My love affair with London began four years ago, when I started taking short courses in fashion at Central Saint Martins. To study fashion and to construct clothes does not only require inventiveness, but also patience and diligence. To sum it up, it felt like reliving Project Runway on a daily basis.
At the end of each day, dashing to a pub near King’s Cross to unwind became de rigueur. It was an experience I revelled in each time I would attend short courses. This daily habit, however, changed in the spring of 2017 when I met a new Filipino friend in London. His name was Scott Villacora. Our common friend, Jaime Ponce de Leon, had excitedly introduced us over afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason, the luxury department store along Piccadilly.
Fortnum and Mason is world-famous as a purveyor of tea—both blended and rare—plucked from every corner of the world. And it was a stupendous surprise to learn that Scott Villacora is the Head Pastry Chef of Fortnum and Mason’s tony Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon.
Fast forward to 2018, I casually asked Scott if I could write about him for Philippine Tatler Traveller, because I reckoned he embodied the excellence of the Filipino abroad and it would give his countrymen much pride to learn about him and to learn from him.
Suffice to say, our string of messages eventually permitted our schedules to match and we agreed to meet after my class one sweltering Monday afternoon. I escaped the heat of Piccadilly and entered the robin egg blue Edwardian setting of the tea salon. The tranquil ambiance hides the 400 covers (400 afternoon tea sets) the salon serves daily, thanks to the flawless service and the soothing piano-playing that can be heard in every portion of the spacious parlour.
Scott, who hails from Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, has been working in the United Kingdom’s food industry for the past 13 years. He earned his diploma in Culinary Arts from the Philippine School of Culinary Arts in Cebu City.
The passion for producing pastries began in his youth. When Scott was eight years old, his mother taught him how to bake banana cake—a staple in their family’s Sunday lunches.