A Temple for Tapas

Neri&Hu reference Fort San Pedro and the Queen City’s old churches for Pig & Palm, Cebu’s hippest bar and restaurant.

- Judith Torres

Like bright binary stars, the three power couples travelled each in their own orbit—Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu in architecture and design, Jason and Ihra Atherton in cuisine, and Chris and Carla McKowan in real estate. The three might never have crossed paths were it not for ties to Cebu that drew them all at the right time to the Queen City of the South.

The auspicious confluence began three years ago. The UKbased Athertons were in Cebu, Ihra’s hometown, looking to buy a house for her mother. They were eyeing one of the properties developed by MSY Holdings, owned by Carla’s family, where she is director, and husband Chris McKowan, chief of operations. The two couples met and hit it off. “We have many things in common,” says McKowan, who worked in real estate in London, where he met Carla Yeung, then studying law at university.

“Apart from both husbands being Brit and the wives being Cebuana, I really liked that they were taking care of Ihra’s mom. I felt we shared the same values,” says Carla. McKowan adds: “We love good food and eating out. We knew Jason was a chef, but we were blown away when we discovered he was Michelinstarred, with over a dozen restaurants in London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, and Sydney.”

The friendship led to earnest discussions between the two couples of putting up a restaurant in Cebu, and that’s when the Athertons pulled in Shanghai-based architect Neri and his designer wife, Hu, who had already designed several of their restaurants. Neri said yes at once, delighted his first project in the Philippines would be in his old hometown: “It was good to be able to give back something—albeit small—to a city that has given me so much.”