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KENNETH COBONPUE has an enviable client list, with celebrities both local and international, a sprinkling of businesspeople, and royalty. Now you can join that list, not with his furniture, but with a meal.

On Feb. 19, Mr. Cobonpue opened his new space at the Grand Hyatt in BGC, Taguig, moving his showroom there from Greenbelt, Makati. The new space holds three ventures: his furniture showroom, artist Ronald Ventura’s CloudGrey Gallery, and Mr. Cobonpue’s latest offering, the Fable Café + Lounge.

The restaurant is a treat for the eyes: every bit you see is a Kenneth Cobonpue original (which you can buy down the hall).

We’d be inclined to say more about the food, but the Feb. 19 grand opening had a limited menu — but we’re all praises for the meaty and forward Lamb Tacos (P550 for three), the filling and interesting Smoked Salmon Black Arancini (P650 for five), and the delightfully tangy and shocking pink Shrimp Dumplings with Ponzu Sauce (P540). Other items include pasta, sandwiches (Mr. Cobonpue stands by their turkey club, P770), cocktails, and a dinner menu with seabass, porchetta, and short ribs (between P1,240 for the Porchetta and P2,280 for the Seabass).

“Fable was just originally a café for our customers. It was supposed to be a simple space where we serve you coffee, and hopefully, you buy something. It gradually took a life of its own,” he said in a speech at the opening.

The restaurant takes its look from the fairy tales his mother, Betty Cobonpue (herself a formidable designer in her own right), read to him at night, which he would then sketch in the morning. “I had to imagine all the creatures, fairy tales, and faraway lands that she was describing.

“Everything you see here is really my childhood,” he said. “That’s why it’s called Fable.”

“This is part of my world,” he said, pointing to one of his flower lanterns. “It’s like Alice in Wonderland. It’s like going into that rabbit hole.”

This isn’t his first foray into the restaurant world: about 15 years ago, he had Morels & Malice in Cebu, for which he did the interiors. Asked about possibly opening more restaurants, he said in an interview, “I think so,” though: “It’s something I don’t necessarily enjoy.”

Apparently, designing restaurants is tricky: “You have to manage how people flow in a space; how people move. It’s a lot to do about psychology: it’s not all about form and function.”

Still, for him, there’s a thread running through the disciplines of food and design — and the act of creation itself. “All disciplines, whether music, design, art – it’s all the same. The process of creation is not a formula, and it’s not a burst of inspiration. It’s really hard work,” he said.

“You have to take time every day to just come up with something, and force yourself to do it.” — Joseph L. Garcia