intheLIFESTYLE
intheLIFESTYLE
Vivacious
Versatile
Vernetta
We speak with celebrity, Vernetta Lopez and discovered
that this talented lady starts her day at 5.20am moving
from a morning radio show to meetings and film
engagements. On top of all that, she runs Roundhouse:
Pizza, Bar & Grill, a delightfully charming restaurant
and bar located at the old Turf Club.
Q: What made you decide to start up Roundhouse?
A: It has been a dream between the two of us. When it comes to entertaining, we always have lovely parties at our house. My husband cooks
while I help with the décor. He always had a dream to start up a restaurant – a café, bistro or a wine bar, Tuscan Italian eatery. He’s been
following his path for a long time, understanding the business and food.
In our kitchen alone, we can start a restaurant with all the equipment
that we have. For me, I’ve always liked to entertain and have fun. If it
hadn’t been for this business, I might have been in a hotel/ hospitality business. We started looking at places to start up something. When
this came about, this is the place to hang out in time, we grabbed it
immediately.
Q: Why pizza and steak?
A: We didn’t want to disappoint the locals herein the area. We love pizza
and pasta, Modern European cuisine is something that he has always
had his eye on. When it comes to bistro food, Italian cuisine, that’s what
he loves and what he always wanted to do, in a way that he enjoys. It is
something for everyone. It gives a very homey and home-cooked feel
and is delicious at the same time. When it comes to very good quality
modern gourmet cuisine, this is what we give and the quality of the
food is very very good. I never had a duck confit that is so moist that
I can use a fork to eat it. How often can you do that? You don’t usually
come to a nice family restaurant and eat duck confit that is crispy on the
top and melted and tender on the inside. Anytime you come back, any
of your favourites are here. It’s a meal for any day at any time.
Q: How is working with your husband like? What are the roles?
A: I would be stepping back a little bit as I’ve got too many jobs. I will
still definitely have a hand in it; I can never be not involved. But I got
Naomi who is our new Marketing Manager. My husband is someone
that anyone can talk to. He is so welcoming, sincere, sweet and friendly.
I guess that’s the spirit of the place – he and the entire team knows their
fun and does their job and just makes sure that everybody has a pleasant experience. The feeling here is very homey. At the same time, it is a
great place to have a drink and just spend the night; just enjoying with
your friends here. It is a great bar hangout. We work together quite well.
My sister was telling me how she observed us before - that we worked
very well together. When he is handling the menu, staff and drinks, I’m
handling the marketing side and thinking of what events to come up
with. It’s not smooth-sailing all the time; we do get into squabbles. It
has been fun so far.
Q: Can you tell us more about the quiz night that happens on
Wednesday?
A: I love quiz nights! We have two different quiz masters. Basically you
come as a team with a minimum of two people up to six. It has been
fantastic because you win $200 off your team’s tab. Teams sometimes
get a little bit competitive but its extremely fun. Everybody loves trivia.
There are five to six rounds consisting of different categories whereby
each team has ten questions to answer.
Q: What are some of the must-try dishes?
A: Within the menu, you’ve got to eat the steaks for sure. You must
try the grilled salmon which is a sashimi-grade salmon. It is done just
slightly pink on the inside. We never had a salmon that is totally cooked
through because it’s dry, unless you really want it. We have the Yorkshire
Porkchops which is absolutely gorgeous with garlic mash. The whole
seabass and the spicy mussels are gorgeous as well. And of course the
pizzas. I’ve had people saying that it’s the best pizza they ever had. It is
also a pizza which is not limp. The chef worked with me and said we
are naming this pizza the Loco Lopez. I love chili padi, capers and also
love jalapenos. It is a simple pizza but it’s awesome. Love the 4 cheese
as well. The other must-try is our Sunday Roast. Because it is traditionally
the way the Yorkshire men likes the Sunday Roast. Because my husband
was from Yorkshire, he was very particular about the Yorkshire Puddings.
At other places you will find that their Yorkshire Puddings is about cupcake size, it is a bit hard, doughy and heavy. These are about the size of
two of my palms out together. It is really nicely brown, golden in fact.
It’s crispy on the outside, hollow yet lovely and slightly doughy on the
inside. So with gravy it’s the perfect combination with everything else.
The roast potatoes done with a very special kind of fat. It is absolutely
important that the roast potatoes are done properly – they have to be
the correct size, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Q: Besides acting and being a DJ, what are your other talents?
A: I really like sketching, I like art and stuff. I love flower arrangements.
I never thought I would like it until we had the shop. My mum knew a
lot about flower decorating so we learnt from her. We became creative
on our own after that. I have been thinking of doing a Jazz album for
the longest time but I’ve been so busy doing other things that I don’t
have actually have time to get down to it. I intend to do a demo where I
can sing for events and stuff like that. I’ve done it for many other events
already like MTV. I can host and am an emcee.
Q: You were also the President of One Singapore. Are you still
involved in that?
A: I said to let me step down because I was too tired to consider doing it
but I am on the Board of Advisors. We had the One Singapore ball which
is an annual event in support for One Singapore and for other organisations as well. It was great because this year we had the legendary theme
– legendary people who have done great in the world but also who are
comic heroes and whatnot. We had many emperors and the Armadillo. It
was very successful and it was really nice to see One Singapore blossoming a lot more. There will be a food drive very soon where we have people to donate food or to buy from the warehouse and donate it towards
Willing Hearts or Food From The Heart depending on whom we delegate
as the beneficiary. We had huge companies come with convoys of cars
and trucks come by with food. It was amazing to see people just come
by with few bags or ten bags or twenty bags; they went shopping to donate. You feel so wonderful seeing it and the feel great donating as well.
Awareness for something brings about action and action on something
brings about awareness.
Q: Can you walk us through a normal day for you?
A: Alarm rings at 4.50. Then I’ll snooze it – and then I wake up at about
5.20 then I rush to work; a bit late sometimes. Then I’m on radio from
6am till 10am. After that, it’s what I schedule – so it could be a voiceover,
it could be meeting clients for radio, it could be coming down here for
a meeting, it could be filming for TV shows. I just finished a small role for
Code of Law. I’m filming for Knockout on the weekends so the weekends
as well are sometimes totally packed.
Q: Do you have a mantra that you live by?
A: Yeah, not that I’m very good at actually keeping to it but it’s about
something my mum said a while ago – be true to yourself; when you’re
doing something for yourself, do it properly. And when it comes to how
you treat yourself; when it comes to your relationship with somebody,
don’t compromise yourself and don’t compromise on how much you
give as well. So that has been one of the main things in the last few years
that I’ve kept in my mind. I have to achieve that 100%. It is a constant
fight to keep it to a high standard that you are happy with.
Q: What is your favourite restaurant (apart from your own)?
A: I love Valentinos. It has a wonderful family atmosphere, with very
good service. But the main thing is the cuisine, it is so home cooked and
you will never be disappointed with any dish there, ever. My favourite
from them has so far been the Duck Ragu, Aglio Olio Mushroom Porcini.
If you want true Italian cuisine, that’s the place to go.
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