MICHAEL TWEG Owner Finkels Restaurant
“ I think managing a restaurant is one of the most difficult jobs on Earth. Some people may think I sound stupid, but this is what I love to do. I love to entertain people and see them enjoy the time and the food in my restaurants.”
BRITISH restaurateur and chef Michael Tweg, owner of Finkels Restaurant, has dedicated nearly four decades to running and managing eateries, now with branches in Mandaluyong and Makati.
“I think managing a restaurant is one of the most difficult jobs on Earth,” Tweg told The Manila Times.“Some people may think I sound stupid, but this is what I love to do. I love to entertain people and see them enjoy the time and the food in my restaurants.”
BE LIKE MIKE Michael Tweg’s journey in the food industry began in 1988 with Café Bianco in London. He was also managing director of Café Nero before opening his own restaurant, Antipasti, in the early 1990s. He also co-founded a bread manufacturing company in London, similar to his current Bait Lehem operation in Manila, which supplies bread to supermarket chains. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
BE LIKE MIKE Michael Tweg’s journey in the food industry began in 1988 with Café Bianco in London. He was also managing director of Café Nero before opening his own restaurant, Antipasti, in the early 1990s. He also co-founded a bread manufacturing company in London, similar to his current Bait Lehem operation in Manila, which supplies bread to supermarket chains. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
He insists the most challenging aspect is consistently maintaining food quality and ensuring customer satisfaction to encourage repeat visits.
“To see the satisfaction of my clients, the enjoyment and the smiles on their faces make managing a restaurant super challenging for me,” he said.
Tweg noted the complexity of adapting Mediterranean cuisine to the Filipino palate. “Pleasing the Filipino palate is totally different from Mediterranean,” he explained.
“So we need to train, and train and train until we get the taste and the flavors required. We also need to adapt Mediterranean food to the palate of Filipinos.”
He found that some Filipino customers dislike strong spices like cumin, which they describe as having a “kili-kili” or armpit smell, or prefer not to eat hummus. To accommodate, Finkels added recognizable dishes like pasta, pizza and popular Filipino fare such as sisig, caldereta, kare-kare and tapsilog to its extensive Mediterranean menu, which spans Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Middle Eastern and Lebanese dishes.
The Mandaluyong branch of Finkels opened in 2023 and quickly found success. This led to an offer for a second location, and the Makati branch opened in September 2024. The Makati space, previously occupied by unsuccessful Spanish and Italian restaurants, proved to be a strategic move. “Customers in the previous restaurants also became our customers for Finkels,” Tweg offered. “So far, the business is going very nice.”
The name “Finkels,” meaning “spark,” traces back to Tweg’s first restaurant, which opened in London in 1999. It honors a family that survived the Holocaust in the 1940s, a name he committed to using anywhere he opened a restaurant. He even encountered another “Finkels” — a Jewish delicatessen — during a trip to New York in 1995. Tweg sold his London Finkels in 2001 before moving to Spain, where he opened other ventures, including an Indian restaurant and a flamenco bar.
Tweg’s journey in the food industry began in 1988 with Café Bianco in London. He was also managing director of Café Nero before opening his own restaurant, Antipasti, in the early 1990s. He also co-founded a bread manufacturing company in London, similar to his current Bait Lehem operation in Manila, which supplies bread to supermarket chains.
Originally from an agriculture background in Israel, Tweg ventured into the food industry after serving in the army and moving to London at age 21 to improve his English. He arrived in Manila 12 years ago and began learning Tagalog. His passion for cooking started in childhood, inspired by his mother’s frequent cooking for visitors in their open family kitchen.
Tweg, the middle child of three with siblings still in Israel, met his Filipina wife, Christine Areola, in Israel two decades ago. They moved to Manila in 2012 and have been together for 20 years, with an 18-year-old daughter named Shira. “Christine is my right hand,” Tweg said about his wife. “They say that behind every man’s success is a strong woman. She’s everywhere with me. We do everything together. We make decisions together. She represents me.”
In 2013, Tweg and his wife launched Bait Lehem, a “house of bread” (in Hebrew), starting with just three employees. Although it took a decade to establish their restaurant, they remained undeterred, even during the pandemic.
“The pandemic that started in 2020 helped us in a good way,” Tweg said.
“We supplied to big chains of coffee shops and restaurants. We had a lot of orders for bread.”
They also created a rider group to provide earning opportunities for friends and created a “small community” for survival.
“In the pandemic, we lived in the bakery, ate in the bakery, survived in the bakery. Those were the things that joined all the people together at that time. We became like a small family. We closely connected to our workers,” he recounted.
With a lifelong ambition to see the world, Tweg has traveled extensively, moving from Israel to London, then to Spain, New York, and eventually Manila, embracing diverse cultures and cuisines.
The biggest lesson he learned from his father, Shalom, who passed away 25 years ago, was to be kind to people.
“I admire that he is all the time calm,” Tweg said. “Even if he was in the most difficult time of his life, he always put people first.”
Tweg spends 18 hours a day, seven days a week at the Finkels Restaurant in Makati, while his wife, Christine, oversees the Mandaluyong branch. He dedicates himself to teaching his kitchen staff and constantly seeks improvements.
“For me, it’s work, work, work, while sadly, home comes in last,” Tweg admitted. “I do entertain the clients, solve problems in the restaurant, worry about logistics and other issues.”
Despite his demanding schedule, he finds quality time with family at beaches in Batangas, Olongapo (Subic) and La Union, as Areola is from Pangasinan. “I like to chill out to nice music at home, read a little bit about food and study what I can improve, and share new ideas to my clients,” Tweg said. “This is not just work for me but a hobby. I love what I do.”
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QUICK QUESTIONS
What is your biggest fear?
What’s happening now in Israel (where he came from).
What really makes you angry?
When I teach people to do things, and they don’t follow.
What motivates you to work hard?
Since I was a kid, I always liked to achieve things, build things and pass them over to the young generation.
What makes you laugh the most?
My daughter Shira. She always talks about nice, positive things.
What would you do if you won the lotto?
Probably buy a nice island here in the Philippines that hasn’t been occupied yet and rest there. I’ve been to Boracay, El Nido, Siargao, Coron, Bohol and Surigao.
If you could share a meal with any individual, living or dead, who would they be?
Share Indian food with my mom and dad. They like the spices. I put up an Indian restaurant before, Taj Mahal.
What was the last book you read?
“Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway.
Which celebrity would you like to meet for a cup of coffee?
Before, my idol was John Lennon. I love The Beatles. Now, Rod Stewart.
What is the most daring thing you have ever done?
Too many of them.
What is the one thing you will never do again?
Running a restaurant. Joke. I always leave it up to God what I will do next.
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