Manos of Tagaytay

by: Angelique F. Parungao

Going up to Tagaytay, one cannot help but notice this quaint blue and white restaurant, Manos Greek Taverna at the side of Laguna Road. This restaurant has charmed locals and foreign guests alike with its unusual name and homey atmosphere. Since its establishment in 2005, this restaurant has always been one of the must visit places for great dining in the second summer capital of the Philippines.

One cannot help but wonder, who is the man behind this restaurant that created so much buzz in and out of Tagaytay?

Manos Greek Taverna was established by Emmanuel “Manos” Sapountzakis, a native of Crete, Greece and his Filipina wife of 25 years, Estrella. With his love for cooking, he took Hotel and Restaurant Management in Greece. Although he was trained to cook French cuisine, his love for his native culture and food made Sapountzakis decide that he wanted to establish a restaurant that will cook authentic Greek cuisine rather than French. “I studied French cuisine, but I’ve never practiced it. I like Greek cuisine,” he said.

With his desire to share his cooking expertise here in his wife’s country, he decided that it is best to establish his restaurant in Tagaytay, away from the hustle and bustle of Manila. But what is with the unusual choice of place? Sapountzakis explained that he likes the weather in Tagaytay since it resembles the Greece’s summer season. With temperature ranging from 18 to 30 degrees Celsius, he said that this is the ideal place for him, no need of air condition, only fresh air that he loves. But with the emerging popularity of his restaurant, of course, Sapountzakis would get offers to put up a branch in Manila. However, this restaurateur declined all 9 propositions. “I told them, I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t want to commercialize. If you do, you will lose the home made cooking,” Sapountzakis adds.

He said that the home made cooking makes his restaurant different from the rest. Following the law of Taverna, which is Carinderia in Greece, he decided that he would want to put up something that serves home made. To make the Carinderia style more effective, he then decided to incorporate the ancient Greek way of cooking- cooking without any preservatives. “We don’t use chemicals, preservatives, colouring, mantika, vetsin. These are all prohibited to the Greek cuisine thousand years,” he said.

Gree-pino

Although he loves the Greek cuisine so much, he said that he also like Filipino cuisine. “When they start cooking, I am eating also,” he said. Some of his favorite Filipino dishes are Adobo, Caldereta, and Sinigang. At one point, he also thought of serving these foods in his restaurant. However, customers who sampled these dishes told him that they would rather have Greek food in his restaurant rather than the usual Filipino dishes. “Nobody ordered it because they told me, they see me Greek and they want authentic Greek cuisine. So I removed. Nobody was interested about that,” he explained.

Being one of the 25 permanent Greek residents in the Philippines, he is very happy to get acquainted with the culture and the people. Most people around him call him Manos and he said that he likes that very much. From his almost 6 years in the country, he said that he has already picked up Filipino words, but admits that he has to learn how to speak in sentences. 

Another thing that he likes about the Philippines is the Filipino virtue of hospitality and importance of family. He said that the people are very nice to him and that he sees that Filipinos have a closely knit family life that resembles much of the Greek culture. “I’m a Filipino,” he proudly said. He also added that Greek and Filipino culture are very much alike. “Did you see the big fat Greek wedding?” he asked, “There are all the same. We love our family, take care of the old altogether, we live altogether. This is similar. We like family.”

With all of these things, Spountzakis said that he would be staying in the Philippines for good. He would be going back to Greece, but he is certain that he would rather stay here.  When asked to describe Philippines, this dual citizen immediately said, “Fantastic” in a heart beat.

Secrets

Now with his business making a big fuss around the metro, Spountzakis shared his one secret ingredient to his success. “The Greek cuisine itself depends on the feeling,” he said, “You must like what you are doing because there is no secret.” With the emergence of today’s new technology, he said that one can easily access the Greek cuisine. However, this passionate chef said that “the difference is on the heart.”

Spountzakis’ positivity, personal touch, and simple happiness radiate so much from his restaurant. That is why people will always go back to this place. Seeing all of the success he has achieved all these years, this Greek- Filipino says, “I make my self happy, very good.”