Margarita Forés: 'I Just Want to Cook for People'

Margarita Araneta Forés, Filipino restaurateur and scion of the Roxas-Araneta clan, has passed away. She was 65 years old. The news was confirmed by her son, Amado, in a post on his social media accounts. 

"It is with a heavy heart that I share the sudden passing of my Mom, Margarita A. Forés,” Amado said. “Our family is mourning this unexpected loss, and we kindly ask for your prayers during this time. We will be able to share more in due time.”

Early Years

Forés was the offspring of two illustrious and powerful names in Philippine society. Her maternal grandfather is J Amado Araneta, an industrialist who developed the commercial district in Cubao, Quezon City that bears his name. Her grandfather on her father’s side, meanwhile, is Jose Forés, a surgeon who was one of the founders of the Makati Medical Center, arguably one of the best hospitals in the country. She was born on March 23, 1959 to Raul Forés and Maria Lourdes Araneta. 

Forés attended Assumption College until she and her family were forced to move to the United States during Martial Law. There, the young Margarita was exposed to a diverse culture, particularly the culinary scene.

“I was a regular young Filipina from Assumption and was a super food lover because my family is Ilonggo, so our lives revolved around Ilonggo food and celebrating around the table,” she told Esquire Philippines. “When my family went into self-exile during the martial law years, it was kind of like a whole new experience because we were transplanted from the Philippines, and New York was such a big melting pot.

“Whatever it was that you wanted to see about, let's say, food, New York would probably be the most advanced,” she added. “They had everything, all the trends, all the new places in New York City, so I think that was a real blessing because I experienced a lot of things.”

Forés attended school in New York but flew back home to Manila in the early 1980s, where she graduated from Assumption College with a degree in Accountancy. She put her degree to use and worked in Hong Kong for a time, but her interest in cooking soon pulled her to pursue a career in the culinary arts. She eventually moved back to New York.

Besides the Italian dishes that she grew to love while living in the big city, a stint working for legendary fashion brand Valentino led to her lifelong passion for all things Italian.

“Working for such an iconic Italian brand taught me a lot about how to build a brand, and it also made me fall in love even more with Italian culture and the Italian sensibility,” she said. “I met a lot of Italians who were working for Mr. Valentino, and my jobs were like odd jobs. I was like a desk girl. I would cut the clippings from Women's Wear Daily every morning, the tags and anything related to Valentino. That was my job. At the same time, if Mr. Valentino was in town and he needed flowers or food for his dogs in his apartment, we would take care of that, so I think that, just being around in that environment, I kind of fell in love with everything Italian.”

At night, Forés said she would cook for her friends, and she often made them pasta, which she said she loved to do. While she enjoyed the fashion part of her day job, she soon realized that what she was doing after work was what truly made her happy. 

“Whether I was setting the table and cooking for friends or going to my grandfather's place in upstate New York on the weekend and inviting friends over so we could cook, go to the market, buy things, and cook and set the table. I think that was what really got me in the gut. That's what really excited me, so that was when I was starting to really fall in love with what I was doing.” 

Pursuing a passion

In November 1985, a death in the family led Forés and her family to return to Manila. Her move back to the Philippines coincided with the turbulent months leading up to the EDSA People Power Revolution. Afterwards, with a new government in power, Forés once again felt drawn to pursue her passion for cooking. 

“I told my mom, 'I really want to do this cooking thing.’ I said, 'Will you allow me to find a teacher in Italy that I can learn from and maybe see if I can take cooking courses and see if this passion for making Italian food is something that I really want to pursue?' So that's what happened.” 

Forés flew to Florence to learn Italian cuisine from the Italians themselves. She took a three-week cooking course and also studied the language. After the course was over, she traveled around the area by herself, signing up for another cooking class with another teacher and visiting places such as Rome and Milan. 

“These regions of Italy were the ones that I really fell in love with,: she said. “What was more effective in making me fall in love with what I was doing was that I was by myself during a time of introspection. I was 24 years old at that time, and I would escape and drive by myself, learning so much more about Italian food and culture, but at the same time, thinking about what I wanted to do.

“I love fashion, but I think the feeling I got every time I was in front of a stove cooking for people was real,” she added. “It was a way for me to fulfill the maternal instinct within me as a woman—the idea of being a nurturer and making people happy through food. It was the passion that made me truly happy.” 

Italian Cooking

When it was time for her to go back to Manila, Forés went to her Uncle Jorge Araneta, who, at the time, owned an Italian restaurant called Trattoria Uno in Ali Mall. She convinced her uncle to let her work in the restaurant and serve some of the cuisine that she learned to cook in Italy. 

Later, Forés was invited to organize a food festival by the then-general manager of the Hyatt Hotel. It was this festival that the budding chef said launched her career.

“Everybody was super impressed with my food, so that's when I started my catering,” she said. “Actually, it was small-scale catering. I would cook in people's homes and host intimate dinners, just with me and an assistant bringing all the ingredients to cook on-site. But, of course, at that time, I mean, I was getting so much attention. People were saying all about my food, how good it was, etcetera, but that's when I learned the hard lessons about this business—that it's not all about the glamour in the front of the house.”

In the early 1990s, Forés made the decision to focus on her culinary career, committing to her catering business, which back then was still small and “erratic,” as she described it. The birth of her son Amado in 1990 also gave her clarity and a sense of purpose.

“That's when I really became more judicious and more hardworking,” she said. “I decided to reorganize my business. My catering business started to grow, and it took me years to decide to open my restaurant, Cibo, in 1997.” 

Cibo did so well that there were lines during the first few days after it opened in Glorietta. Almost immediately, her take on Italian cuisine—particularly her Spinach dip, Penn al telefono, and Tagliata di manzo—was well-received by the market.

What made her happy

Cibo was only the beginning for the young chef. Over the years she managed to open a slew of restaurants that bore her signature style of cooking—Lusso, Grace Park, and Alta. Eventually she started to attract considerable attention across the region, culminating in 2016 when she was named Asia’s Best Female Chef by the organization behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List. 

In addition to her restaurants, Forés is one of the most sought-after caterers in Manila. In late 2024, her company became the official catering partner of the luxury Arete Resort in Tagaytay. And in January 2025, she oversaw the opening of the third branch of Lusso in The Podium Mall. 

“I just wanted to do what made me happy, which was to cook for people,” she said.  "That's really how I started. All my life, I was never a planner; I just make the most of whatever is in front of me. Wherever the world takes me, I follow my heart a lot, and I just make the most of whatever is there.” 

The country mourns the loss of an extraordinary chef, entrepreneur, mother, and friend. She will be missed.