Toyo x a mano Collab Gives Filipino Spins to the Italian Classic

(SPOT.ph) There are a lot of accolades between Italian restaurant a mano and the haute Filipino eatery Toyo. Just earlier this year, a mano was listed as offering the twelfth best pizza in the Asia Pacific. Also this year, Toyo was named 24th among a list of Asia’s best restaurants. And now, they’ve put their world class talents together to come up with a set of Filipino-inspired pizzas they’re calling ‘Pizza Kamayan.’

The pizzas are available until August 26, and with the help of the Good Food Community network, the profits are going to farming communities affected by recent heat waves and Typhoon Carina. 

There are three pizzas available, all of them still in a mano’s classic Neapolitan style. This is an asset, as a mano’s dough is among the best: flavorful, crisp, while maintaining a tender chew. The toppings are where things get pretty different. First of all, the sauce they use is a sweeter banana-tomato sauce, undoubtedly meant to evoke the flavors of banana ketchup. Kesong puti makes an appearance in two of the pies, standing shoulder to shoulder with ricotta or fiordilatte. 

Also read: These Off-The-Menu Dishes at a mano Are Your Cue To Go Back, Stat

These are the pizzas on the Pizza Kamayan menu:

Those first two ingredients make up the bulk of Si Margarita (P650), a local version of the classic Pizza Margherita. And instead of the standard issue basil you get from an Italian pie, it uses sulasi, or holy basil instead. In theory, this should add a bit of a spicier kick to the pizza, but in practice the other components of the pizza are too strongly flavored for the herb to pop through. A splash of extra virgin olive oil finishes things off, giving the pizza a rich brightness.

The Tortang Talong pizza (P810) is the most exciting one of the bunch. It feels completely original, using components you generally won’t see in your typical pizzeria. The cheese base is a blend of kesong puti and ricotta. Charred eggplant provides a smoky tinge, while offering a texture that almost melts into the creamy cheese. An egg yolk drizzle gives richness, while a topping of that banana-tomato sauce replicates at least some of the experience of having the actual dish that inspired it. While the other pies in the trio are versions of existing pizzas, this one feels like a pizza version of a Filipino dish. 

Having said that, it’s hard to imagine people not being drawn to Lechon & Pinya (P940), Pizza Kamayan’s overloaded version of the Hawaiian pie. It starts with the banana-tomato red sauce and fiordilatte, then it’s topped with porchetta, crispy lechon skin, and dried pineapple. It’s served with a side of spiced vinegar. It is a bombastic pizza full of components that might leave one in a coma. Even pineapple-on-pizza haters will likely appreciate the use of dried pineapple, which just seems to fit better within a pizza paradigm, its sweetness a little muted, and the savory aspects ramped up.

Gelato with adobong mani for dessert

Off the menu, a mano is also offering a dessert: their signature gelato topped with adobong mani and tibuok salt, shaved tableside. And it’s terrific: thick, soft serve burrata ice cream, its richness broken up with the bites of savory peanut, with the soft, refined heritage salt providing a seaside backdrop. They really ought to just serve this all year.

It’s hard to say if it’s worth ordering these pizzas over any of a mano’s regular lineup of pies, which is genuinely among the best in the entire country. But Pizza Kamayan is certainly interesting, with all sorts of unexpected flavors for even the most seasoned of pizza fans. That, plus the proceeds are going to a really good cause. They are certainly worth a try.

Pizza Kamayan is available at all A Mano branches until August 26.

Also read: /Italy's King of Carbonara Goes Beyond Tradition for His Exceptional taste on the Pasta Dish