Pizza in Manila: Cibo
Ladies and gents, my homeslices, every now and then one of you writes in with a review and info about far-flung pizzerias that are way out of the range of typical Slice coverage. Today, we've got such an item for you. Mark Cohen (pictured, below right), who lives part of the year in Manila and whose first Manila dispatch appears here, is back with another report. —Adam
Cibo is the ten-year-old brainchild of one of Manila's most dynamic and accomplished business people, Margarita Fores. Born in Manila, she moved to New York City when she was 15 and lived there for 11 years. She obviously was exposed to New York pizza and Italian food while growing up, so when she decided to go into the Italian food business in Manila, she knew what constituted "good."
Fores became a serious student of Italian cuisine and eventually studied in Italy. In formulating her restaurant's M.O., she consulted and commiserated with some experienced chefs in Italy, all the time keeping her mind set on the fact she would be operating in Manila. What would work best? What was doable? What would Filipinos like and dislike? What can be mass-prepared consistently? All the things necessary to open the first Italian eatery of its kind in the Philippines.
