Angel Aquino opens up about love life, multi-hyphenate career, and food adventures

Easily one of the most beautiful faces in the showbiz industry, Angel Aquino has continuously reinvented herself, proving that she’s more than just an award-winning actress and seasoned model.

These days, she’s also known as a lifestyle host with two weekly TV shows on Studio 23—“Us Girls” on Sundays and the new travel-cooking show, “Tablescapes: Life on a Plate,” on Mondays.

“Tablescapes,” which also features the US-educated Chef Bruce Lim as co-host, is a dream come true for Angel.

“I really like ‘Tablescapes.’ I learned so much from the show. This is my dream to see the Philippines before I go outside the country. With this show, I got to go to places, which I’ve never been to before,  and I got to discover the different cultural diversities of each of these places,” Angel told The FREEMAN Entertainment during a recent visit to Cebu, where they shot a Chinese New Year-themed episode.

“Tablescapes” showcases the sumptuous cuisines in the different islands, particularly the less visited, of the Philippines. Aside from Studio 23, it also aired on the The Filipino Channel (TFC).

During her recent visit here in Cebu, they featured Cebu’s famous Chinese restaurant, The Ching Palace in Salinas Drive, Lahug, for their show’s Chinese New Year special.

The 35-year-old Angel revealed a lot of first-time experiences, particularly her food adventures, in “Tablescapes.”

One episode, she shared, required her to eat a mangrove worm cooked in a fresh-kilawin style when they went to Puerto Princesa in Palawan. Another unforgettable experience was what they went through in Guimaras, particularly in Isla Naburot, where there is no electricity and they had to return to the city by wading through torso-level water, armed with only flashlights and cellular phones to guide their way.

With the different parts of the country that she has been to, Angel has learned to tell the difference in the way people set their table and the kind of food that they serve. 

“It really depends on the province. Just like in Davao, it was a tribal community that we went to.  So, we served dinner for the Datu. You can really see the simplicity in the cuisine,” Angel explained.

It was also their first time to shoot in Cebu and have every intention to return here.

“I like to go back here in Cebu because of the culture and also for its fashion scene because I can really see that there are a lot of creative fashion designers in this part of the country,” said Angel.

“We don’t do a feature on our guests. We just let them eat and enjoy the food,” said Angel on what made their show unique from other cooking-oriented lifestyle shows.

Even as she seems to be enjoying lifestyle hosting so much, she said that she equally loves acting and modeling as well. 

“I also love acting because for me it’s very challenging, I’m  recently offered to do a ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’ episode but I’m afraid because I know that they will let me cry almost in the entire episode,” she said with a laugh. “With modeling, it comes naturally. Just show me a dress and I’ll put it on. I already know how to justifiably carry a dress.”

She continued, “With hosting, it’s an opportunity for me to discover things and to know a lot of people from all walks of life, which I liked very much.”

The interview did not end without having to ask Angel about her love life. Even as she has been very private about it in the past, Angel surprisingly opened up about it to The FREEMAN. 

She revealed that they just had their first anniversary with her boyfriend, Louie Villaruz, and according to her they had a great first year. Despite their age gap (he’s six years her junior), she enthused, “I have so much fun when I’m with him. He is so business-minded and very maabilidad, and that’s what I like about him.”

With that, The FREEMAN had to ask her if there would be wedding bells anytime soon, since she herself revealed that her marriage with her former husband has been annulled six years ago.

“Not yet. I don’t know, you better ask Louie about that,”Angel said with a laugh.

The cooking show with a twist, “Tablescapes: Life on a Plate,” airs every Monday at 11PM on Studio 23.