Filipiniana Restaurant

Once Upon A Time There Were 3 Little Girls,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, each of them wanted to cook. Ruwela Samonte, Vicky Ware & Rozan Gante. ( Seen above left to right)

By chance in 1999 they all arrived & met in Lakenheath, England, & the idea of Filipiniana, a Filipino Restaurant was born at the end of that year.

The search began for premises & as luck would have it an Indian Restaurant in the village was closing down, the place was needing new tenants, enter the 3 girls. After much negotiation & deliberation the restaurant was in their hands in March 2000. However, it was in a mess. A lot of cleaning, decorating, refurbishment & time were going to be needed to bring it up to the required standard. So, every spare day, hour, minute was spent getting the place ready, & on May 19th 2000 Filipiniana Restaurant opened for business.

At first,, all the Restaurant had was Styrofoam plates, plastic knives & forks.... 2 food warmers, so it was fairly basic to say the least but the people came,, on those first days they came in large numbers, they where queuing out the door at times. The novelty of a Filipino Restaurant had hit Lakenheath, but, the popularity eased off slowly which was good as it would have been very difficult to keep up otherwise. However, thank you for the support & patience at times in those early days.

After a few weeks an investment was made in some plates, knives, forks, spoons etc. so people could eat properly. The business was now in full flow, regular customers began to appear, some people coming in 3 or 4 times a week, some even more. Customers began to become more like friends than customers. Orders came in for the girls to do catering for all sorts of functions both at the restaurant & in the local community. so,, on the Restaurant went,,,, at times very busy indeed.

In April 2002 unfortunately Rozan had to leave to go back to the United States, so, the 3 became 2. A party was held to mark the departure.Rozan was missed by all for her ability to organize.. However,, the place continued on,, new customers came,, old ones left, new friends all the time.

Over the years there have been some interesting events in the restaurant. 1 night a young man produced a ring from his pocket, got down on one knee & proposed to the woman with him, it was Valentines Day, she said yes (of course). Another was the wedding of Darlyn, (one of the waitresses here) & Michael, The restaurant was decorated for the occasion & looked fantastic.

In May 2004 Vicky left to start life in the USA as her husband & long time supporter of Filipiniana was retiring from the USAF. Vicky is greatly missed, mainly for her ability to cook & serve a banquet from seemingly little preparation in a matter of minutes. We wish her and her family all the best for the future.

So, that leaves just one of the original 3 left, she is here and working as hard as ever to continue the good will & service we have always strived to offer.

That is the story in brief, the restaurant continues on, for better & for worse, like all businesses there are good times & there are bad, make light of the bad,, enjoy the good.

Thank you to all who continue to support us. Welcome to all who have not yet made a visit. Hopefully we will see you soon.