The head chef of award-winning Makati-based restaurant, Toyo Eatery, earned another accolade after it earned the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award late last month.
Chef Jordy Navarra dedicated this award to the late renowned chef Margarita Fores, who died at the age of 65 on February 11.
READ: From Matteo Guidicelli to DOT secretary: How Margarita Forés made an impact on people
“Receiving the Art of Hospitality Award comes at a bittersweet time. Hospitality is all about how you make people feel, and in talking about Filipino hospitality specifically, Margarita Forés was the best at it. She didn’t just live and breathe it, she was the embodiment and the icon of hospitality for Filipinos,” Jordy wrote in a heartfelt Instagram post.
Jordy shared that he first encountered Margarita by chance as a young cook in Hong Kong where he was met with the “warmest hug” and later a Facebook friend request.
.”..it felt so surreal. Even then, as a random cook she just met, she made me feel welcome in a community that I didn’t realize existed. My encounter with her was the first memory in my food bank that wasn’t about food. It was about how she made me feel as someone she just met,” Jordy shared.
“Everyone who knew her in our industry can’t deny the space she occupies amongst the greatest. Whenever I think about Filipino hospitality, I will forever see her face and hear her voice. I hope that you do, too.
This one is for you, Margarita,” he concluded, dedicating the award to Margarita.
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Culinary icon Margarita “Gaita” Araneta Forés, who was once named Asia’s Best Female Chef, was found unresponsive in her hotel room in Hong Kong, her stopover from a trip to Morocco before returning to Manila last February 11.
She owned CIBO, Grace Park Dining, Lusso, The Loggia at Palacio de Memoria, Cibo di Marghi and Museya Kafé.
Meanwhile, Toyo Eatery has received the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award 2025 in a pre-announced special award given ahead of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony in Seoul, South Korea on March 25.
Last year, it placed 24th on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, making it the best in the Philippines in 2024. It was the fifth time it entered the Top 50.
Toyo Eatery debuted into Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants as the One To Watch in 2018.
READ: ‘Pinoy power’: Toyo Eatery is No. 24 best restaurant in Asia
