THERE was a time when LGBTQ+ couple, Venz and Venus, had only P200 left in their hands, a karenderya-type-restaurant, and faith with them.
For the couple behind Ven’s Kitchen in Basdiot, Moalboal, love was never just about romance. It was a risk.
Months after meeting online in late 2015, they left stable careers to open a modest four-table eatery in March 2016, gambling that if their relationship worked, the business would, too.
When the pandemic and Super Typhoon Odette forced them to close and they were pushed to financial rock bottom, faith and each other kept them going.
From online strangers to business partners
They met online in late 2015, with no intention of falling in love.
At the time, Venz from Manila was working for an IT company in Malaysia, while Venus from Davao was employed as a hospital pharmacist in the Philippines. What started as friendship quickly turned into something deeper. By November that year, they made their relationship official.
Just months later, in March 2016, they opened a small eatery in Basdiot with only four tables.
“It was risky,” Venus recalled in an online interview with SunStar Cebu on Thursday, February 12, 2026. They were getting to know each other while building a business at the same time.
If the relationship failed, the business could collapse. If the business failed, it could strain the relationship.
“But as we go along, we learned how to give and respect each other,” Venz said.
Four tables and big ideas
They started “karenderya style.” The space was simple and barely noticeable.
What they lacked in capital, however, they made up for in creativity.
They introduced witty names for their dishes and served food in small pots to catch attention. A chicken dish cooked in coconut milk was called “Snow White.” Inspired by the popular series “Orange Is the New Black,” they named their orange-glazed chicken “Chicken with the New Orange.”
Curious customers began asking about the names. Word spread.
From 10 dishes, their menu eventually grew to around 30.
Both eventually took over the kitchen themselves. Venz, who learned cooking from his grandparents and parents, became the main cook. Venus, who learned from her mother, balanced kitchen duties with administrative work.
Their vision extended beyond business.
“We wanted tourists not just to see the beach but to experience Filipino food,” Venz said.
They reinvented traditional dishes into vegan and vegetarian-friendly versions from vegetable kare-kare to plant-based adobo, hoping to elevate Filipino cuisine for both locals and foreign visitors.
Love tested by crisis
Before the pandemic, long lines would form outside their small restaurant by 5 p.m. each night. Business was steady. The future seemed certain.
But even in the early years, there were moments when they were down to their last P200.
“At that time, I told him, ‘Let’s just trust and have faith,’” Venus said.
Then came the heavier blow.
Covid-19 struck in 2020. A year later, Super Typhoon Odette battered southern Cebu, including Moalboal.
Operations halted. Income vanished. They eventually closed their small restaurant in 2021.
“When we let go of our small restaurant, we thought that was it — that it was already over,” Venz said.
But for Venus, closing one door did not mean failure.
“When you close something, it doesn’t mean it’s the end. Sometimes it’s redirection,” she said.
Venz echoed the same belief: “When you let go of something, bigger things will happen.”
With their last savings — what Venz described as their “final dance” — they decided to gamble again. The new restaurant, built mostly of bamboo and indigenous materials, rose in its place. Five months later, they reopened in October 2022.
“If you're at rock bottom,” Venus added, “there’s nowhere else to go but up.”
Growing together
Their love story and their business developed side by side.
“Love story begins when the business begins,” Venus said.
Conflict was inevitable. Venus and Venz said that they were partners in the kitchen and in life but they learned to balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
“It complements each other,” Venus said.
They also emphasized understanding each other deeply, including childhood wounds and personal trauma to prevent conflicts from escalating.
“When she has a tantrum, instead of getting angry, I see the child behind her,” Venz shared.
“I hug her,” he added.
Daily meditation, prayer and surrounding themselves with supportive friends in Moalboal helped strengthen their bond.
“We don’t need validation from other people,” Venz said. “The happiness is from within us.”
More than a business
From just the two of them and their nine-year-old daughter helping as a waitress in 2015, Ven’s Kitchen now employs around 13 staff.
Some employees who were with them before the pandemic chose to wait for them to reopen.
“They never gave up on us,” Venus said.
Both owners, once working students themselves, now make it a point to support working students on their team.
For them, success is not only measured in profit but in how they treat the people who work with them.
A leap worth taking
Building a restaurant was not the only risk they took.
Going public as a couple was another.
Venus admitted it was not easy to step out of the closet.
Before meeting Venz, she had already made a quiet promise to herself: whoever her next partner would be, she would no longer hide.
“When it’s a man, I will introduce him. If it’s a woman, it’s time to get out,” she said.
When Venz came into her life, she chose courage.
“I bravely came with him,” Venus said.
Venz understood the fear. Society, family expectations and judgment weigh heavily on many LGBTQ couples.
“I know there are friends who are still afraid to come out,” Venus said.
But for Venz, peace came from within.
“I don’t need validation from other people,” he said. “The happiness is from within us.”
Their faith also became personal — not defined by labels, but by connection.
“It doesn’t matter what people say,” Venz said. “What’s important is that you love each other.”
Looking back at the days when P200 was all they had, they now see it as part of their history, for them, coming out was not about defiance. It was about living truthfully as proof that faith, patience and love can turn scarcity into abundance.
For Venz and Venus, they were to give their story a title. They already have one: “Table for two: plated with passion.” (CDF)