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The Pink House

The Pink House, with a vast garden, sitting in the heart of the city at the gateways between the North, South, and West, is an ultimatum of function and form mixing the old with the new.

Cebu is a city that bridges the past and the present. The Queen City of the South, with its strong pre-Hispanic heritage and colonial history is at present the most progressive city in the country. Amidst the fast growing development and changing architectural landscape of Cebu, one iconic house belonging to an old Cebuano family has withstood the proverbial test of time. A witness to the changing of guards of Cebu society, “The Pink House,” as known to many, has transcended from a family home into a cultural hub and haven for both local and international Cebu residents called “La Maison Rose.”

William Morris tells us in the Hopes and Fears for Art, “If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” The Pink House, with a vast garden, sitting in the heart of the city at the gateways between the North, South, and West, is an ultimatum of function and form mixing the old with the new.

Completed in 1939, the art deco abode was the home of young couple Jose Velez and Juanita Velhagen. Jose’s mother, Doña Esperanza Velez y Paulin gifted them with the Lahug property, while Juanita’s German relatives contributed funds for the construction. It had been host to occasions of all sorts; intimate dinners, birthday celebrations and anniversaries. “When I visited, it looked like the house was frozen in time; as if it hadn’t moved. It seemed like it had history and a past, and that is what I loved instantly about the house,” says Louis Thevenin, the Director of Alliance Française de Cebu (AFC), and the new tenant of the house. Founded in Paris in 1883, the Alliance Française was the first and now the largest collection of non-profit French teaching associations with local committees interdependent to each other, springing up around the world, with the Cebu branch instigated in by Michel Lhuiller, the honorary consul of France to the Philippines.

COMING UP ROSES We wanted to keep the fixtures of the house, from the windows to the flooring. I think that’s what made the owners of the house decide on giving us the lease.” The house was occupied by its heirs until 2006 and had stood empty until 2012.

Most visibly, they kept its color. “To be honest, we thought about changing the color, but when someone would ask me where is it, I always say it’s the pink house beside the Mormon temple and everybody would know where it is. Why would you change it when everyone knows about it? I think it’s as simple as that.”

Aptly called La Maison Rose, the new AFC center holds three main functions and Louis tells us it is futile to try to compartmentalize them. “All of the things Alliance Française encompasses should be taken in as a whole.” The Pink House serves as a French cultural center where art exhibits, film screenings, and shows are held. Most recently, an art exhibit entitled Liberte held on Bastille Day, featured artists from the Cebu Artists Incorporated, including Cebu-based Parisian artist, Remy Rault. It is also the headquarters for their French language school with 2000 enrollees spread through out the city at the center and at different universities.

But most exciting to curious connoisseurs and oenophiles is the La Maison Rose’ restaurant headed by two young chefs from France. The restaurant promises to be a culinary fête, with the belief that the best way to get to know a culture is through the stomach, serving classic dishes like quenelles using local fish and French lechon religiously cooked for eight hours with San Miguel beer. Prices also promise to keep your wallet in tact; a stereotype they wish to address on the price of French cuisine.

“The French are not heavily engrossed in the consumerist culture,” say Delphine de Lorme, the woman behind the interiors of La Maison Rose. “We like our antiques; and when something is broken, we fix them; we don’t just throw them away and get a new one.” Delphine’s pop art paintings were exhibited in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and London. She recently collaborated with designer Lani Pasquet on the interiors of GILT artisan lounge in Cebu. Looking for inspiration, the team behind Alliance Française wanted to embody its mission of introducing French culture. In this case, a theme best represented by Indo-chine (French Indochina, an imperial age territory spanning from what is now known as Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar) and Shanghai in the 30’s.

The team behind La Maison Rose had outright said, “The entire renovation focused on keeping intact the ‘soul’ of the house and to accentuate its 1930’s ambiance. The idea was never to remodel the house but to return it to its original.” Nothing in the house is brand new with most being old and forgotten pieces that were given “a second life.” Guests enter into the house through French doors with lion head knockers painted red. The original tiles carried over after the renovation spread throughout the floor, while the eye-catching walls in Tiffany blue set the room’s calm ambience without forgoing it’s vibrancy. Spread throughout the restaurant, vintage posters from Shanghai adorn the walls in tangerine, red, and black frames. Lampshades made out of zoetrope of La Tour Eifel and other symbols of French and French-Asian culture light up the corners of the room, whilst paper lanterns set the lounge aglow. Once belonging to Michel Lhuillier, the piano, painted white, sits by the main entrance. The high chairs reupholstered with fabrics from Vietnam bring the room back to its roots. A glance towards the ceiling exposes the house’s quirks with vividly colored parasols used as lamps, hand carried from Vietnam by Delphine herself. The sliding doors, bought in an old shop downtown and restyled, lead to the private dining room adorned with a Brigitte Bardot collage in Delphine’s signature art nuovo and Sakura flower wallpaper in blush.

The color pink has always been significant to the French. “Pink is the color of love. To live La Vie En Rose means to look at life in a happy way,” says Louis. With its novel concept, quirky interiors and excellent French food, you’re sure to leave the pink house with a smile.

by David Jones Cua
photos courtesy of Alliance Francaise de Cebu
Photography by Romain Rivierre

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Butch Carungay’s 50th in Neverland

By Emmanuel Hamoy

Cebu’s glitterati came out in full force for Butch Carungay’s 50th birthday bash at EdenClub. It was a fun-filled night overflowing with Pol Roger, trivia games whilst traipsing the light fantastic.

Butch Carungay and Janice Lin.

Gerry Laperal and Lotte Delima-Edwards

Romero Vergara and Oj Hofer

Mary Anne Aboitiz, Christine Pelaez, Tamsin Booth, Frances Siao and June Alegrado

Maris Holopainen and Carlo Cordaro

Janine Taylor and Mary Anne Aboitiz

Fashion

Lucky Colors of 2025: Harness the Energies of Emerald Green & Carmine Red for Success

Thom Browne Cropped tweed jacket

by Oj Hofer

With the Year of the Wood Snake underway, understanding the significance of lucky colors can help align us with its energetic flow. Rooted in Chinese astrology and Feng Shui, the year’s fortifying shades—emerald green and carmine red—offer mindfulness and good intention attracting luck, and fostering personal growth.

Emerald green, associated with the Wood element, symbolizes renewal, clarity, and inner peace. In the year of the wood snake, its dynamic energies will empower and inspire you, fostering growth, renewal and wise transformations. The hue is ideal for moments of self-reflection, study, or creativity. Wearing or incorporating this shade into your space enhances balance and mental focus.

Carmine red, linked to the Fire element, embodies passion, confidence, and vitality. This year, which according to the Bazi Four Pillars Chart, has a lack of metal, earth and fire elements, it will bring balance and the propitious energies. It’s perfect for professional meetings, decision-making, and moments requiring assertiveness as a splash of red can energize and embolden you throughout the day.

Stella Macartney vegan Leather tote

Stefano Ricci silk tie with paisley print

To fully harness their benefits, use these colors in a contemporary, mobile context; through clothing, jewelry, bags and accessories. Alternate between these two potent tints based on your needs. For example, wear green for calmness and clarity when you are going into stressful and mind challenging meetings or appointments. Choose red when you are going into places or situations where you need courage and motivation such as fashion galas, elite socials, prestige affairs, VIP gatherings and so forth.

Saint Laurent crepe de chine mules

Optionally, you can also choose to wear these colors inconspicuously in small details, such as a garnet or jade bracelet, or a ruby or emerald pendant and earrings set. Men can wear a burgundy or forest green tie or pocket square, or casual polo shirts with poppies or with botanical prints, or jade and garnet jewelry. Doing so can subtly align your energy with the year’s vibrational flow.

Jan Leslie emerald bracelet

Daily Mood Cuff Links with red tiger’s eye tubes

The use of colors is more than just aesthetic choices or preferential picks. Colors can serve as energetic tools, reminding you of your good intentions and keeping you mindful of you daily motions. Effecting an optimistic mental state in the wearer, they can effectively shield you from negativity while fostering prosperity and emotional balance. Thoughtfully incorporating them into your wardrobe and surroundings ensures that you move through 2025 with confidence and the right intentions.

Embracing emerald green for tranquility and carmine red for strength are intentional, mindful choices that have the power to transform your energy and shape your path forward. May you have the best of luck in navigating through Year of the Snake with harmony, energy, and the power to attract good fortune.

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The Java Jive

by Janine Taylor

“Coffee is more than just a drink; it’s something happening. Not as hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a location, but somewhere within yourself. It gives you time, but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be yourself, and have a second cup.” — Gertrude Stein, American novelist and poet

Coffee, that magic potion in a cup, is our morning savior and the fuel that helps us get through the day. Whether you’re a stickler for the classics and prefer an espresso or need to start your day with some café au lait or a cappuccino, and yes, we live in the tropics, so iced coffee is good too, we all need our caffeine fix!

The interiors of Eddie’s Log Cabin

Eddie Woolbright with the original waiters of Eddie’s Log Cabin

Growing up in Cebu decades ago, our earliest memories of coffee were the aroma wafting from the percolator at Eddie’s Log Cabin as soon as you opened the doors. You then stepped in for a cup of Joe and a slice of pie. For our parents’ generation, the ultimate sophistication was a cup of “brewed coffee” because, at home, it was freeze-dried instant coffee with powdered creamer and sugar. Folgers was the coffee of choice. Hyperacidity in a cup when you think about it!

Starbucks descended on our shores in December 1997, and our vocabulary suddenly expanded with venti, grande, and Frappuccino. People were willing to pay exorbitant amounts for a cup of coffee. But more than that, it was an experience. It was, all of a sudden, the place to be seen. It was trendy to have coffee at all hours of the day and not just for breakfast.

Cafes have now become the place to meet up with friends, a venue for meetings, and even a space to work from, and you don’t have to be a digital nomad. You can get caffeinated in air-conditioned comfort with WIFI and a snack.

“Seattle has unleashed this weird phenomenon called the coffee shop on the world. And the coffee shop, thanks to Starbucks, is the place where socially isolated, lonely, needy people gather together to ignore one another.”

— Mark Driscoll, American author

Armed with the adage that you can never have too much caffeine, we spent an afternoon visiting three great joints in the city.

The Spring creates the perfect escape for relaxation and comfort.

Matcha latte

The first stop was The Spring, with Scandinavian-inspired interiors and a super chill vibe. A hands-on young owner, Ange Delas Penas, knows her beans well. She was behind the counter, expertly brewing using filters I had never seen before, which she said she purchased in Taiwan. Her team of trained baristas can also whip up some tasty brews, from a cortado to a matcha latte, my latest addiction.

The inviting café interiors of Commonly Uncommon

Latte and espresso

Taking a different route to avoid a flash flood, we dashed out of the car into the warmth of Commonly Uncommon at Crossroads. Don’t let this non-descript, industrial vibe fool you; this java joint knows its craft. Commonly Uncommon uses single-origin beans and, like most cafes these days, also offers coffee alternatives. They are unpretentious and bent on giving the customers the specialty coffee they want, sans judgment. If you prefer oak milk or sugar or enjoy iced drinks, you get what you want. Hence, you will see diverse patronage, from those armed with laptops and headphones to office peeps grabbing a quick caffeine fix to ladies who have lunch and everyone in between.

Plus, they are the only café that thinks of customers battling hyperacidity by offering antacid sachets, which we availed before contemplating our orders.

Tightrope’s laid-back interiors, designed for comfort and creativity

Our caffeine-fueled afternoon’s final stop was Tightrope in the former Henry Hotel. Tightrope is the largest of the three we visited, with the same industrial vibe that is very common these days, and tattooed baristas. Large windows ensure that it is always bright, and this is where you will certainly run into someone you know.

A bold and aromatic espresso shot, ready to awaken the senses.

As this was our third stop, and yes, we were ready to run a marathon after, as we were so pumped, we decided to stick to the classics and have an espresso because you can always taste the quality of a coffee in an espresso. Tightrope has a delicious burnt Basque cheesecake that can be shared, so you can also share the calories. Winding up a well-spent rainy afternoon with great coffee and gossip, we liked all three coffee shops, but Uncommonly Common really stood out.