By: Yoko Ramos-Vingno
Famous and celebrated chefs have started from scratch – from just a mere name to become a renowned cuisine guru; rising from nothing to something big – like Mario Batali and Bobby Flay. Chef Mario Batali started as a dishwasher at “Stuff Yer Face Restaurant” in New Jersey, and Chef Bobby Flay started as a cook in an eatery. The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver at age 8 was a vegetable peeler at his dad’s restaurant, the Cricketers. At 16, he decided to study at Westminster Catering College and went to France to get more experience before going back to London and becoming the famous chef he is now. Others started as sous chef for chefs with names in high end hotel establishments.
This Filipino Chef, only 20 years old, is a young man which exudes the appearance of a person who seemed to have lived a pampered and blissful life. He lives alone in his flat in Glyfada, located 45 minutes away by car in the southern part of Athens. This young fellow carries a healthy physique, about 5’5 in height, with a bright and cheery attitude, always ready to flash that instant smile; a guy that struck me as a young Mario Batali: jolly, charming, sensible and confident.
Chef John Levi Reano, a fortunate and lucky man indeed, John was given the opportunity to study and finished at the prestigious Alpine Center: the Swiss Business School for Hotel and Tourism Education in Greece with a Swiss Diploma in Culinary Arts. He graduated with distinction and was given the Academic and Professional Excellence in Culinary Arts in 2007. A consistent top student of his batch, John is the first and only Filipino to graduate in this exclusive Culinary Arts School in Athens. John’s first industry training was at Porto Elounda De Luxe Resort, a luxury golf-and-spa-resort in Crete Island, under the tutelage of chefs Jean Charles Metayer and Michalis Kontes. His second training was at 5-star Ledra Marriott Hotel where he gained the admiration of the Executive Chef that soon after finishing his training, he was offered a full time employment.
Now, John is the only Filipino Chef employed by the Ledra Marriott Hotel. He is the sushi chef at the Kona Kai Restaurant that serves Polynesian and Japanese cuisine and caters to well-heeled Greeks and expatriates. The hotel pays him a good starting salary with satisfactory perks. He is admired and well liked by his fellow chefs and gets along well with the others – from the restaurant Manager to sous chefs because of his talent and pleasant and sunny disposition.
John tells me about his childhood in Batangas and how he grew up to realize how fortunate he was to have lived a life that had very strong supportive structures centered in the family. The Reano household is a typical Filipino family where the father works abroad to provide for the family and the children’s education. John is the youngest child of Domingo and Natividad Reano. Domingo is a former overseas contract worker in Saudi Arabia while Natividad stayed at home to take care of the children. Domingo, then in his mid 50’s and having saved a little, decided to retire in their house in Tanauan, Batangas. Soon thereafter, Chef John was conceived when his mother was in her late 40s. Thus, little John Reano was born on October 8, 1988.
Early on, John attended elementary and finished at the Bernardo Lirio Elementary School. He spent his high school at the La Consolacion College in Tanauan, Batangas. Thanks to the kindness and support of John’s elder sister, then a nurse in Switzerland, who paid for his high school education. John also attributes the blessings that came his way to the generosity of his Greek born brother-in-law who had encouraged and inspired him to pursue his passion and ambition and supported him all the way as if he were his own son. His brother-in-law who is in shipping business met and married his sister when she was working in Switzerland as a nurse.
Chef John is delighted to have his friends (of different nationalities) around, pleased with his independence and thankful for his family and work at Ledra Marriott. When asked for his plans for the future: “I want to pursue another Diploma for my career in the business. I want to travel around the world to have a better understanding of the world and to experience and explore the different cultures and cuisines.” And for all the good blessings that came his way, John says, “I would like to be able to own and operate my own restaurant to open up opportunities and give jobs to my fellow Filipinos. I think this is the best gesture and way that I could think of to give back what I had received and to thank those people dear to me who molded me into the person I turned out to be.”
That’s Chef John – our Pinoy Chef.
Yoko Ramos 