'Akala ko scam': The hilarious reasons these two PH restaurants skipped their Michelin ceremony
El Poco Cantina - Malate and Kodawari were among the 74 Michelin Selected restaurants, but they were not able to attend the inaugural ceremony after mistaking the emails for scam and spam.
El Poco Cantina owner Richard Ken “Tots” Ramirez took to Facebook to share a funny yet regretful moment after finding out his restaurant was indeed mentioned during the awarding ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 30.
In the post, Ramirez shared a photo of himself realizing the epic moment with the text, "We got Michelin Selected without me even knowing because I blocked the email. I thought the email was a phishing scam," he wrote.
"Yes I’m at home and I am in tears and shock. Thank you so much El Poco fam for making this happen. Akala ko scam yung Michelin," he captioned the post with laughing emojis.
A similar incident happened with Toni Potenciano, the co-owner of Kodawari in Salcedo, Makati.
She shared how it's been a "crazy week" for her after spending the day filing a police report for her phone that got stolen, and having her wisdom teeth removed, before later finding out that their Michelin Guide invitation went to the spam folder.
"[L]iterally found out after that we had an invite to the [Michelin Guide] awarding, which went to our SPAM!!! wow. Kodawari Salcedo is a Michelin-selected restaurant," she wrote. She went on to thank her Salcedo team for making the achievement happen.
Social media users were both entertained by the epic moment and quick to congratulate the restaurants.
"Pasado na sa Michelin, pasado pa sa cybersecurity awareness," an X user wrote.
"Gets na gets ko yang phishing scam email wag ka magalala hahahahahaha good looking out for information security!!! And grats on the star nomination!!!!" a Facebook user commented on El Poco Cantina's post.
"Malala trust issue sa emails. Hahahaha. Ganunpaman, Congrats po," another Facebook user wrote.
Michelin Selected restaurants are those that use "quality ingredients that are well-cooked."
“It means that the inspectors have found the food to be above average, but not quite at star or Bib level," said Michael Ellis, International Director of the Michelin Guides.
El Poco Cantina in Taft Ave. is known for its casual Mexican menu. Michelin Guide highlights the restaurant's crispy and soft flour tortilla tacos—especially the beef barbacoa or pork carnitas—which they suggest pairing with their horchata.
Kodawari, on the other hand, is celebrated for its signature gyudon, which the Michelin Guide hails as "the ultimate comfort food."
Last Oct. 30, 25 restaurants were awarded Bib Gourmand, eight restaurants were given One Michelin Star, and Helm was the sole recipient of Two Michelin stars.
