Malu Veloso

Yesterday, after having lunch at terry's, at B1 of Podium, we hied off to Malu Veloso's atelier with a mission. I had promised to ask how much a baptismal dress cost for a friend's niece. When we entered there was no one in sight, so I said, "knock, knock" and her old assistant came out. She remembered my name and said it aloud. Malu came out.

As usual she was very gracious and told us (my husband, son and me) more than the prices of baptismal clothes which were as follows: P5500 for organza, P6000 for jusi and P7500 for pina. (I only saw the organza and jusi versions but I prefer the organza's design: puff sleeves, empire cut with a ribbon where the cut is. Very sweet and feminine. the jusi's design was more straightforward. It was round-necked with embroidery. It looked okay but wasn't sweet-looking enough for me.) We talked about dresses of wedding sponsors (she said a brown-gold combination is yucky, and so is satin). She suggested that as I am in a wheelchair, if I become a wedding sponsor, I should be in a blouse and skirt. Malu had some gowns on display and most were tastefully done. Beading was spare and elegant (less is more), not at all overpowering except for one gown. It was violet and heavily beaded. It wasn't very Malu so I have this sneaking suspicion that it was the customer who specifically asked for such.

Our conversation veered to food and she confessed that before she went into making gowns, she used to bake cakes. She and her mom were a tandem: her mom made the gowns and offered Malu's wedding cakes to her customers. Malu showed me albums with her mom's pictures and works. She also showed me an album containing pictures of her latest venture: The Garden Room in 2650 Zamora Street Pasay City, with telephone numbers 8318407 or 6315054, 09176008886. Email address is bootsieveloso@yahoo.com. The place was the house she grew up in, made by her father ___ Antonio, National Artist for Modern Architecture. Lovely pictures of a lovely house and garden. The restaurant, though, is not for walk-in clients. One has to make reservations to eat there. The maximum it can accommodate is 40 people and the menus are set as follows:

Menu 1 @ 700 per person: mustard chicken, seafood pasta, melanzane (an eggplant dish), baked sole with capers. Menu 2 @ 700 per person: roast chicken, pasta with balck olives, anchovies and mushrooms; melanzane, baked sole with whole tomatoes. Menu 3 @700 per person: roast rosemary chicken, putanesca, melanzane, baked sole with whole tomatoes. Menu 4 @ 800 per person: tenderloin, chorizo pasta, mustard chicken, baked sole with capers. Menu 5 @ 900 per person: roast leg of lamb pasta with pesto sauce, roast chicken, baked sole with whole tomatoes.

All menus come with fresh fruit juice, fresh green salad with caesar salad and oil and garlic dressing and assorted dessert tarts.

She is very proud of the garden so if customers ask to reserve for dinner, she suggests they come at 5:30 so they can see and appreciate it. For huge groups, she suggests they come in vans so parking won't be a problem.

Wonder if we'll ever get to try it out. quite a distance from the house. We'll see.