L'amore per la pasta

“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” — Italian film director Federico Fellini

Every time I stroll in a mall, I cannot help but notice the ever-growing variety of cuisines now available to the common Pinoy. And for every cuisine, there are low-end and high-end choices targeting each particular market. The Filipino palate has indeed become more international and sophisticated. As my successful restaurateur friend says, “The Filipino diners of today are very different from just a generation ago. Their taste is more discriminating and they do not hesitate to call attention when they are not pleased. We have to keep improving and evolving, which is not only very costly but very challenging for us to keep pace.” This, of course, is to our advantage — we, the consumers. We talk and they listen.  

I think it was in the late ‘80s that the international franchisees started to convince us and slowly we began opening our doors to them. And like the first kiss, the first taste may not always be the best but certainly it’s the most memorable one. My first bite of pizza was in the late ‘60s at the cafeterias in Clark, meant for the American servicemen. To this day, I can still vividly remember my first taste of a pie that was not sweet. Before then I thought all pies were sweet. And I don’t know why or how, but we pronounced this “new” food picha, as the Filipino staff said it. It must be a “sounds like” from the American slang.

In 1984, Pizza Hut came to our shores, brought in by Philippine Pizza Inc., master franchisee Nico, our son born in 1986, had his first taste of pizza at a Pizza Hut. He called it then “Ninja Pizza” because it was the pizza devoured by his favorite Ninja Turtles. And for the longest time, he would not eat any other pizza but Pizza Hut. That was a concern in the ‘90s unlike today, where there is always a Pizza Hut within your area — what with its 154 Pizza Hut restaurants all over the country plus its efficient call-in delivery service. We have truly come a long way, food-wise.

And what is pizza without pasta? It is like our pork barbeque without the sweet spaghetti at children’s parties. And Pizza Hut certainly understands that, to Filipinos, sophisticated or not, you can’t have one without the other.

“We have taken the bold step to proclaim that we are now as passionate for pasta as the way we do our pizzas” says Elaine Guzman, vice president for marketing of Pizza Hut. “This is a global effort to place Pizza Hut into a new frontier, where consumers can now look forward to a whole array of quality, Italian-inspired cuisines.”

Filipinos not only want high-quality pasta, they want new tastes, not just sweet meat sauce with red hotdog. The new Pasta Perfetto line will stimulate the appetites of passionate pasta lovers with its 12-dish variety, each one freshly prepared al dente by dedicated chefs. The pasta is cooked with imported tomato herb sauces and fresh toppings. Pizza Hut uses only high-quality authentic Italian Divella pasta: penne, fettuccine, macaroni, and spaghetti, all imported from Italy. After all, the success of the dish starts from the fine quality of the pasta, cooked al dente to boot.

“We are here to educate Filipinos what a real-good pasta is” said Edgar Allan Caper, advertising and promotions manager. “Our twist is we offer consumers high quality pastas that they can afford anytime they feel like eating from a casual dining restaurant.”

We were fortunate to have sampled all the 12 new pasta dishes — Seafood Supremo, Aglio Olio, Fettuccine à la King, Puttanesca, Spaghetti Shrimp Garlic, Pesto Chicken Penne, Meaty Penne Napolitana and the 3-Cheese Ravioli, Fettuccine Alfredo and Mac & Cheese. Nico excitedly joined us thinking he would get to experience (Ninja) pizza again; but he was probably surprised to see all the pastas of different colors and shapes. His taste buds are still new to such exciting tastes. Fortunately for Nico’s generation, these new pasta dishes are gentle on their budgets (prices range from P99 to P189), and with a Pizza Hut always just a few steps away, succumbing to his cravings is as easy as dialing for delivery. Pizza Hut has come a long way indeed, baby!