Pia's Kitchen
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Pia Lichaytoo tells us all about how her brand Pia's Kitchen came to be

From a woman who could not scramble an egg comes the best chocolate bonbons I have tasted in the Philippines. Pia Lichaytoo did not ever even think about cooking. She never spent time in the kitchen and had no aspirations of opening her own food brand. And yet, here we are. Life takes its funny twists and turns and has its way of letting you know where your talents lie. For Pia, it all began when she married Alex Lichaytoo, a born and bred foodie and the man behind Bacchus Epicerie. She wanted to impress him and cook him and their family memorable meals. The problem? She had no clue where to begin.

"I cried before because I could not cook. I was struggling...there was so much trial and error. Even just making a simple scrambled egg… I must have wasted 30 eggs trying to get it right. I could not even cook rice in a rice cooker,” she admits. Today, the tables have turned. Pia gushes about her love for experimenting in the kitchen, trying new recipes, and easily whips up stunning pizzas, hotpot, barbecues, sukiyaki, steaks, pavlovas, cakes, and now the most incredible chocolates.

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“[During] the pandemic, I experimented a lot with cooking new things since I had so much time. Chocolate came into the picture because we had a lot of chocolate couverture in the house. Bacchus carries this chocolate, and Alex brought a bunch home, so then I experimented. I played around and then after months of development my husband said they were good enough to sell.” And, that is exactly what she did.

Pia’s Kitchen focuses on desserts, on chocolates to be specific, because Pia herself always been a sweet tooth. “My first product was rocky road because this is my all-time favourite dessert.”

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However, the skill needed in pastry is unlike that involved in savoury cooking. It's more technical and precise. So much so that Pia wanted to ensure she was properly trained in order to fully give her all to the Pia’s Kitchen brand. “I took many classes on chocolate. I enrolled in the professional chocolatier programme with lots of homework and a forum that’s sort of like a chefs table so we can all talk and learn from one another. It’s a science. You have to respect temperature to get the perfect finish. The bonbons are so delicate,” she tells me. Pia learned all about the business aspect of creating an F&B business too, carefully choosing packaging, design, logo, colours and menu after further understanding her demographic and market.

Her creamy confections are clearly made with the best materials, with her ingredients and tools coming in from Italy and Switzerland. No short-cuts are made, and the focus is truly on artistry and quality, which you can taste in every bite, from her salted caramel, praline, dulce de leche to the coffee bonbons.

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Her interesting journey has made her absolutely fall in love with chocolate, and the culinary experience involved with it too. “My 24 hours is not enough. I wish I had more time in a day to spend with my chocolates. I spend all my time in the afternoon to night experimenting. My kids love it too because they eat all my rejects!”

Pia hints at new desserts and pastries that are soon to come out of Pia’s Kitchen, so while you rush off to order the rocky road and her bonbons, be sure to check back in soon for what is yet to come. Trust us, it will be worth each and every calorie.

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