Desiree Benipayo has been in the restaurant business for 15 years now, and yet it is only now that she is starting to feel the birthing pains of opening a new restaurant and the fulfillment beyond compare that she gets with every little triumph. She and her family owned and steered the wheel of franchise brands, which came with their operational manuals and everything was set up to run smoothly like a well-oiled machine.

The menu was there, along with the recipes, and operations have been designed to answer to every single detail of running the restaurants and trouble-shooting when problems came up. All they needed to do was follow the operational manuals, manage the staff well, strictly implement quality control and throw in a little more diligence — and the restaurants would surely succeed. And they did.

But Desiree wanted something more personal, something more strongly fulfilling as a restaurateur. Now, she is following her heart when she finally opened a place that feels unmistakably her own, her own original concept restaurant — Thyme & Again — located on the second floor of Barrington Place along Congressional Avenue, Quezon City. She faces the challenge — and the satisfaction — of building her own brand from the ground up, no, not by herself, but with her two daughters Dana and Audrey, who help lead and run the restaurant together.

And so, this new beginning, which Desiree embraces wholeheartedly, is yet another family story, only told in a more personal way.

Desiree and her daughters created Thyme & Again as a neighborhood restaurant, one that feels familiar, cozy and welcoming, one that any diner who have tried it once would keep going back to because of the food, the ambience, the vibe, the service.

At Thyme & Again, cooking is a deeply personal experience, inspired by the way families gather warmly, generously and without borders. Desiree and her kitchen staff drew the menu from the sun-soaked coasts of Italy, France and Spain, reimagined through the bright, familiar soul of Filipino cooking. It is basically Mediterranean food with a Filipino feel which, as Desiree puts it, “is designed not for nostalgia but for discovery. They are new comforts, unexpected flavor twists, and plates meant to be shared.”

The Southern European cuisines form the core of the restaurant’s menu, but they have been given Filipino twists and surprises that complement them, as Desiree and the kitchen staff “reimagine” them to be, perfectly balancing authentic flavors with the warm and comfort that Filipino cooking brings to the table. Each dish, therefore, is meant to be shared and enjoyed by families.

The food draws on the freshness of the ingredients used, just like in Mediterranean cuisine, where the freshest ingredients are picked and used to bring out their freshest natural flavors. This freshness is manifested in Thyme & Again’s starters and salads, flatbread pizzas, sandwiches, pasta dishes, main courses and desserts.

Must-tries include the Frito Misto Platter (a mound of fried shrimps, squid, tripe, mackerel and mixed vegetables, served with tomato aioli, tzatziki and pesto vinegar); Crocante Pork Belly (crispy and moist pork belly, served with a side of green apple slaw and peach glaze) and Skillet Bourguignon (slow-cooked beef belly Bourguignon, served on a skillet with cheesy fondue sauce and topped with roasted vegetables). Their three pastas — Rose Amatriciana, Seafood Aglio Olio and Tableside Alfredo — are also worth indulging in.

What’s great with Thyme & Again’s menu is that each dish comes with a short list of allergens to help diners choose what to order safely for themselves. This shows how extensively focused the restaurant is on family, believing that food tastes better when it is made with care. Thus, their tagline: “Good Food. Every Time.”

And, oh, if you are wondering why the restaurant is called Thyme & Again, no, it is not because every dish has thyme in it but because they cook with real herbs, real warmth and “the kind of food families naturally come back for, time and ‘thyme’ again.”