IF all people just tightened their belts and entrepreneurs proved less creative and enterprising, the economy would really collapse.

This is the rather unorthodox belief of a partner in a new restaurant-bar in The Fort, Taguig, called The Establishment. It will open in December.

“We have a thing called ‘sympathetic recession,’ where the rich tend to tighten their belts because they’re sympathetic with everyone else,” says Archie Rodriguez. “But that won’t last for long. They don’t want to be locked up in their house doing nothing. What we’re trying to offer is an extended living room and dining room, and extension of their home. We’ll be able to treat you the way you want to be treated.”

The Establishment will culminate Philippine Tatler editor in chief and Inquirer columnist Anton San Diego’s dream to have his own restaurant and bar that’s at par with the world’s best. A seasoned traveler like all his partners, he had always envisioned a place with the same standard of service and aesthetics as the best he had tried abroad. A place that, he says, if transported elsewhere in the world’s key cities, will still be a good fit.

San Diego studied hotel and restaurant management at Les Roches in Switzerland, before he made the detour into publishing.

His dream team consists of Technomarine Phils. CEO Raffy Florencio, who first approached him with the idea; interior designer Anton Mendoza; chef-restaurateur Margarita Forés; Rodriguez, president of Global Restaurant Concepts Inc., the company behind the California Pizza Kitchen franchise; and a few other “silent partners.” The four are San Diego’s close friends.

San Diego, according to Rodriguez, is “the glue” holding the group together.

Ambitious

They know that Establishment is an ambitious project, not just for the timing of its opening (“we had planned this long before the recession,” San Diego says), but more for the high standard they have set for themselves.

Rodriguez talks of a “bespoke” service, where the host instantly knows the seating and food preferences of repeat customers. San Diego even handpicked the flatware.

Mendoza designed the place inspired by key pieces in his recently finished home in Makati, foremost of which is a limited-edition cabinet by the Portuguese company Boca do Lobo. Its intertwined black wood pattern mimicking a forest will be the focal point of “The Hall,” the main dining area. Mendoza’s penchant for chandeliers will be evident all over.

Heavy velvet curtains, a key element in the department store Adora, another Mendoza work cited in the November issue of Wallpaper magazine, will also be used to underscore luxury.

The Establishment has four outlets: “Tulipan,” the Spanish tapas bar, so named for its tulip-patterned wallpaper; a hip French bistro called “Crystal Room,” to cater to the young and the old, with sectionalized half barrel seating and chandeliers; “The Hall,” which can seat 130, and designed with multipurpose stage for events like fashion shows and performing artists; and “Brocade” on the second level, which will serve Modern-Asian food à la New York City’s Buddakan. The place will also have a 12-seat chef’s table.

Forés, who will open her own place, Lusso, at Greenbelt 5 at about the same time, says Establishment has brought her back to the kitchen where she puts together the food concept for the four outlets. But this time, she’s not doing her signature Italian cuisine.

New

“It’s a complete contrast from what I’ve been doing so it feels like new all over again,” she says, while whipping up tapas samplers for Tulipan. “It’s also new for me because I’ve only dabbled in Japanese and Chinese food, and only when our catering clients required them of us. It’s exciting to have a new way of expressing myself.”

A seasoned chef from abroad will be brought in to join Forés. A New York mixologist based in Bangkok, will man the bar at the opening.

Unlike Embassy, Establishment is not a club, San Diego says. “It’s not by membership. Everyone is welcome. It will be a lounge… For people our age, you want to go someplace comfortable where you’re not shouting at each other… It’s not the club atmosphere we’re going for. The best part is that it’s all in the same strip, so [customers] can have different choices.”

Mendoza stresses that there will be “no segregation of age” at Establishment. “There are kids these days who are very close to their parents that, sometimes, their groups are intertwined.”

“The most fun place for people our age was ‘Giraffe,’ and it wasn’t a dance club,” San Diego recalls. “It was a bar. If people liked to dance, they danced where they stood.”

This early, people are intrigued. “So obviously we can’t fail,” says Rodriguez, in half-laugh. “We’re also educating the market. We make them more discerning, making them realize that the places they always go to, where they might have been comfortable in, aren’t offering the same thing anymore. The price difference is so minimal and you enjoy yourself so much more in these new places.”

“It’s a dream more than anything else,” San Diego says. “We want to do something that would be appreciated, something excellent. Why not here?”