One lesson in marketing is how a service can cater to a broad segment of the population.

Chef Marco Legasto, owner of the Purple Feet Restaurant inside the Wine Depot in Makati City, took this lesson to heart by opting to serve all cuisines imaginable, from Asian to European fare - as long as they have the ingredients.

"Our concept is you're at your own house and you're at your own wine cellar. You can ask the chef anything you want under the sun. This is good because if you're a whole family, one wants Japanese, another wants Spanish, another wants African. In our restaurant, you can have everything," he said in an interview on ABS-CBN's Shoptalk.

The Purple Feet Restaurant, named after the color of grape-stompers' feet (a traditional method of making wine), has a legion of chefs specializing in a variety of cuisines, whilst Legasto is the "all-around guy."

After training in the United Kingdom, and working with Indian, Thai, Italian, and French colleagues, Legasto made his food philosophy of voracious taste and eclectic dishes.

Customers can pick ingredients from a blackboard bearing the day's specialties (which changes from day to day) and ask a roving chef to cook it exactly the way they want.

Far from being problematic, Legasto said the "free-for-all" casual dining atmosphere actually inspires unique culinary creations. "We had a customer who wanted a tenderloin steak butterflied or sliced thinly then rolled into 'laing' so it's interesting," Legasto said, who enjoys coming up with unique dishes every day.

Although boasting of an ever-changing menu, the restaurant also has signature gourmet dishes like "Salmon Tartar" or smoked salmon and raw salmon served with mashed truffle and mushroom and topped with caviar; lamb chop and tenderloin duets with their special truffle fois gras sauce and stawberry-mint paste; as well as seared tuna with truffle pesto rub, which can be substituted for Japanese steak sauce.

The food, priced from P250 to P3,000 (this is for a slab of prime rib eye), can be paired with a bottle of wine straight from the Wine Depot.

Surprisingly, however, the Purple Feet Restaurant does not advertise, and hapless customers only discover it once they enter the wine store. "We want to maintain a set number of people, so we can keep an intimate relationship with customers as well," Legasto said, adding that the restaurant and its front gardens can accommodate up to 80 people at once.

Despite the lack of advertisements or signages, however, Legasto said they still have a steady stream of customers eager to be surprised.

For reservations, call (02) 897-3220 or visit 217 Nicanor Street, Makati City.