Pipol

Profiles, interviews and human-interest stories focused on individuals. Columnists and their stories.

Nicole Alba’s Simpol Guide to Money: Practical Tips to Being a Smart Spender

By Simpol

August 14, 2025

Nicole Alba started earning money by selling origami at school when she was five. By 19, she was running a P200,000 windbreaker business and growing…

Nicole Ponseca and the Big Question: What Makes Filipino Cuisine? | IMFF 2025

By Tatung Sarthou

August 13, 2025

At most culinary festivals, the heat comes from the kitchen. At the International Manila Food Festival (IMFF), it came from the questions—intellectual, emotional, and deeply…

How #JuicekongHealthy Changed Chef Ylyt’s Life

By Simpol

August 13, 2025

At first, many thought Chef Ylyt was just a pretty face on their screens. But scroll a little longer and you’d find there was much…

L’Entrecote BGC: Fifteen Years of Staying Power

By Spanky Hizon Enriquez

August 4, 2025

On August 8, 2010, L’Entrecote BGC opened quietly on a corner of Burgos Circle. No hype. No sprawling menu. Just one thing: Steak Frites. Fifteen…

Joel Pascual stands alone in an empty ballroom—contemplative and calm—capturing the quiet beginnings of the Joel Pascual WOFEX journey and the endless room of possibility it created.

WOFEX at 25: Joel Pascual’s Room of Possibility

By Tatung Sarthou

August 1, 2025

Before the booths, the banners, and the buzz, there was just cold air—and a man who refused to quit. WOFEX at 25 didn’t rise from…

Filipina Chef Ivory Yat Vaksman’s Catering Journey: From Roast Beef to Resilience

By Tatung Sarthou

July 31, 2025

Chef Ivory doesn’t just walk into a room—she lights it up with a laugh you can hear across the kitchen. Her warmth is effortless, her…

Chef Kenneth Cacho: Mastery with Heart, Discipline with Soul

By Tatung Sarthou

July 31, 2025

It started with a silence. In a room full of clattering pans and ticking clocks, everything paused when Chef Kenneth Cacho plated his final dish:…

Inside the LTB Philippines Chefs Association: Uplifting Chefs, Changing Futures

By Simpol

July 25, 2025

There was a time when the Philippines had no real space for chefs to thrive. Fine dining was seen as excessive. Culinary competitions were rare.…

Quiet Filipino Heroes: What We Choose to Stand For

By Tatung Sarthou, Editor-in-Chief, Simpol.ph

July 18, 2025

Some people shout to be seen. Others stand quietly—and still move the world. This week at Simpol, we bring you stories of Filipinos who take…

A Taste for the Lost: How John Sherwin Felix Revives Filipino Food Heritage

By Tatung Sarthou

July 18, 2025

The salt came wrapped in brown paper, coarse and heavy. John Sherwin Felix opened the bundle in his Mindoro kitchen—and everything shifted. It wasn’t trendy…