If you’ve ever been to Naples, Italy, you know that their pizza is decisively the best in the world. Yet even with an ostensibly simple recipe just a handful of fresh ingredients composed of fresh dough, tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, basil and olive oil a proper pizza Napoletana is just as hard to get in Manila.
Thus, when the opportunity to bring a taste of true Neapolitan cuisine to Manila came up, Luigi Vera and Richie Yang of Am-Phil Group and their partners wasted no time making sure it will happen. On June 2, premium Italian restaurant Salvatore Cuomo & Bar finally opens its doors to guests, and will occupy an entire 475 square meters of space at the Uptown Parade in Bonifacio Global City.
“We wanted to raise the bar of Italian food in the Philippines. We believe that Salvatore Cuomo would be welcomed by the more discerning diners in Manila who’ve travelled extensively and know what Neapolitan-style Italian cuisine is all about,” said Luigi Vera, Managing Director.
The restaurant is part of a food empire built by Salvatore Cuomo himself, a celebrated Italian chef, restaurateur and a famous personality hailed as the pioneer of Neapolitan pizza in Japan.
Having over a hundred restaurants to his name from casual pizza and pasta restaurants to more premium dining outlets says a great deal about Salvatore Cuomo and his food.
But who is Salvatore Cuomo?
Described by friends and colleagues as larger-than-life and gregarious, Cuomo was born in Naples, Italy in 1972 by an Italian father and Japanese mother. At the age of 11, he trained himself in his uncle’s pizzeria and later on fine-tuned his trade in the kitchens of some of Naples’ finest pizza restaurants. He gradually learned how to blend the traditional Italian art of cooking with the Japanese art of perfection.
In 1984, he traveled to Japan with his father, who opened an Italian restaurant in Chiba. Japan didn’t appeal to the young Cuomo then, he went back to Italy and spent the next three years studying at a culinary school. He returned to Japan at the age of 18.
After his father died, Cuomo was left with a bankrupt restaurant with no money and mounting debt. Nevertheless, Cuomo and his brothers made the decision to stay in Japan and subsequently worked in the Japanese service industry to survive.
During those days, Italian cuisine was just starting to get popular and Cuomo saw this as an opportunity to introduce Neapolitan pizza in Japan which nobody was making. The next couple of years were spent understanding the Japanese food mentality and researching the market before opening a new restaurant in Tokyo with what Cuomo calls “Original Neapolitan pizza.”
“It was a crazy, crazy place but one of most fun restaurants I ever had. We only did dinner, no lunch, no afternoon, only dinner. You had to book a month in advance and we had queues of 200 people going down the street. We had to choose who could come in and who couldn’t,” said Salvatore Cuomo in one interview.
Needless to say, Cuomo became known as “The Pizza Man” in Japan who catapulted Neapolitan pizza to fame. Shortly after, he started coming out on TV in Japan, making guest appearances in Iron Chef and Iron Chef Japan, hosting a TV cooking program, and writing cookbooks. He also began opening restaurants in key locations across the Nippon archipelago as well as in other countries, including Taiwan, China, Korea, and now in the Philippines. His empire of Salvatore Cuomo Restaurants, Catering Services, Cookbooks and Licensed Products is run by Y’s Table Corporation, owned and operated by Seizaburo Kanayama and Salvatore Cuomo.
The opening of every Salvatore Cuomo restaurant is well documented by the press. In June 2010, Chinese Magazine Sina Fashion calls Salvatore “a gift from Naples” after the success of the first VPN Accredited Neapolitan Restaurant in mainland China. In February 2013, South Korean editor Ju Younguk describes the moment pizza first arrived in the country in 1985 as if history repeated itself with the first Salvatore Cuomo Restaurant opening in Korea. In 2013, XEX Tokyo Restaurant by Salvatore Cuomo was described by Anthony Bourdain in his show, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations as the final destination for the Japanese elite.
Somewhere between casual and fine dining is premium casual dining, one where guests can look forward to good quality food and premium service in an elegant restaurant without the stiff ambiance, and enjoy a fine meal.
This is the kind of experience that Salvatore Cuomo provides, a restaurant that is both modern and elegant, where guests are greeted with a hearty “buon giorno” at the door. Its high ceilings and exposed pipes give the place an industrial feel. Lighting and furniture pieces were carefully selected and approved by the restaurant’s Japanese principals, while a water feature in front of the restaurant ties in the beautiful architecture.
True to his Italian heritage, Salvatore Cuomo is known for his exacting standards in demanding the best raw materials and ingredients for his dishes. During the early stages of construction, Cuomo flew to Manila to check local sources and determine if these would pass his standards.
“Mr. Cuomo is extremely involved in food and menu development, and quite discerning in sourcing ingredients. He also cooked his signature dishes, and showed our local staff how he prepares them to make sure that Manila will be able to present the food as he does it,” said Richie Yang, Director.
Indeed, getting the right ingredients is integral to the Salvatore Cuomo experience. All of their pizzas, for instance, only use bufala mozzarella and tomato sauce that is imported and proprietary to the company. They are baked in a custom-made oven shipped from Naples, Italy. The oven uses a combination of local beech wood and imported composite wood that gives the pizza its distinct taste and texture.
“The ingredients are very important. We want to make sure we get the freshest and the tastiest products available to us. We spend years selecting and choosing, and even creating some of our ingredients to make sure they are the best. It took us maybe three years to get the perfect basil. This makes a big impact on taste and flavor, ensuring that we are able to serve premium quality pizzas and other dishes,” noted Chef Salvatore.
Guests may start their meal with Caprese di Mozzarella di Bufala (Buffalo Mozarella Salad) or the Tagliere di Affettati, a plate of traditional Italian cured meats sliced paper thin. A definite must-try on the menu is the D.O.C. (Denominazione Di Origine Controllata), an original pizza creation by Chef Salvatore that uses fully-ripened cherry tomatoes, a luxurious amount of bufala mozzarella, basil and a splash of olive oil layered on a delicate crust. Guests can see how the dishes are prepared in the open kitchen, where chefs are hard at work perfecting each order to be served by the efficient staff. They are being trained by a Japanese team from the kitchen, dining, and barista/bar in Salvatore Cuomo Japan, who are currently in Manila to help with the opening.
“We want to be very transparent. Ten, twenty, thirty years ago, the Asian kitchen was closed and very private. But we wanted to establish trust with our customers by showing them everything. I used to believe that if I showed people how to make my food, they would copy it. But I realized it is impossible to copy just like that. Our food comes from us being artisans, preparing it to perfection every time. You cannot copy the experience that goes into making that food, it takes years of training. I’m working very hard to educate our guests, but my staff I want to make sure they know about everything that goes into the pizza. For example, how the colour of the tomato affects the taste and how that makes the pizza better or worse,” he explains.
Even the glassware for cocktails were carefully selected, combining both function and whimsy, sure to delight guests. Plating is also very important to them as well. There’s a good number of interestingly designed plates used to serve the dishes, that results in an appetizing and beautiful food presentation.
Nothing is left to chance. Every ingredient in every dish is how it should be. Every detail is of high-quality. That is what makes Salvatore Cuomo, the man and the restaurant, a cut above the rest.
Italian food is best paired with good coffee after a hearty meal. Salvatore Cuomo & Bar serves specially imported Paul Bassett coffee. Paul Bassett, Australia’s famous coffee prodigy won the World Barista Championship at the age of 25. Paul Bassett sources coffees of the highest quality and have refined roasting and brewing techniques, which best highlight their intrinsic characteristics.
For Neapolitan specialties, Salvatore Cuomo & Bar is located at the ground floor of Uptown Parade in Bonifacio Global City. Call 946.3072 and 946.3073 for inquiries & reservations.