Melanie and Enrico Cordero first met in 2004 at the Luk-Yuen Restaurant in Makati, a city in their native Philippines.

Enrico had found employment at the eatery earlier in 1991, while aged only 16, after his father suffered paralysis, forcing the young man to fend for himself and a younger brother. Melanie joined much later, in 2004.

Enrico joined the restaurant from the bottom of the hierarchy – as a contractual dish washer. So dedicated was Enrico to his job that it gave his bosses ideas. Other than scrap away at dishes in the kitchen, management now wanted to utilize his skills in the dining section, an offer that the young man did not warm up to, and Melanie explains why:

"The managers wanted him to work as a waiter in the dining section because he was good-looking, but Enrico is a shy guy who does not like mingling with crowds.”

Other reasons for his reluctance to move were more strategic, as Melanie further explains:

"In the dish washing section, he had wide access to left-over food which he could either eat from there or pack for home. What mattered at the time was survival in the most basic sense.” Talk of knowing which side of your bread is buttered!

One day, the restaurant’s kitchen run out of some key ingredients, forcing management to look for any second-best alternatives. Everyone in the kitchen was called upon to come up with suggestions and to experiment.

Only Enrico passed the test, beating even the resident chef, who in turn was asked to groom Enrico into a professional chef. The new promotion came with the added bonus of job security, as his status had now been elevated to that of regular employee.

Three years down the road, in 2003, he earned yet another promotion, attaining the title of Junior Chief Cook.

The following year, Melanie joined him at the restaurant, where she was employed as a dim sum counter in the kitchen. Unknown to both, the grounds for a long-term love match had been set in motion.

Melanie explains: "I reported for work on a Monday, which was his off day, so we didn’t get to see each other on the first day.” The following day, she saw the chef walking into the restaurant, although she didn’t recognize him as the chef. After all, he was all casual in shorts and sandals and a T-shirt. Soon, Melanie would learn that it was her new boss in the kitchen – and a handsome one at that.

But there was a small problem, which Melanie explains: "He was too strict and serious and you just could not approach him. He was also very shy.” 

Neither was he the kind of guy to reserve the soft treatment for the ladies. After a while, however, he started to ease up a bit, and Melanie recalls the times he would throw small objects at her while in the kitchen, just to capture her attention.

Eventually the suitor mustered the courage to ask Melanie out, although she initially and persistently turned down his advances. If anything, she was in a relationship at the time, which she told Enrico about.

It wasn’t the kind of relationship that would hold her back from giving potential suitors her ear. "I had a boyfriend with who we had lots of fights. He was such a jealous guy that he didn’t want me to even smile to clients.”

After asking her out four times, all without success, Enrico tried just one more time, upon which his wish was granted.

"That’s how it started,” says Melanie, adding that "I then told him about the fights I had in my relationship and asked him to move in with me.”

Enrico worked at the job until 2008, when he resigned to take up a new posting at Zen Gardens in Nairobi, Kenya. He was one of the pioneer employees at the restaurant, for which he worked for two years.

After six months, Melanie’s own contract at Luk-Yuen came to an end, upon which she looked elsewhere for employment. She applied for the position of stock clerk at a coffee shop, although she lacked the requisite qualifications.

"The manager told me I couldn’t beat other well-qualified applicants for the job –ten of them in total, but I challenged him that it’s only me who knew what I’m capable of doing or not.” Giving her the benefit of doubt, she was hired on the job–and did not disappoint. Indeed, she was quickly promoted to the rank of supervisor, and later, manager.

She managed the coffee shop till 2006, when she broke off to take maternity leave for the couple’s first child. "It was a sensitive time for me because I had been operated upon and one of my ovaries removed. Even after birth, I decided to not work but focus all my energies on parenting.

While working in Nairobi, her husband was tipped about a new oriental restaurant that was set to open in Kigali, and that needed an experienced chef. He later met Yasir Alam, the owner of the new venture and the two negotiated terms of employment.

In July 2010 when his contract at Zen Gardens in Nairobi ended, Enrico returned briefly to Philippines to visit his young family before taking up the new Kigali appointment.

"We left the Philippines in September 2010 and came to Kigali,” explains his wife, adding; "I did not come to Kigali as an accompanying spouse, but to work”.

Earlier, while her husband negotiated his own contract with Yasir, the latter had hinted on the need for a manager as well, preferably female. Now that she was here in Kigali, Melanie immediately applied for the job –and got it.

Melanie knows full well the factors that worked in her favor to clinch the job. Apparently, after hiring Enrico as chef, the Zen boss, Yasir could not be sure if the chef would brave the lonely stay in Kigali, a city that is relatively less vibrant than elsewhere where he had previously worked.

Getting Zen Oriental Restaurant started

The couple arrived in Kigali on September 2nd, and two weeks later, on September 25th, the restaurant opened to business, with Melanie as the Manager, and Enrico as Executive Chef.

And this particular phase was "lots of work”, recalls Melanie. She adds that there were modifications to be done, beginning with the kitchen. "We had to modify almost all ingredients after discovering that many of them were not available locally. For instance we didn’t find asparagus in Kigali, and had to look for the closest substitute –green beans.

The lettuce too was of a different variety than what we knew, and sea food was harder to find in Kigali, Rwanda being a land locked country.

Another area that needed immediate attention was the staff. "Being the first sushi restaurant in Kigali, we didn’t have experienced hands to work with. We had waiters who did not know what prawns and what squid are.”

Instead, the couple took to training their wait and kitchen staff from scratch, through live kitchen demonstrations.

Another challenge at the time was that "generally people here were not into spicy food. Even for Thai food that is by nature supposed to be spicy, we had to always ask clients if they wanted it spiced before serving them”.

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About Melanie Cordero

JUST TWO weeks after she had been born, in 1980, her father, an itinerant wood carver moved to Saudi Arabia, where he would stay until his death in 2005. In all this time, he only managed to return to his family for a two-week vacation once every three years. If anything, her father’s death was a double tragedy to Melanie, and indeed the entire family.

"That year (2005), my brother was getting married, and I remember my father worked so hard so that he could be granted leave to attend the wedding,” she explains. So eager was the father to attend his only son’s wedding, that he had his air ticket and wedding suit ready for the do.

Unfortunately, that was not to be, as he suffered a fatal stroke with only three days to the wedding.

Still, the family decided to proceed with the occasion, on April 25th, 2005. However, moments into the do, the family received devastating news from Saudi Arabia: Melanie’s father was dead.

Today, the date April 25th is permanently eked on her memory, and indeed, that of her entire family. It is a date that brings both sweet and bitter memories to them –sweet memories from the brother’s wedding, and bitter memories of a father’s most untimely death.

After high school, Melanie enrolled for an Engineering course at the University of the Assumption, still in her native Pampanga Province. However, she soon found that engineering was not her thing, and switched to Hotel and Restaurant Management.

Her first job upon graduation was at Luk-Yuen, a restaurant in Pampanga, where she worked as a dim sum counter.

Unknown to her, it is here that she would meet her future husband, Enrico Cordero, who at the time was the head chef. That was in December 2004.

The couple is blessed with two children; Victor Frederic Cordero (7), and Erica Francesca Cordero (2).