Chef Rhea Sycip Brings Her Ingredient-Driven Cooking to Flour Pot Blooms

At the Bonifacio Global City cafe, locally sourced ingredients and a sense of place define every dish.

In her almost two decades of experience across restaurants and hospitality, Rhea Sycip has remained grounded in two guiding principles: Food should be ingredient-driven and rooted in a sense of place. She brings this philosophy to Flour Pot Blooms, a botanical-themed café nestled among the towering buildings and busy streets of Bonifacio Global City.

At first glance, anyone looking will pick up on the organic ambiance the café creates with its pastel yellow interiors, a stark counterpoint to the gray pavements surrounding Verde Tower. It was a deliberate choice to incorporate warm textures and subtle references to the contemporary setting, reflecting the city’s global character; an artistic attempt to blend in while also standing out from the fast-paced establishments around it.

In Sycip’s kitchen, the team works closely with small-scale producers and suppliers, sourcing everything from proteins to pantry staples with an emphasis on local, seasonal, and responsibly grown ingredients. For Sycip, sourcing locally is both a culinary and operational decision. It allows the kitchen to showcase the character of Philippine ingredients while supporting the farmers and producers behind them. “Our food tells the stories of the farmers who grow it. Supporting them by sourcing locally is one of the most meaningful parts of what we do.”

This philosophy carries through to Flour Pot Blooms’ menu, which is divided between its bakery and savory kitchen. The team builds dishes around ingredients sourced from different parts of the country. Vegetables arrive from Benguet several times a week, while river prawns are supplied through a network of fisherfolk and aquaculturists across mainland Mindanao, the Sulu Peninsula, and Palawan. The kitchen also uses free-range chicken, organic pork, and regional specialties such as kiniing from Mountain Province, duck from Tarlac, and mussels from Palawan.

Among the pastry highlights are the Carrot and Bourbon Cake, the Emelie Cake, whose local wild raspberry jam is foraged by the culinary team on the foothills of Mount San Cristobal, and the Chocolate Tableya, made with single-origin cacao from Davao. On the savory side, the breakfast menu includes the Mediterranean Toast, a tartine topped with whipped local ricotta, wild honey, dates, pistachios, and edible flowers.

While the menu features signature dishes that reflect the kitchen’s principles, it also evolves with the seasons, allowing the team to adapt to ingredient availability while maintaining consistency in execution.