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flavours, such as ube, a purple yam, and citrus fruit calamansi instead of strawberry and vanilla, was even riskier. And although the ube became a hit on social media, Insta fame didn’t dictate the offering. “It’s great if people want to come and take photos,” Shah says. “But there has to be a value to everything we communicate. Our black buko ice-cream is based on charcoal made from coco- nut shells. It’s a very traditional recipe from the island of Mindanao in the south of the Philip- pines that we wanted to showcase.” The collection of restaurants became the


Maginhawa Group in 2019, when Maglanoc and Shah began to find it difficult to explain to people a diverse collection of six (now seven) brands. Maglanoc chose the name Maginhawa after a restaurant street in Quezon City in the Metro Manila region of the Philippines with a community feel that she felt was the equiva- lent to Kentish Town Road. “We wanted to pick something that was


Filipino to reflect our heritage,” says Maglanoc. “And Maginhawa means blessings and good fortune combined with hard work. We love that meaning, because a lot of our projects have been like that.” With the new name came new management


structures. “The past few years have felt like a free-for-all,” Shah says. “We’ve been opening up two places every 12 months because of the opportunities we were being offered. At one point we felt like we were building a house of cards. Each project has been self-funded and organically grown from our cash flows. We don’t have any investors and have always been hands-on in every aspect of the business.”


Living the lifestyle Maglanoc admits that finding a team that shares their passion has been difficult – “this isn’t a job to us, it’s our lifestyle” – but there are now six people working in marketing, three in accounts and four in head office. Shah might be the one with chief execu-


tive printed on his business cards (“I don’t ever use them,” he laughs) but he says he and Maglanoc, whose official job title is company director, are very much a partnership: “She has the talent to run the group from the ground


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Sea Bream Kinilaw


“The South-east Asian market has a


lot to compete with” Omar Shah


level by building the right structure and lead- ing the team,” he says. “Whereas my strength is processing systems and productivity. And I pride myself in knowing every single dish on the menus. So I think we have a variety of skills that allows us to be productive and eliminate any layers in the business that aren’t efficient.” As to the future, Maglanoc still hasn’t given


up hope of opening a Panadera in Soho, but expanding the group beyond Kentish Town is not simply moving within London; the pair are also curious about international outposts. “We get constant franchise requests from


Qatar, Dubai and LA,” Maglanoc says, but Shah adds they need to work out how two such hands- on owners could make a success of things over- seas. “That’s on the curriculum for this year,” he says, “understanding where we want to go and the challenges it will take to get there.” And while Maglanoc says it’s “unlikely” they


will ever open another Donia, the early omens are that the site will prove to be just as much of a success as it has been for its previous res- idents. “When we were considering moving into Kingly Court,” Shah says, “we saw Asma – we call her auntie – and asked, auntie, what do you reckon about the space? She said, ‘Omar, it has a lot of baraka’, which means blessings. ‘It gave Imad blessings, it gave me blessings and God willing it is going to give you bless- ings.’ And I was like, that’s another layer of pressure and we’ve gotta deliver.” Yet as the Maginhawa Group has proved


Lechon liver peppercorn sauce 20 | The Caterer | 26 January 2024


time and time again, blessings combined with hard work are a recipe for success.


The Maginhawa Group


Bintang Founded in Kentish Town in 1987 by Shah’s parents. Under their son’s stewardship Bintang has gradually evolved from its original pan-Asian theme to a more Filipino focus.


Guanabana Opened in 2007 next door to Bintang. It reflects Shah’s love of Latin-Caribbean cooking and culture, from jerk chicken to adobo beef ribs.


Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream London’s first Filipino ice-cream parlour opened in Kentish Town in 2017, followed by sites in Chinatown and Westfield White City. The ube (purple yam) ice-cream, bilog ice-cream sandwiches and halo halo (iced evaporated milk shavings with jellies) are still breaking Instagram.


Panadera A Filipino bakery housed in a former dining room of Bintang with its own shop front, selling sweet and savoury baked goods since 2021.


Ramo Ramen


A pair of Filipino Japanese ramen bars, in Kentish Town and Soho, specialising in noodle soups made with pork-free broth.


Moi Moi Island A West African and Caribbean takeaway spin- off from Guanabana, serving jerk chicken, jollof rice, lamb curry stew and wings.


Donia A contemporary Filipino restaurant in Soho that opened in November 2022 in the Kingly Court premises formerly occupied by Darjeeling Express and Imad’s Syrian Kitchen.


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