Arrivederci, Mi Piace

Whenever I have free time and want to work up a good appetite, I Google about food, which must be what PS3 is like to kids. And it never fails to amuse me and get me into cooking, which leads to some serious eating.

Just recently, I Googled the 10 most tasty cuisines in the world and I got — from top to bottom — French, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Japanese, Spanish, Greek and Lebanese. Of course, like the presidential survey, many will find fault with this list. What I find puzzling, at least from a Filipino perspective, is that this is the first list I have come across where Spanish cuisine is at the tail end. Not surprisingly, French and Italian lead the survey, as always. But if you ask Filipinos about their top 10 cuisines, I doubt very much if French would make it to the list. Italian, perhaps, and that’s because of pizza and spaghetti, which we got to know by way of the Americans (and that’s not necessarily the best thing, I hasten to add). That is why we like our pizzas loaded with toppings and our spaghetti with lots of meat sauce or meatballs. I have no explanation, though, for why the spaghetti that Filipinos love turned out sweet. Blame it on banana ketchup, perhaps, as a cheap substitute for the more expensive tomato sauce, which has made sweet spaghetti so popular in school cafeterias and a staple in children’s parties. So, one can’t really say that Filipinos love Italian food per se, but those who do go to specialty restaurants that serve authentic Italian cuisine.

One such place is Mi Piace (Italian for “I like it”) at The Peninsula Manila. It has been around for 15 years and loyal clients keep going back for real Italian food. But just like all good things in life, it will come to an end very soon. Sadly, this month is their last, to give way to the construction of a trend-setting, out-of-the-box lounge with live music and dancing, patterned after the chic Salon de Ning in The Peninsula Hong Kong, Shanghai and New York.

Together with other media guests, Mary Anne and I recently had dinner at Mi Piace as a last salvo before they finally close its doors. I looked around and admired the beautiful Mediterranean-colored mosaic Italian tiles covering the pizza oven, the Naples-inspired yellow walls matching harmoniously with the warm wooden floorboards, and the multi-colored plates that capture the spirit of a trattoria, transporting diners back to Italy. It is to me one of the best-decorated hotel restaurants in the country, with matching excellent Italian cuisine to boot. To imagine it gone is heart-tugging. I just wish I could bring it home lock, stock and barrel.

The evening started with some Italian wine and pica-pica at the bar section before proceeding to the main dining area. Our food was conceptualized by an Italian mind and prepared and cooked by Italian hands, and more importantly, we were at the Pen, where standards are naturally higher than most. And the objective of the dinner, I imagine, was, like lovers on their last tryst, an evening punctuated by a give-all (todo bigay), devil-may-care attitude, leaving a lingering and long-lusting (pun intended) memory that would haunt the couple for a long time.

Mi Piace’s chef of five years, Italian Massimo Veronesi, prepared a nine-course degustation. We started with a cold il polipo — thinly sliced, braised octopus arranged like a five-petaled white flower on a white plate, drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil, arugula and Parmigiano shavings. It looked delicate and the taste was even more so, initially bland but with the flavor of the sea growing after the first bite. This is Mi Piace’s most famous antipasti.

Then, of course, no Italian dinner is complete without cold cuts and pizzas. The two kinds of pizzas served were thin-crust and simply flavored with herbs, one of them a Margherita (tomatoes, mozzarella and fresh basil) mainly to complement the assorted prime cold cuts and Parmigiano Reggiano.

A plate of braised veal shank ravioli with sage, butter sauce and fresh black truffle in slices as big as 10-centavo coins followed. Now, that is surely going the extra dollars with this dish. The gnocchi (pronounced “nee-okee”) got the guests talking. They were light and nice to the bite. We learned later that the chef used imported Idaho potatoes because our local potatoes are wet and moist, which makes gnocchi heavy.

But it was the La Guancia dish that captivated our hearts. It is braised Wagyu beef cheeks in a Barolo (claimed to be the “king of wines”) reduction. It was very tender, very rich, very buttery and very wow to the taste. The experience was comparable to a first taste of foie gras. I had two servings of the beef cheek, courtesy of my non-beef-eating seatmate.

For dessert, we had a tiramisu that would change your opinion of tiramisus. Chef Veronesi’s version of this iconic Italian cake was served in a large bowl that was passed around. It was so good and creamy, yet light like whipped cream, that my Darleng had two servings of it and kept asking why it tasted so different and so good. “Is it the Italian hands whipping that separate the boys from the men in tiramisu?” she asked. 

“Maybe so,” the good-natured chef answered, “but also because I put lots and lots of mascarpone.”

Surely many will miss Mi Piace, but the good news is that chef Veronesi is set to take over the reins of Old Manila with carte blanche to redo its menu. Without a doubt he will do it with a heavy Italian accent (pun intended). I hope the Wagyu cheek and tiramisu will eventually find their way to Old Manila.

For the entire month of May, Veronesi intends to please the palates of his restaurant’s loyal patrons with the best dishes culled from his repertoire of unforgettable antipasti, soups, seafood, breads, cheeses, pizzas, wines and, of course, delectable desserts. His cucina meravigliosa (marvelous cuisine) will be sorely missed, but Mi Piace’s fans have from May 3 to 31to sample his cuisine one last time.

“On behalf of my restaurant and kitchen team, I want to thank all of our loyal diners for 15 long years of patronage, enthusiasm and encouragement,” he said. “We have loved serving you and look forward to serving you again at year-end when we unveil our newest food and beverage concept.”

For inquiries and table reservations, call The Peninsula Manila at 887-2888, extensions 6737 and 6738 (Mi Piace) or 6694 (restaurant reservations), or e-mail diningpmn@peninsula.com.