I GOTTA CRUST ON YOU
June 7, 2004 | 12:00am
When in Hong Kong, have a drink or two at Felix of Hong Kong Peninsula. And while at Felix, make sure to visit the toilet. It is a must-see with its Philip Starck design and bathroom fixtures. Instead of water basins, it has a tomb-shaped block of marble with five sensor-sensitive faucets made of twisted copper tubes that look like dancing cobras. Even with its very contemporary and modern design, today it’s already a classic. It’s hard to believe Felix is 10 years old this coming December. The breathtaking view of the harbor from both the 27th-floor toilets and main hall is another "must look-see," as our Chinese friends say.
If Felix of Hong Kong has all this, our very own Manila Peninsula has also two reasons to dine at Mi Piace, its Italian dining outlet. The first reason is, of course, deliciously so. From June 1 to July 2 there is an on-going pizza galore at Mi Piace, Italian for "I like it." And all along I thought it meant "My Place" – well, I obviously am no linguist; I only speak Italian food.
What’s so special about its pizza, when pizza is everywhere in our midst from the sweet banana ketchup-type to the unusual gourmet-topped pies? Why have it at the Pen and spend an arm and a leg? Well, this time we are not just talking about pizza per se, we’re talking about real great pizzas.
Great pizza starts with a great dough, kneaded and baked right that when it is served, it is light, thin, chewy and uneven. And that is how I like my pizza crust. Pumuputok putok yung crust or having burnt tiny bubbles on the edge when it comes out of the oven. Crispy on the edge, chewy in the middle, light, fragrant and flavorful. But that’s half the story. The other half is in the choice of sauce and/or toppings, which could be very subjective. But when the crust is great, any topping will be wonderful. Even with just the banana tamis anghang ketsup, that favorite spaghetti sauce of many Pinoys, will do the trick.
At Mi Piace, there are nine new wildly inventive pizzas concocted by this pazzo Italian chef and, interestingly enough, you’ll want to try them all. And what to do if there are just two of you? Either you starve for three days and eat nine pizzas on the fourth day, or like what Mary Ann and I did, we brought along five other big eaters like us and joined another group of four. Each pizza that came around, we devoured with much gusto and mama mia, the toppings are truly wild and out of this world! As expected, our taste buds decided differently at the end, we could not vote any particular one to be the greatest of all. It must be second nature to us Filipinos that we could not get to agree on anything. Just look at the ongoing exhausting canvassing in Congress.
Our health freak friend Bobby liked the classic La Doce Vita with buffalo mozzarella, garlic, fresh tomatoes and basil. Seafood crazy Carmen voted for the Pizzang pang Pista with its mixed seafood arugula salad topping and bits of crispy lechon. When I saw the word lechon, I started to tremble, it being my all-time favorite (Yeah, you’re right, so is lamb, duck and goose, says my wife). I imagined it to be the real crisp balat ng lechon, but it was more like fried bacon rinds but nevertheless crispy good.
Swimmer, triathlete and chocoholic Lala liked the Malate Madness with its mozzarella cheese and dark chocolate topping, while many of us found the chocolate a bit unusual, giving it a dessert crepe taste.
Mary Ann, who loves the humble tuyo and bagoong the way I’m crazy over my calorific lechon, liked the 7,101 Islands with its shrimps, squid, mussels, boiled rice and kangkong smothered with bagoong on top. The rest of us strongly disagreed and Mary Ann admitted that she missed the point of why rice was added. Pampabusog lang daw.
Our favorite pastry chef Doren said "estupendo" when she had her first bite of the Amorosa. The pizza dough is deep-fried to a crisp with Manchego cheese and her favorite raw jamon serrano. As for me, the Chinese Huang Ting with its Peking duck, mozzarella, hoisin sauce, shiitake mushrooms, spring onions and wanton crisps got me talking and huangting for more of the duck morsels, which came sparingly.
And then there’s the Pen Pinoy with the fresh assorted veggies, smoked salmon, goat cheese, Parma ham, Italian sausage, and anchovy which everybody liked (ahhh, for once nagkaisa!) Although all the condiments were lumped on the pizza separately (unlike with the rest where the condiments are spread evenly), we each got a different piece. My portion was mostly the goat cheese, while Mary Ann had the chorizo, which we bartered with each other to our hearts’ content. And if your growing kids insist on burgers, order them the All American Burger pizza made with ketchup.
These pizzas come in regular 12-inch and huge 22-inch for a family to share, at P425 and P795++, respectively. But as Bobby said, just his two grown boys can easily finish the 22" in no time.
What makes a perfect pizza then? Well, according to the Neapolitans who invented this delightful pie, they insist an ideal pizza has a perfect crust with minimalist topping. And that is why I told Mary Ann, who is an avid Indian cuisine fan, the Mumbay Magic Pizza probably did not have the yogurt and mint sauce or papadom bits she wished. The chef has to be careful in mixing and concocting anew, making sure the new strong flavors do not overwhelm and mask the fragrant and flavor of the crust. Now that’s a hard balancing act to do. I trust only an expert can rightly dare so. Chef Michele Mingozzi is, of course, Italian. He follows the classical and traditional cooking he grew up with in the small town of Ferrara (which he boasts as baking the best bread in Italy) and which he instinctively combines with his creative experim- ents.
I almost forgot the second reason. My wife insists it can also be equally the first and main reason. Chef Michele is the second reason why you must dine at Mi Piace, especially for the ladies. I saw each one of them blink a few times when they were introduced to him. (I wonder what blinking does to their eyes, really.) He is a dead ringer of George Clooney, perhaps better looking and a younger version of the actor. Pray to the high heavens that he leaves his kitchen and descends the dining hall while you’re there. Feign asking him to help you decide what pizza to order, just so you get a closer look at him (my wife insisted I add that). And if he likes you, maybe he will make you one pizza with nine assorted toppings.
The group teasingly called him George Clone-y. Hard for me to tell, but he must be really something because Mary Ann, forgetting her English grammar and good manners, swooned, "You look so good looking," while dear friend and chef Myrna, who could not decide between the crust and him, just blurted out, "I got a crust on you."
When asked what inspired him to create his new pizzas, he said he loves to "play with food."
"I wonder what else he loves to play with?", one of the ladies thought aloud naughtily.
"Soccer," said the Pen’s Garch, saving the day for the not so crazy chef.
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