Tags: Food Fare and Dishes, Food Products
By Anna Valmero
TAGUIG CITY, METRO MANILA—For foodie friends Carmina Palmos and Jaemie Ching, all it takes is a pan of gourmet pizza to travel around the world and savor the rich flavors of every unique culture.
From Japan’s spicy wasabi, Korea’s famed national dish bulgogi, and four Italian cheeses, Stop Over Pizza and Pasta, offers everyone a “palate tour”.
To start their business, Carmina and Jaemie co-founded Cre-Ate Concepts Inc., which handles the franchising of Stop Over Pizza and Pasta.
“Our concept is to bring world flavors in a slice. Inspired by our travels to other countries, we combined flavors unique from each country to create a pizza with a more character and complex flavor than the usual,” says Carmina.
This can be gleaned from the combination of flavors in their pizza menu, which cost between P60 to P269 for two slices to a whole pan, respectively.
Among the bestsellers is the Seafood Wasabi with creamy and cheesy wasabi dressing topped by shrimp, kani, onions and garlic; and Terimayo Chicken with teriyaki and Japanese mayonnaise sauce topped with chicken, garlic, cheese and onions.
There is also the Filipino-inspired Smokey Tinapa with cream sauce topped with tinapa, garlic, onions and cheese. The American Texas beef barbeque with red sauce topped with beef, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cheese and hickory sauce is almost the same as the Korean Bulgogi save for the use of Korean dressing, sesame oil and spring onions.
For vegetarians, there is the Margherita with red sauce topped with garlic, cheese and basil and FourCheese composed of four types of cheeses: cottage cheese, cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan mixed with a hint of oregano.
Adds Jamie: “To break into the food business, we thought of giving ordinary dining experience a twist with our flavors and unique food preparation.”
All of Stop Over’s pizza uses homemade thin crust that are oven-baked using the traditional wood-fired oven pugon, served hot and fresh to customers at the Mercato Centrale weekend night market.
Cooking the pizza crust and toppings in the pugon gives a wholesome flavor to their pizza that cannot be attained using electric ovens, says Carmina.
The pizza dough does have a a distinct smell and earthy flavor to it, owing to the slow cooking proces and use of wood. That is exactly the taste of the four-cheese pizza, only I personally prefer mine to be extra crunchy.
On any given night, customers who flock the Stop Over Pizza and Pasta booth at Mercato order about 40 pans of their gourmet pizza, proof to their growing clientele since they started last March.
In the future, the business partners aim to add more Filipino flavors to their pizza (such as adobo) and also expand their offerings to include ice cream and appetizers.
Over the next five years, they aim to get their own store to serve more customers. At present, they also accommodate parties and events.
Get more information about Stop Over Pizza and Pasta
Related stories:
Handuraw Pizza in Cebu is popular for its thin crust pizzas
Try the chocolate pizza at Heavenly Chocolates in QC
Bigg’s Diner is the fastfood of choice for Bicolanos
Nomnomnom serves good food in a homey ambiance
Alcoholic Beverages Bars Beverages Coffee Cottage Industries Entrepreneurship Establishments Exotic Food Food Establishments Food Fare and Dishes Food Industry News and Concerns Food Preparation Food Products Healthy Food and Drinks Seafood Street Food Truly Pinoy Food and Drinks Vegetarian and Organic Food
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
