For years, Rhea Rizzo thought her life in the kitchen had long since passed. After graduating from culinary school, she spent a brief period working in a hotel before she had to hang her apron as family responsibilities took over. Cooking professionally had to be traded to motherhood, and before she knew it, a decade had passed.
During that time, she set up a marketing company that focused on restaurants. It ran for two years until it closed and she found herself spending lots of free time, a part of which was spent watching Netflix. Then one episode changed everything.
The Phone Call From Gaggan That Brought Rhea Rizzo Back to the Kitchen
It was the second season of Chef’s Table and among the international chefs featured was Gaggan Anand. “It really resonated with me,” she said. “I started crying and my husband Dave was there with me watching and he said, ‘Do you want to go back to the kitchen?’ And I said yes!”
Dave suggested she reach out directly to Gaggan. So she wrote him a letter, one that was honest and heartfelt. In it, she introduced herself not as a seasoned chef but as a mother who had stepped away from the profession to care for her children and was now asking for a chance to find her way back. A week later, she got an international call.
“I was in Alabang and had the worst reception ever. It was Gaggan and I did not understand a word he said but all I remember saying was, ‘Yes, chef!’ So before they could even change their minds, I flew to Bangkok and showed up at the restaurant’s doorstep.” Only to realize that she had arrived weeks ahead of schedule. But she was allowed to intern anyway. What followed would become one of the most formative chapters of her career.
How Bangkok Shaped Rhea Rizzo’s Culinary Voice
Not only was that her comeback to a professional kitchen, but it was also her first experience inside a restaurant of that caliber. Rhea was intimidated to be surrounded by chefs younger than her and to be introduced to molecular cuisine, but recognizing that opportunities like that don’t often come by, she soldiered on.
When her call time was one in the afternoon, she would go two hours early so she had extra time to finish her prep. “I knew I was going to be slow,” she says. She was the only Filipina in a brigade that at one point represented 13 nationalities.
Yet Bangkok became more than a place she worked in. It became a classroom of sorts as well, one that cemented her culinary style and philosophies. The countless memories she had of her meaningful stay in Bangkok now form the spine of her latest Bang Bang tasting menu.
Every Dish in Bang Bang Tells a Story From Rhea Rizzo’s Time in Bangkok
The composition of this menu took her less than three weeks to finish—and only because she had other responsibilities to fulfill. Otherwise, it would have been a lot faster. The task felt easy because she had a lot of banked memories to cull inspiration from.
Her opening course, Miang Kham, traces back to the very first dish she had in Bangkok. Literally meaning “one-bite snack,” her version has grilled Iberia pork secreto and a spiced condiment wrapped in betel leaf. It is a starter that packed just enough punch to get the appetite revved up.
It is followed by a papaya salad cradled by a surprisingly sturdy crispy chicken skin and her Salmon Nahm Jim, inspired by late-night post-service meals shared with fellow chefs at a favorite joint, Jeh O Chula.
The curries that appear in her two mains—a choco-Massaman curry sauce that go with tender Angus beef cheek and a pineapple red curry sauce with her crispy duck—reflect her Mondays off, when she would spend the entire day eating her way through the city’s restaurants.
Her fried chicken, she admits, is influenced by a recent trip where she was introduced to an airport stall that served fried chicken that came with four different sauces.
Rounding out the cohesive meal is a smooth Thai milk tea ice cream on a stick and a mango-coconut-glutinous rice number made delightful by white chocolate ganache.
More Than a Tasting Menu: The Story Behind Mrs. Saldo’s Bang Bang
Rhea considers her current menu as deeply personal, not because the dishes are autobiographical, but because she trusts herself and her capabilities even more. “My first ever tasting menu was made up of whatever I thought of,” she says. “Five years into this, I’m more sure of the flavors I put out now.”
The Bang Bang tasting menu of Mrs. Saldo’s is not simply a collection of dishes inspired by a Bangkok trip. It is the story of a loving mom who left the kitchen, found her groove back, and discovered that confidence—much like cooking—is something built one service at a time.
Mrs. Saldo’s is located at Lot 5664 Brgy. Malabag, Silang, Cavite. For inquiries, call +63 9171002983.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Rhea Rizzo is the chef behind Mrs. Saldo’s, known for thoughtful tasting menus and contemporary culinary storytelling.
Bang Bang is Rhea Rizzo’s newest tasting menu inspired by her return to professional cooking and her formative culinary experience in Bangkok.
The menu draws inspiration from Rhea’s internship at Gaggan in Thailand and the memories, flavors, and experiences she collected there.
After stepping away from professional cooking for motherhood and later working in marketing, she returned after being inspired by Chef’s Table and eventually interned at Gaggan in Bangkok.
