One of the finest places to get a good Italian meal in the Philippines is Cebu. I have always been quick to say that, because no pizza that can compare to the standards of those produced by the rustic and well-seasoned ovens you find in the establishments there. (If there are skeptics out there, try Al Viento at the poolside of Marco Polo Cebu.) One factor could be the great variety of Italian ingredients and wines that never get to Manila, but are readily available in specialty shops in Cebu. A few days back I was walking at their Ayala Mall and bought hard to find reds such as Sardinian Canonao and some 18-inch spaghetti.

After one of our food festival days in the city, Center for Asian Culinary Studies (CACS) chefs and teammates, Lawrence Zafra, a.k.a. Manila Bulletin’s Practical Chef, Toto Erfe, a.k.a. Manila Bulletin’s Beerfriend and my son Gino decided to go out for dinner. A strong recommendation was to dine at Giuseppe’s on Maria Luisa St. It was immediately a consensus, considering Chef Giuseppe is well known for the rustic wood burning ovens he builds for restaurants that serve pizzas.

Upon entering the restaurant, one is immediately enticed by the flame and embers that give the interiors a warm glow and the aroma of wood fire mixed with the chorus of herbs, spices and other ingredients wafting through the dining room.

Our dinner began with a bubbly crusted four cheese pizza with black truffle, which was not a regular item but was part of the blackboard specials. The sharpness of the cheeses was softened to a creamy richness by pools of truffle puree that gave roundness to this pedigreed pizza. This pizza is very different from my favorite Al Viento pizza by Chef Luke Gagnon of the Marco Polo, which is riddled with lots of tiny bubbles and alternating textures of chewy and crunchy.

Giuseppe’s pizza is chewy with large bubbles for a crisp, airy texture and a crunchy almost hollow crust faintly redolent of wood smoke. The truffle pizza was a perfect match with the bottle of Gabal Nero d’ Avola 2007 that we ordered. The wine, which is a traditional grape from Sicily, was juicy and reminiscent of stonefruit, as in lightly sweet plums and nectarines with a light gentle fruit acidity and spiciness.

Having immediately disposed of the first pizza, we ordered a pizza Gregorio which is an all meat combination of tomato, mozzarella, sausage, salami, smoked ham and Parma ham. The Parma ham was topped only after the pizza was cooked, in order to better keep its character intact. The pizza turned out to be a masculine combi having powerful flavors of smoked ham and cured meats. It provided a good second flavor to the strong truffle introductions we started with.

But being a sucker for pasta fresca (in a world where your average person now thinks that pasta comes from a grocery shelf), we indulged ourselves in a bowl of homemade wide noodles or pappaderlle. With its rich flavors of egg made even richer by a toss of cream and generous amounts of parmesan and sautéed porcinis, the dish seemed to show how mushroom crazy our group was. (One good reason could have been that our wine married well with all the dishes we ordered and enhanced their characters).

We ordered some entremets and the waiter brought us some spicy home-baked crackers while waiting for our main course of roasted lamb ribs. The tomato, basil, onion salsa that came with the crackers seemed to have made our taste buds chemically ready.

When the huge serving of lamb ribs came we dug in with great anticipation, having it served rustic-style over a freshly made risotto. (The waiter had warned me that it would take a while because of the risotto.) This dish proved to be a hearty, robust dish, as the lamb ribs were hot from a peppery, brown sauce perfumed with bay leaves. Naturally every rib had to be eaten and stripped by hand and teeth between spoonfuls of that creamy risotto.

Giuseppe’s seems to be a good addition to my list of places to come back to in Cebu. Particularly because of the special Sicilian wine selections they offer and their lavish portions. The blackboard specialties will also hold new surprises, because the place seems to evoke the same energy as its oven. Also, consistency seems to be the trademark of the restaurant, according to many of the local epicures. But, these pizza places are going to make me feel bad every time I order home delivery now. They’re always making me dream of pizza that’s several notches higher and a one hour plane ride away…