Dish with a twist

It’s not a food court, nor is it a fine-dining restaurant. It’s far from being a concert hall, and it’s nowhere near being a fastfood joint. It has some hot-looking girls waiting by the doorway, but from the looks of things, it’s not one of those naughty bars in Makati’s red light district (the girls weren’t in bikinis or even hot pants–sadly). It’s a loud and crazy jumble of all these, and somewhat relatively, none of these. One thing’s sure though: it’s a great place to hang out and chill any day of the week.

Head out to Dish at the Power Plant Mall in Rockwell Center.

Anything this cool and zany can only come from the troika of EJ Litton, Rikki Dee and Philip Cu-Unjieng. But of the three, it is EJ Litton who openly pleads guilty to that endearing "misdemeanor" we call Dish.

"Yes, I admit–Dish is my brainchild," EJ confesses, but obviously not in tears. "I formulated the concept out of my years of experience running Strumm’s and Stars, and having to line up at fastfoods, like at the Enterprise. What I did was to change the fastfood idea a little by making the customers sit down, and have someone else do the lining up for them. It’s fastfood and fine-dining all rolled into one big 240-seater function-concert hall. Basically, it’s a place I myself would like to go to unwind."

The business venture began as a fun undertaking among the three friends. Since they all wanted to milk EJ dry of his experiences in running Strumm’s and Stars, they all agreed to pump in a little capital for the "gimmick" place. Well, what started out as "fun" metamorphosed into a full-blown occupation for the three. Philip, who sometimes stays until the wee hours to close the place, looks all tired and quaky in the morning. But he says that he’s enjoying every minute of it.

"It’s amazing to see, especially on Tuesday nights, all these 40-ish and 50-ish people lining up to get a table at Dish," EJ says. "Tuesday is ’60s music, and almost everyone would be dancing and partying. It’s really amazing!" No wonder EJ, Rikki and Philip usually have to scramble for additional chairs to accommodate the swelling crowd. It’s SRO almost every night.

Customers have seven food preparations to choose from: Filipino, Spanish, American, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai and Italian–but all with a twist. This time, customers have the luxury of fine-dining services and, while waiting, enjoy a good round of live music.

"There is a certain expectation in the level of quality of what our customers will be eating, and enjoying," Philip, who is also the executive editor of People Asia magazine and a contributor to this magazine, clarifies. "With the seven choices, we are actually giving you something that’s different, whether it’s lunch, merienda or dinner. I’m sure you’ll find something you like."

Live concert-style music is one of the biggest come-ons of the place. Each night, Dish presents an eclectic mélange of what the bands would be like, and would like to play.

On Tuesdays, for example, it’s Spirit of ’67 with a full repertoire of ’60s and ’70s music. When Mulatto comes on board for their mid-week gig, it’s almost always ’70s music. On Thursdays, there’s the pop sensation Side A band. The Rage band then comes along on Saturdays to give their unique rendition of the ’80s sound. The other bands line up for their version of the tunes of the ’90s. After the bands, Dish brings out what they call "DJ Music"–a night of partying with the best spin doctors in the country.

"We plan to keep moving," Philip and EJ disclose. "We don’t want to have just one band perpetually within a one-day line up. We want other bands to have their kick at playing here at Dish so we could see who among them really connects with the audience."

The crowd that frequents Dish (Philip attests that some turn up almost three to four nights in a row) is in itself an assorted clique of both young students and yuppies–and oldies who still have a little kick and spunk left in them. Philip bears out that people have become so used to the party atmosphere at Dish that at times, they move some of the chairs to make room for dancing and, quite literally, boogie on the restaurant floor as the guest bands play. It’s a thing they don’t want to restrain, Philip explains, because what is a place without the party spirit? Too, Dish is where television and film stars hang around to "take five".

"We want to make it a multi-purpose hall," EJ explains. "There’s food, entertainment, guest bands, a function hall for fashion shows, conventions, corporate meetings, product launches, for whatever one cares to do–you name it. In effect, there is no limit to what we can offer our patrons. The possibilities are endless."

However, Philip explains further, it’s not only partying that they want to get into. Dish also serves a hefty lunch package for students of the nearby Ateneo graduate school and employees of the business establishments around Rockwell. It’s a little bit above the food court price–about P170 per lunch pack–but it’s still affordable. "We want to broaden our reach and the services we offer. We want people to know that Dish is a place where they can enjoy the ambience and selection of food for a reasonable price. We do not want Dish to be a snooty, upscale restaurant. We want to cater to a wider, more varied crowd."

Check Dish out and see if that crowd includes you–chances are, it will. I’ll bet my dish on that.