MANILA -- Crosta Pizza and new head chef and pizzaiolo Yuichi Ito heat up the local foodie scene with a preview of their high-end osteria/pizza omakase concept that’s set to open next year.

With this dinner, Ito and his sister, molecular gastronomy whiz Nomi, who flew in from Tokyo just for this series of dinners, gave a peek of the surprises in store.

The first surprise during the dinner was hearing Filipino and Filipino-accented English as the brother and sister zipped around the open kitchen. It turns out that the two siblings grew up in the Philippines and are proud graduates of International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management (ISCAHM).

Another surprise is that Ito initially wasn’t fond of Italian food citing bad memories of mushy overcooked spaghetti. It was only when he was interning at Edsa Shangri-La’s Paparazzi where a burrata ravioli changed his mind. When he moved back to Japan, he worked at one-star Michelin Star Milanese restaurant Biçe and finally, for 10 years, the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo’s Pizza Bar on the 38th which took the top spot as Asia-Pacific’s best pizzeria in the 2023 50 Top Pizza Awards.

Ito first met Ingga Cabangon Chua and Tommy Woudwyk when Crosta Pizza took the 10th spot during the awarding of the pizza ceremony last September. Ito was pleasantly surprised to hear Philippine pizza concepts honored as the best in Asia. He bounded over to meet and later on, joked that he wanted to work with them. As they say, jokes are half meant and Yuichi found himself in Manila helming the much-lauded pizza store.

His Filipino heritage explains why moving from No. 1 to No. 10 are steps up and steps forward for the young chef.

Ito recalled that Cabangon and Woudwyk wanted to bring Filipino talent making a name for themselves back to the Philippines-- and with this, make our cuisine catch up to the rest of the world.

“People don't usually say ‘Oh, you should go to the Philippines and try the cuisine.’ But what we are given here is that we want the Philippines to be on the global map of food. I feel like we're being left behind by Thailand or Hong Kong and Singapore, and actually even Vietnam is going for the Michelin Guide now,“ he said.

Cabangon Chua, whose pizza crust put Crosta Pizza on the foodie map, has much respect for Ito. “He’s a chef first and pizzaiolo second,” she said.

Their high hydration pizza crust are almost similar for their remarkable texture.

Ito uses a fermented blend of Italian stone ground Mulino Marino Enkir flour and whole wheat that Crosta mills itself. Ito cites the rectangular Pizza a la Pala popular in Rome where pizza is baked on a pala – a wood board, and stretched inside the oven as his inspiration. Normally, these are made in large quantities and left outside on counters where customers can just get slices to go. But when Ito makes them, these are made as they’re ordered so customers get them fresh and piping hot. Though the crust has some of that Neapolitan chewy elastic character, the crust leans towards the bready side and manages to have a crunch that has the best of both worlds.

The yet-unnamed concept sure is a restaurant to look forward to being based on this preview. Cabangon-Chua described it as two concepts in one location. On one side is an osteria with a menu of pizza and pasta “Yuichi-style” where one can have a relaxed meal or meetings over coffee.

The other side is the more intriguing part of the restaurant. Ito describes it as a pizza stadium where the pizza oven and chef is the focal point of the intimate space surrounded by limited semi-circular seating. The pizzaiolo takes center stage having conversations about the day’s menu and the food while cooking and serving guests. Crosta envisions an omakase menu where the chef decides what to serve depending on the produce and ingredients he can get on any particular day. Thus, dinner today can be a totally different one for tomorrow.

With premium ingredients, Japanese and Italian cooking techniques, curated wine selections and pairings by Crosta Pizza’s partner, wine lover Wouldwyk, and Ito’s flair and passion for talking about his food, this new concept is on its way in making it the most-awaited restaurant opening in 2024.

Here were the dishes served at the preview:

Yuichi Ito started with a delightful amuse bouche, a bite of otoro tuna on a pistachio meringue freshly made with liquid nitrogen.

Nomi Ito demonstrates that when eaten right, guests can have fun and exhale smoke out of their noses adding to the experiential delight of the meal.

The appetizers showed off the attention to the wines as well as the food with flutes of Dom Perignon paired with the appetizers. A trio of Caviar Colony Hassuns -- small plates that are as much a treat for the eyes and the palate. It was best to just pick the Hokkaido scallops and green pea cream.

This was a luxe spring roll with caviar on one side and wagyu with goat cheese on the other. Bite both ends and let the two flavors mix in your mouth.

Yuichi Ito starts showing his fondness for local ingredients as he interprets unagi with local hito with ginger oil, house cured bottarga, and lengua de gato.

Dig into this Chawan Mushi to reveal the generous serving of local mud crab meat brightened up with dalandan.

Simple pizza bianca with bits of 'ndjua, botan shrimp, and squid accompanied by spalla, pancetta, guanciale, duck prosciutto, and wagyu flank. All house-made and house-cured by Crosta with some now being used in the pizzeria.

Yuichi Ito processed his sardines in a way that removed those briny muddy notes associated with the fish. This focaccia with sardines was a dish even for people who don’t like sardines.

Yuichi Ito crowns his pizza marinara 'The King' and it totally deserves its title. He elevates this humble, no-frills pizza by incorporating different aspects of tomato from the sauce to the dabs of tomato gel, to sprinkling of tomato salt to have different layers of tomato flavors in one bite. Sweet sips of Daigo no Shizuku Doburoku by Terada Honke Sake nicely complemented the tomatoes.

Chef first indeed. Yuichi Ito takes the classic combination of lobsters and oranges and bakes it into this Palawan lobster with orange bearnaise pizza.

Even the refresher is a statement of local ingredients with ultra-premium ingredients and modern techniques. Just like 'The King,' this was tomato in different layers with clarified gazpacho in the wine glass and fresh tomatoes and basil with splashes of potent fruity 100-year-old Giusti Reserva balsamic vinegar.

The last slice of pizza was topped with Pampanga mulberries whose brightness cut through the fatty richness of the fatty duck prosciutto slices from the cold cuts selection earlier.

One could notice the two chefs spooning smoking hot oil over skin-on fish fillets during the last course. The result was a visually striking spiky skin on the kinki (rockfish) that had a crunch similar to the hot oil basted skin of a Peking duck and a nice contrast to the delicately juicy bit of fish beneath.

After 12 courses, the siblings took it home with a liquid nitrogen soy truffle gelato churned on the spot. This dessert was dressed up with mochi and was a fitting end to this impressive meal.