Filipinos are no longer a stranger to omakase. The Japanese phrase, used at restaurants, means “entrusting” the whole dining experience to the chef, instead of ordering what one feels like eating. Although it is also often tailored to the diner’s wishes, depending on the budget, as well as the seasonality and availability of the ingredients, at an omakase, one expects to be surprised. After all, omakase, drawn from the longer phrase “Omakase, shimasu,” literally means “I trust you, chef.” In fact, strictly speaking, a really good omakase serves up each course depending on the diner’s reaction to the course that precedes it.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE CRUST This spectacular pizza is made of house-cured Kyoto duck prosciutto, Pampanga mulberry, and foie gras mousse in a reduction of Barbera d’Alba wine

Similar to omakase is the centuries-old dining concept kaiseki, although the latter is a more artful expression of seasonality achieved with the pomp of a tea ceremony in a curated menu of little dishes that showcase the season’s best ingredients and the techniques with which the chef highlights them.

As the tasting menu concept, more kaiseki than omakase, continues to gain traction among diners in Manila, more and more of us are now accustomed to tucking in to a parade of courses, going through each dish as if in a blindfold, but led through it the moment it is served in front of us by the chef or the server with the flourish of an artwork or object description in an art exhibit.

PIZZA COLLAB Siblings Naomi and Yuichi Ito hard at work at the One World Kitchen for a pizza omakase designed as a taste test of what's to come for Crosta Pizzeria

Recently, pizzaiolo Yuichi Abellare Ito threw a pizza omakase at One World Kitchen in Poblacion, Makati. It was the first in the Philippines. I’d say, though pizza, either folded into wedges and eaten with the hands or presented unsliced and eaten with a knife and fork, is served anywhere, from street stalls, such as in Italy, to upscale Mediterranean restaurants, it is the last thing you associate with a multicourse meal. Nevertheless, what Yuichi dished out was indeed an omakase and, by virtue of the way he and his sister, fellow chef and molecular gastronomist Naomi Ito, played around with the dishes, I would even go as far as calling it a kaiseki, with Champagne like Dom Perignon and luxurious reds and whites from Wine Therapy to raise the (pizza) bar idea to even further heights.

Before we delve into what happened at the omakase, it might interest you to know that Yuichi is behind Crosta Pizzeria, which jumped 22 paces from last year’s 32nd to this year’s 10th spot in the Asia-Pacific edition of 50 Top Pizza, an Italian online guide updated every year to the world’s best pizzerias. The Tokyo-born under-30 chef moved to the Philippines while he was young, where he went to school, even to a culinary school, the International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management in Quezon City, and started his career under the wings of Italian chef Roberto Cimmino at Edsa Shangri-La. Encouraged by Cimmino, Yuichi did have a stint later on back in Tokyo where he worked for 10 years at the Mandarin Oriental, particularly at the Pizza Bar on the 38th, which in 2021 received the highest accolade—Tre Spicchi, meaning “three slices”—from Italian food and wine magazine Gambero Rosso’s guide to pizza specialists around the world. Naomi, his sister, also worked at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo’s Tapas Molecular Bar, as well as Signature, its one Michelin-starred French restaurant.

CRISP ROLL Caviar on Australian Wagyu tartare and marinated quail eggs

The Ito siblings’ 14-course omakase could rival the most extravagant tasting menu I’ve had so far. To get us started, Yuichi brought out a huge tub of Kaluga Hybrid Caviar from Caviar Colony and, scooping out more than a spoonful out of the tub and placing a blob of it on one hand of each of us 12 diners at the counter table, instructed us to lick it off down to the last smooth, creamy, nutty, buttery bead.

It was at the outset already an experience—interactive, fun, if not even sexy—but it wasn’t even the first course yet, the first being the amuse-bouche we were told to consume immediately as the siblings served it out of a vat of liquid nitrogen. The result was at the very least engaging, with the cloudy smoke of the cryogenic fluid coming out of our noses as in our mouths we savored the wild ootoro, chu-toro bacon, and pistachio meringue.

CAVIAR COLONY Amur sturgeon caviar provides the oomph to this Malagos goat cheese and greenpea cream tart

As we went from phase to phase of the omakase, Yuichi and Naomi made sure that, more than a meal, every dish was an experience. The amuse-bouche was followed by even more appetizers presented in the manner of hassun, defined in Japanese kaiseki as “a little bit of everything,” everything in this case also meant caviar, caviar, caviar, as in caviar, plus Malagos goat cheese and green-pea cream, on Hokkaido scallops and caviar on Australian Wagyu tartare and quail eggs. Also served a la hassun were smoked mascarpone with house-cured bottarga and what tasted like unagi but was really cured catfish, followed by a mud crab chawanmushi with tosazu dressing and dalandan.

AFICIONADOUGH Pizza Bianca with fish, Hokkaido botan-shrimp, and wild big fin squid on the side served in the Italian style of ‘nduja, the traditional pork sausage from Calabria

What’s a pizza omasake without pizza, with which, of course, Yuichi has carved a name for himself? So then came the Pizza Bianca with fish, Hokkaido botan-shrimp, and wild big fin squid on the side served in the Italian style of ‘nduja, the pork sausage from Calabria. Charcuterie is also among Yuichi’s strong suits, which he makes from scratch in small batches, so there were generous servings of shoulder ham shavings, pancietta, guanciale, Kyoto duck prosciutto, and paper-thin strips of Wagyu flank. What followed was focaccia wedges topped with Hokkaido wild sardines, stracciatella, and zucchini.

I wish I were there the first night of the previews because as an off-menu treat, the Ito siblings brought out what 50 Top Pizza acknowledged as Pizza of the Year 2023—Crosta Pizzeria’s Cherry Culatello Pie made of Italy’s most prized salumi, culatello, with black Tasmanian cherries marinated in Marsala, Gorgonzola cream, mozzarella, and balsamic vinegar. But the other pizzas on the night I went did not disappoint—the Rock Lobster featuring butter-poached Palawan lobster with zucchini, pine nuts, and dill in orange béarnaise sauce; “The King” Marinara in pomodori pelati or peeled tomato sauce, tomato gel, and oregano sprinkled with tomato salt; and the Kyo-Gamo made of house-cured Kyoto duck prosciutto, Pampanga mulberry, and foie gras mousse in a reduction of Barbera d’Alba wine.

OH MY OMAKASE The pizza couldn't have started more indulgently than with a tub of Kaluga Hybrid Caviar from Caviar Colony

As if there had not been enough pizza, on top of everything else Yuichi and Naomi had served us so far, a fish course, Hokkaido wild kinki with leeks and yuzu miso—and crispy, crackling skin!—preceded the dessert of truffle-soy gelato, mocha, and amazake, a traditional Japanese drink, often non-alcoholic, concocted with fermented rice.

CRACKLING Hokkaido wild kinki with leeks and yuzu miso—and crispy, crackling skin!

The pizza omakase was a limited engagement, which ran only for four nights in a space that could accommodate no more than 12 people per sitting, but don’t fret—it was organized only to engage our palate for what was to come. The Crosta Group, namely Yuichi and Crosta Pizzeria owners Ingga Cabangon and Thomas Woudwyk, is in the process of coming up with a new dining concept aimed at opening up the great possibilities of pizza.

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING Hassun-style little dishes of smoked mascarpone with house-cured bottarga, cured catfish, and lengua de gato

No definite dates have been announced, but it’s going to be pretty soon. In the meantime, there’s always Crosta Pizzeria, open from Mondays to Thursdays, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m, Fridays and Saturdays, from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Liberty Center, 104 HV dela Costa, corner Leviste Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City. Call +63 977 284 5636.
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