After end of TV Career Adrian Diongzon bounces back with ice cream

CEBU, Philippines — The moment I step inside Eats and Treats Café (ETC) for the first time, I see a man shining the floors. Make no mistake, this person who busies himself tending to seats, plates, utensils and ingredients, is in fact the man of the hour.

From calling the shots behind the camera as an executive producer for ABS-CBN Cebu, Adrian Diongzon now stands behind the counter of his very own restaurant.

For two decades, Adrian lent his storytelling and love for the arts to ABS-CBN regional. Starting off with the media giant as a production assistant, he soon became an associate producer, and then a regular employee in a span of two years.

An AB Communication graduate from the University of San Jose-Recoletos, Adrian has a lot to do with what people of the here and now know of ABS-CBN Cebu.

He did not only rub shoulders with your favorite Kapamilya stars, he spent entire days with them, from call time to pack up. Among his favorite celebrities are Jodi Santa Maria, KZ Tandingan and Maja Salvador, who he admires for being funny, wise and for not acting like a celebrity. He is also fond of Zsa Zsa Padilla for not being “showbiz” and for remembering faces well.

As for celebrities who appear to be quite a handful, he says that sometimes, even the brightest stars get tired of the limelight.

“Kapoy man gud. Not all people know that,” Adrian says in an interview over lunch at ETC, explaining that sometimes these television/movie personalities don’t really have bad manners – they’re just tired. For all we know, they’ve come straight from appearances with little to no sleep.

“You know how it is. You can’t smile because you’re tired. Not all people know that. They’re also human and they get tired. But of course with the talent fee…”

Like family

When you love what you do, it seems the only difficult part is distinguishing which is work and which is fun. When you do it each day for 20 years, you start to think that the one and the other might be quite the same.

Being an executive producer who eventually moved up as TV and Entertainment Head, Adrian wrote episodes, produced segments and honed the ABS-CBN talents under his charge.

“I didn’t have a hard time because my challenge is, I procrastinate but I write fast,” Adrian says.

As for the homegrown talents he’s worked with in “MagTV Na!” and “Kapamilya Mas Winner Ka” – now entrepreneurs and among Cebu’s top tier hosts – he says molding them was a gradual process.

“We’ve become like family. I was just with OJ [Jonathan Cimafranca] last night until like 2 a.m. We’re like brothers. Mura na mi og mag-igsuon. We fight for each other, and we protect each other.”

Which is why, when he got the call last year about the management’s decision to pull the plug on the TV production department as they cross the threshold towards the digital era, Adrian couldn’t help the waterworks – then and as we spoke.

Nothing could have prepared him for the news, even though he did know it was looming around the corner. But it was still different, sitting at the boarding gate in Hong Kong listening to his colleagues explain what happened. They told him that everyone was affected. Never mind the scores you got during evaluation – the whole department was closing its doors.

Low point in London

He’s always planned going to London, but not under depressing circumstances. The European city saw him at one of his lowest points.

Adrian lived in a loft in Central, above a small affogato shop. To comfort himself, he spent his days watching plays, about 24 of them, from “Hamilton” to “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Dream Girls,” “Matilda,” “The Lion King,” “Moulin Rouge,” among many others.

There were also less glamorous aspects to his trip: bringing copies of his résumé in case there was a job opening, for one. He had applied for jobs between waiting tables at restaurants and TV production. He would make sure to ration his meals and would go as far as a two-hour commute for a four-minute job interview.

“I got so depressed. I was so probinsyano. I brought my résumés with me. I applied for everything – waiter, marketing, TV, segment producer, airport… I went to an interview two hours away from the city,” Adrian ticks off.

Despite his skills and credentials, he knew he couldn’t stay for long without a working visa.

TV head to restaurateur

Back home in Cebu, Adrian decided to open his own business. Inspired by the affogato shop below his London loft, he thought of a little breakfast nook.

In big cities where rent would cost a fortune, he observed that shop owners made the most of the space they got. He wanted to do the same with his store.

One day, his current business partner for ETC, Murphy Mayol, asked him to try some mango float ice cream. To Adrian’s surprise, he finished the serving.

And that was how ETC was born. While he still does events, Adrian has mostly traded TV production life for the days of a restaurateur.

Nicely tucked at the side of Indiana Condotel along Cor. D. Jakosalem Ranudo Sts., the now-three-month-old ETC serves sumptuous meals like tuyo pasta, buffalo wings, chicken fingers, all sorts of soup, apart from their array of sweet treats (melon, halo-halo, cookies and cream, strawberry cheesecake, and mango martini ice cream).

As a child, Adrian says that before their father would dash off on the weekends, he always made sure his children were well-fed. Back in the day, their family owned Thrifty Mart, said to be the city’s first grocery store.

Each time he’d accomplish a task, a reward was bound to come. And so he always made sure that the orchids were properly cut, that his room was clean. These rewards, they almost always came in the form of the soft serve goodness that is ice cream.

“My grandmother was the most chikadora. When you do good things, the reward was ice cream. I feel like pangmayaman ang ice cream,” he recalls.

ETC’s mango float ice cream flew off of the counters, selling about 300 cups on the first few days. Adrian chose to bank on mangoes, knowing that it was a very Cebuano item.

“I didn’t expect gyud. Makalipay, maka-proud. We’re very blessed. Hands on gyud ko. I pick the mangoes, I choose the flavor,” says Adrian, sharing how despite not studying culinary, he learned from his family, and of course, YouTube.

He makes it a point to really be hands on, from the shopping to the cooking, down to the service. He cleans the store himself. You can see him taking orders, clearing tables and serving dishes.

When you come to ETC, it should feel like you’re right at home. The idea was to make the place as homey and cozy as possible.

Adrian has managed to put bits and pieces of his life into his precious corner of the city. As you come in, you’ll see a giant TV installation on the wall – an homage to his two-decade career in ABS-CBN, the color bars also representing the LGBTQ community.

Look to your right and you’ll find a mural of the popular cartoon icon Mickey Mouse, who Adrian identifies with a lot. Go in further and you’ll see a wall stacked with mugs depicting places all around the world. And of course, there’s the food.

“Our philosophy is whatever we serve here, dapat I like gyud. If people don’t come here to eat [the food], then I will eat it,” Adrian says.

While he isn’t a professional chef and did not study plating, Adrian instead put what he knows on the plate. In some ways, cooking is a lot like storytelling. And Adrian is a good storyteller. “Favorite nako tanan,” he insists.

Soon, ETC kiosks will start serving selected ice cream flavors near universities. Every now and then, the menu is also updated to make sure things don’t get repetitive.

This summer, ETC will also offer workshops on calligraphy, creating a style and brand, connecting people thru blogs, crocheting, claypot making, painting and a lot more. Set to be held on all weekends of April, mentors for these creative sessions will be announced soon.

At his happiest

You might say Adrian’s life is somehow a parallel to his chapter in London. For starters, he lived right above his very own store. But the stark difference is that Adrian is at his happiest.

Each day he wakes up with a thankful prayer, and goes out to shop for ingredients. He comes back to cook, and spends the day manning ETC. During non-peak hours, he goes upstairs for a quick nap. Some nights, the whole store is busy satisfying customers’ late night mango float ice cream cravings.

“I became simple. I value being simple. I even find joy in cleaning very much. You own your time,” Adrian says of how much life has changed.

He developed a keen eye for details and has a good idea of what he spends. “I’m still learning. Right now, I choose happy people. Above all, I want to work with people who are happy.”

“Now, I like what I’m doing. I wake up always happy, always excited. I’m always happy that it scares me. Even this morning. Little things make me happy, as in. I enjoy it!”