Nic’s: Where fashion meets food, where NYC meets Makati

Rina Go, my Assumption classmate since grade school, has a secret ingredient to everything she does — whether it’s designing clothes, organizing a velada, baking, cooking or running a restaurant.

Passion. She never does things half-baked, and that includes taking care of her friends.

So when you step into Nic’s at the Park Terraces in Makati, you’re stepping into a passionate production of food and setting.

(Seated) Lizette Cojuangco, Rhona Macasaet and Rina; (standing, from left) Denise Mañosa, Dr. Liaa Bautista, Sandra Recto, Dr. Carmela Ongsiako, Ola Regala, Maribeth Santos, Jojo Ocampo, Lisa Uy, Andie Recto and Rose Anne Belmonte.

Nic’s started out as a wholesale commissary back in 2001 by Rina and her late sister Maggie — supplying a variety of desserts and savories to several cafes and restaurants throughout Manila. Today, Nic’s has expanded even further into retail, with two restaurant branches: one at UP Town Center (Katipunan), which opened five years ago, and the newly opened store located at Park Terraces (Makati).

The New York vibe at Nic’s Park Terraces in Makati.

Rina, the original founder of ‘90s local fashion brand VISEVERSA, decided to dive into the food business while simultaneously still running the chic female clothing line. Prior to this, she took Fashion Merchandising and Marketing at Tobe-Coburn, NYC, living and working in New York for 10 years. She, along with her sister, absorbed different culinary influences while testing dishes on their siblings during many a holiday season.

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Rina Go (seated) with (standing, from left) Louie Ocampo, Joey Tanjangco, Kevin Belmonte, Ting Feliciano, Noel Bautista, Ronnie Latinazo, Mikey Cojuangco, Anton Periquet and Leo Alejandrino when Nic’s was formally inaugurated.

Nic’s mainstays are still food chains that prefer to focus on food and leave the baking to them. Customers lean toward Nic’s for wedding giveaways, Christmas packages, corporate giveaways, too. Birthdays, showers, product launches, party orders have become popular as well with Nic’s.

When the Nic’s UP Town Center branch was renovated, interior designer Tina Periquet-Galicia took on the project and suggested a black and white, New York-inspired vibe — connecting Rina’s past with her current life in the food industry.

In the latter part of 2017, Rina and her daughter Nicole Thorp worked closely with Atelier Almario’s Ivy and Cynthia Almario in conceptualizing the design for the Park Terraces branch, which had its soft-opening in November 2018. Creating a glamorous and classy dining experience, Nic’s Park Terraces has become a place for many to meet, treat and enjoy themselves to the food and ambience on a daily basis.

(From left) Patricia Hechanova, Dani Osmeña, Nicole Thorp, Aless Marcos and Nicole Concepcion.

Diving deeper into the branding, Nicole, who Nic’s is named after, used her vast experience in public relations by curating a different kind of experience for customers — integrating taste in food and fashion. With the tagline, “Where Fashion Meets Food and Taste Matters,” Nicole believes that taste goes beyond food — it can be fashion, music, film, travel, Broadway, sports, etc. — the list goes on. Her involvement has helped Nic’s become more relevant to the millennial market, while still being a brand that is timeless and classy; grabbing inspiration from the 1930s up to today.

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Nic’s Oreo Cheesecake.

Nic’s creates delectable dishes that are typical bistro comfort food, as well as several pastries, breads, coffee, cake shakes, and now even cocktails.

Aside from the dine-in food at Nic’s, the brand also offers to-go dry goods and bottled items such as Seven-Herb Cheese and Parmesan Pimento Dips, and the favored Nic’s Parmesan Wheat Crisps, which are popular to be given as gifts during the holidays and special private occasions such as weddings or company events. Award-winning creations are the Peach Walnut Torte, The Brownie Walnut Cluster, the Dark Turtle Brittle, The Yema Cake and the Parmesan Ensaymada.

Nic’s provides a lifestyle experience that one can either relate to or aspire to have.  

(Nic’s is located at the ground floor of Park Terraces, Palm Drive, Makati City. Tel. nos. 0999-9933231 and 744-6427.)

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].  Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.)