COLLECTION · Series · 2013

With a Smile

Isay's family owns a restaurant known for grilled specialties: Verci's Grill, named after her mother. Verci is very talented and passionate in cooking--traits she passed on to Isay. Tom, Isay's father, is cheerful and loving. Being the eldest, Isay helps her mother prepare and cook at their eatery, and looks after her two younger siblings. When Verci gets sick and passes away, their once-successful business starts to decline. Despite this, they continue to sell grilled street food in their local market and join cooking contests to get by. When Isay's cooking skills get noticed by one of the chef judges, she gets offered a ticket to participate in a Barbecue Cook-Off in Manila. Initially she hesitates to accept, but her fervent dream of getting her family out of poverty spurs her to give it a try. Meanwhile, twists of fate arrange for Isay to meet Aston and Dean and become entangled in a complicated love triangle.