House of art, spice of life

Art is the spice of our drab existences. Culinary philosophy with chili peppers playing a recurring role is something creative and artful. I tell you if Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo were dishes, they’d be platefuls of heaping spiciness.

You’ve joined me here inside a restaurant slash art gallery slash furniture showroom along Katipunan Avenue, and it curiously feels like home. Wait, grab a tulip chair and look around you for a moment. The walls are festooned with paintings by emerging Filipino artists. There are beautifully- and strangely-shaped lounge couches and chairs made of wood out the back punctuated by potted bonsais; exotic-looking jars, vases and accent pieces upstairs. The aroma of a home-style meal with onions and spice and everything nice wafts teasingly from the kitchen. You meet the owner (healthy-living advocate and interior designer Marlene Peña) and her kids (Isaiah and Carla), you find out how humble and amiable they are, how happy they are to serve you very good food, and you get the urge to live wherever it is they call home. Well, with that thought out of the picture, you could hang out at Silya’t Sili instead which is practically the Peñas’ other domicile. The next best thing.

Exotic, evocative: Decorative vase made from fiberglass resin and lamp made from straw grass and leather strips from Bali Photos by WALTER BOLLOZOS

Marlene, a furniture designer as well, and her husband, top architect Mike Peña, are responsible for how the structure and interiors look now (homey, airy, cozy, laidback, the stamp of green architecture all over), with the kids pitching in with their own contributions: Paul is an architect also (just like the Peña patriarch), Isaiah is in charge of the kitchen (a nurse by profession who loves food, and is the hands-on manager of Silya’t Sili), and Carla who shares her mom’s passion for interior design and, according to Marlene, has impeccable taste when it comes to materials.

Healthy-living advocate and interior designer Marlene Peña, who maintains Silya’t Sili with (right) son Isaiah and daughter Carla, explains, “In designing furniture, the number one concern is comfort.”

“We as a family who love everything that has to do with art, and we love food,” shares Marlene. “So, we came up with a business (venture) where we could bond as a family.”

Silya’t Sili was set up early this year, and already it has attracted quite a following, especially on Sundays where families from the White Plains, Greenmeadows and Corinthian Garden areas flock for the fabled laing, the fabulous goat kaldereta, the famed salads, and other dishes sprinkled with chili peppers and much love. One time, a total of 150 people came to Silya’t Sili  most likely for the homey atmosphere and the pocket-friendly items on the menu (to think its dining room, al fresco area, and events hall could accommodate around 155 persons).

Silya’t Sili serves Filipino food with a creative touch of Asian flavors, not as spicy as you’d thought it but would be based on the restaurant’s name, just enough to remind you what a joy it is to be alive and savoring good food at the moment.

“We serve dishes from Bicol and Pangasinan. Even Thailand. We have salads and chicken dishes. I am the one who taste-tests before the item goes on the menu (laughs),” says Isaiah. “Our bestsellers are the kambing dishes  kaldereta and papaitan. For the main course, we have the famous kare-kare, pinakbet and laing with a twist of Bicolano style, so medyo spicy.”

Marlene says that in fast-food joints, food is usually served with a lot of salt and soy sauce, a bit too fried and frittered for its own good. “I am an advocate of healthy living. So I go for herbal things. I told our chef not to use too much salt or sugar  and instead let the ingredients’ natural flavors come out.”

Air up there: The gallery with paintings, contemporary furniture and the airy cupboard designed by Marlene Peña herself

One of the more popular fares is Mommy Anita’s Buko Shake, an original recipe of Marlene’s mom. It’s all-natural: neither milk nor sugar is added. Another natural wonder in this place along Katipunan.

Living green

There are a lot of visually arresting items inside Silya’t Sili.

Such as artworks by Filipino, Indonesian and Chinese artists. One is by a famous shell collector who does calligraphy; another is by a dermatologist who has a passion for painting. Quite an interesting bunch.

Such as vases and jars found serendipitously in Bali.

Drifters no more: Lounge couches and chairs made from kakawati wood and other pieces of driftwood. “We (get discarded wood), preserve them, and turn them into art or furniture.”

Such as an air-cool cupboard designed by Marlene herself which airs away the dampness of newly-washed plates, cups and saucers.

Such as Scandinavian-designed chairs that are timelessly cool. With those relaxing furniture pieces, guests would want a good book while waiting for the food to arrive (maybe Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend, the last book Desmond in Lost would like to read before the world goes kaput).

In designing furniture, these are Marlene’s considerations: “Number one is comfort. Then color, it has to be warm. A chair is something to help you relax. It should anchor your arms, your back. The cushion should not be too soft as to make you slouch. It should allow you (to maintain a) good posture.”

And the lounge sofas and chairs have their own driftwood stories to tell.

Marlene said they are made of acacia, molave, kakawati and narra roots that can be found on seashores, in the woods and far-flung places in the provinces  discarded, considered junk. But not for those who see these materials’ potential for art, just like Marlene.  

Nothing much was added to the pieces of driftwood to transform them into functional furniture. The shiny burnt-sienna colors are natural; no varnishes were applied. Maybe methodical sanding only, or two wooden chunks were combined; with sealers applied and holes drilled to turn these naturally-formed wooden wonders into something else. And they are tough  they can endure the rainiest of typhoons or the hottest of summer days.

Another wooden piece resembles a psychiatrist’s couch. Try me, it seems to tell this spiky-haired writer, and talk about your mental problems.

Marlene points to bamboo-like shoots that have been gathered in the Montalban forest and shows how they can be turned into dividers. Even small baging or vines from Bicol (strong narrow strips, not the kind that Tarzan uses to swing from tree to tree) have become accent pieces with a touch of the Peñas.

Marlene concludes, “We preserve them and turn them into pieces of art or furniture. Materials don’t necessarily have to be expensive.”

All you need is vision.

And vision is the soul’s very own spice.

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Silya’t Sili is at 52 Katipunan Ave., White Plains Subdivision, Quezon City. For information, call 439-9294, SMS 0927-2211593 or 0922-8509071, e-mail silyatsili@gmail.com, or visit http://www.silyatsili.com.