over at 45 Sunrise Hill atop the Rolling Hills of New Manila is a basement kitchen of a lovely home that they have converted into an intimate dining place where one can be oneself, relax and just cozy up with close friends or loved ones.
Chef Myrna’s germ of an idea to open up a private kitchen somewhere in New Manila was born last Easter Sunday during a family get-together. She was watching her nieces and nephews as they immersed themselves in kitchen activities amidst lively banter. She then gathered them all around to listen to her as she gave them informal lessons on fine dining and etiquette. It was also around this time that Chef Michael, her nephew, called up from Australia to say he was homesick and wanted to go back home to Manila. He wanted a more relaxed pace by opting to teach but was afraid that he may lose his touch if he no longer works in the kitchen. Soon after, Chef Michael returned to Manila and began teaching at the Magsaysay Institute of hospitality and Culinary Arts (MIhCA) and found himself partnering with Chef Myrna in setting up a place where he can cook at night and teach by day, during days he is not teaching at MIhCA. Thus the groundwork for New Manila Private Kitchen began.
