Tour Italy with La Piadina

 La Cucina Regionale Italiana 

After 12 years of serving favorite Italian dishes, the owners and creators of Piadina launches their latest concept with a new and exciting menu featuring Regional Cuisine from four select regions in Italy – Puglia, Emilia Romagna, Piemonte and Toscana. Puglia is the region where Giorgio Matera, the man behind Piadina hails from; Emilia Romagna is where the Piadina bread is originally from while Piemonte and Toscana are the regions where you will find authentic Risotto (Italian Rice dishes) dishes and Tartufo or Porcini mushroom based Pasta.

The man behind La Piadina is Mr. Giorgio Matera

 

who has been in the food industry since he was 15 years old; to hone his skills, he studied in a Hotel and Restaurant Management School in Castellana Grotte in the province of Bari, Italy. He worked summers in places like Porto Rotondo in Sardinia, one of the most famous island getaways in Italy for the rich and the famous. He went to work full time with El Toula-Rome, part of the Relais Chateau Chain of luxury hotels and restaurants and count the late Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, Sophia Loren, Monica Belucci, Marcello Mastroiani and Bernardo Bertolucci as some of his clients.  In his desire to see the world and further hone his skills, he worked in El Toula-Munich, Monte Carlo and Cecconi at London, where Mick Jagger, Paul and Linda McCartney used to be frequent diners; it was also the favorite Italian restaurant of the late Princess Diana.

 

After working around Europe for several years, he was offered by El Toula to manage their branch in Tokyo in the late 1980’s until 1992. There he had the pleasure of taking care of Madonna and his group while visiting Tokyo for a series of concerts. Mariah Carey also came for dinner and requested for a special meal to take with her to the airport after finishing her concerts. Actors like Sean Connery, Michael Douglas and Kevin Costner were guests whenever they were in Tokyo for movie premieres. He later opened a fine-dining restaurant with a Japanese partner called Chiacchere in the fashionable district of Daikanyama. In this restaurant, he established his reputation as one of the most respected and sought after caterers of fine Italian food in Tokyo. This was when he had the honor of serving the Emperor of Japan during a formal dinner to celebrate the State visit of then Italian President Luigi Scalfaro. In the following year, he traveled to Rome to receive an award from President Scalfaro as an Ambassador of Italian food and Culture in a foreign country.

In 1997, he and his wife

 

decided to explore business opportunities in Manila; hoping to open a fine-dining restaurant they instead established Piadina because no available space was available for their original plan. Fueled by his passion for Italian food, he took the challenge of venturing into the fast food business, believing that food whether expensive or inexpensive, fine, casual or fast food must always be fresh and of the best quality. Piadina at the FoodCourt in Glorietta IV became an instant hit and established a reputation for authentic, healthy fresh and affordable Italian food. Needless to say, they expanded the business and converted the self-service concept to a casual dining one. 

Wanting to preserve their commitment to serve fresh, quality food, they kept the business small; they have 6 branches of the original Piadina concept while this new store in Glorietta IV is the first of its kind. Today, they have kept their “no commissary policy” “no microwave policy” in effect in all the stores; ingredients are marketed fresh regularly particularly meat and seafood products. All their food is prepared and cooked in each of the outlets, NOT precooked and transported from a central kitchen. The Piadina stores are at Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons Ermita, Greenbelt 1, Solaris-One Bldg. on Dela Rosa St., Legaspi Village.

 

In 2006, he went back to Tokyo to open a Piadina store in Aoyama, the heart of Tokyo. When his clients from El Toula and Chiacchere found out he was back, he began to get requests to cater for their events and parties; as a result, Passion Food Catering was born. Since returning to Tokyo, he has among many events organized and catered the opening of the TOD’s Building in Harajuku, the sit down dinner for over 1000 guests for the 40 year anniversary of Etro and the final party to celebrate the Italian year in Japan in December 2009 with a buffet dinner for more than 500 guests featuring a limited exhibition of Bulgari jewelry and a Ferragamo fashion show at the Italian Embassy in Tokyo. He is currently busy collaborating with another Italian on the new Regional menu of Alitalia, which was launched recently.

“Food is a language that everybody enjoys and understands and this is my way of introducing my country to the people in the Philippines”, Giorgio says. Recognizing the potential for a higher level of quality and variety in Italian food in a casual environment like the mall, La Piadina (La Cucina Regionale Italiana) was born. “There are so many dishes in Italy and I believe the local market will appreciate them; in the future we will introduce new food from other regions so that there will always be something different to look forward to when they visit La Piadina.” Giorgio adds.

Giorgio Matera currently divides his time between Tokyo and Manila.

Travel with your taste buds to four regions in Italy with the new La Piadina (La Cucina Regionale Italiana) located at the 2nd Floor of Glorietta IV, Ayala Center, Makati, open everyday from 11am to 10pm. For reservations, please call 501-3788 

 

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