Cover Yuichi Ito, executive chef of Crosta (Photo: courtesy of Crosta)
Yuichi Ito, executive chef of Crosta (Photo: courtesy of Crosta)
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Find out what flavours, dishes and culinary experiences ignited Crosta executive chef Yuichi Ito’s love for food
In 2023, chef Yuichi Ito returned to Manila to take the helm at Crosta (winner of the Tatler Best Restaurants 2025 Best Innovation Award) as executive chef. It was a bold move that would shake up not just the local dining scene, but the global pizza industry. Since joining forces with co-founders Ingga Cabangon Chua and Thomas Woudwyk, the cult-favorite pizzeria has transformed into an international sensation, celebrated for its Internet-famous weekend specials: pizzas reimagined through Ito’s creative lens, designed beyond your wildest imaginations.
Within a year, his cherry culatello pie was crowned World Pizza of the Year 2023, while Crosta rose steadily through the ranks of 50 Top Pizza—claiming No. 5 in Asia-Pacific earlier this March and No. 12 worldwide in 2024 (the 2025 results will be revealed on the 8th of September).
Ito’s coveted specials—and in effect, the chef himself—have become the talk of the town, inspiring diners to brave the queue week after week in hopes of tasting his latest experiments. Ito’s newest creation? His take on the Roman scrocchiarella: a thin, shatteringly crisp base made from a delicately laminated dough, finished with truffle cream and generous shavings of fresh black truffles.
Before team Crosta unveils their two new concepts (more on that below) and continues its ambitious expansion, we chat with Yuichi Ito about his culinary journey, his love for crabs and why, as his mother once told him, “you cannot always have the best”.
In case you missed it: Off Menu 2025: 17 chefs, 7 courses, 1 unforgettable feast–Get your tickets to Tatler Dining’s must-try food festival now
A young Yuichi Ito (Photo courtesy of Yuichi Ito)
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Tell us about your experience in F&B.
My very first professional kitchen experience outside the cooking school was in EDSA Shangri-La at their Italian restaurant Paparazzi as a trainee. After this, I moved back to Tokyo and continued learning Italian cuisine. My first restaurant moving back to Japan was this restaurant called Bice Ristorante Milano, which used to be a Michelin-starred restaurant until they closed a couple of years back. Before moving back to Manila to join Tommy and Ingga, I was at The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, where I worked for almost ten years. Currently, we are working on new projects like our soon-to-open pizza omakase, an exciting concept located across the omakase room, and the expansion of Crosta Pizzeria.
What was your go-to comfort food growing up?
Whenever my mom would tell me that we were going to this unagi restaurant called Unatetsu in Asakusa, very close to where we lived, it sparked excitement and joy. Even now, after more than 20 years, I still get excited to go there and see people who have been working at that restaurant for years. Another comfort food for me would be this super easy cold soba/somen that my father used to eat a lot (I almost became a soba chef) back when we were little.
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Is there one dish you would say sparked your love for food?
Steamed crabs! If you are in Japan, it’s so easy to open crabs because the shells are usually thin, and they would provide nice scissors perfect for crabs. In the Philippines, we have these mud crabs with triple the thickness of the shell! The hard work required to open that shell without smashing it is my favourite—especially when you pull out the meat so perfectly from the shell. Mamma mia! It becomes a reward for hard work.
What was the first dish you learned how to cook/bake?
Probably grilled salted fish. We would grill fish in charcoal often when we were little, living here in Manila.
What is one dish or ingredient that you couldn’t stomach growing up? How do you feel about it now?
Chicken liver. It’s one of my favourite sticks at yakitori shops now, but I rarely eat it in the Philippines.
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What is your favourite food memory from your childhood? Why is it so special?
I think it’s those times when I would invite friends over to our family home, and I would start cooking some random stuff (nothing fancy, but usually quick, easy dishes). You’d see how everyone would get excited, starting from the preparation, cooking and finally eating. Some of them might help with the food, and some might do other things which bring everyone together back at the table and have a great time.
What was a typical breakfast you loved as a kid?
Onsen eggs with soy sauce.
What was your favourite merienda or after-school snack?
Broccoli with mayo.
Read more: The shared table: Asia’s communal dining traditions and why they endure
Is there a particular person—family member, friend, or otherwise—that you associated with food and eating while growing up?
Definitely my mom—I’m a mama’s boy. I would usually stick to my mom wherever she goes, even going to bars and having drinks with her friends somewhere in Manila or Tokyo. One thing that is never forgotten whenever we eat somewhere is the appreciation of food—she would tell me stories about particular products and why it is special. She used to say, “You cannot always have the best or only eat the best, otherwise you will never appreciate anything anymore.”
What’s the one dish you miss most from your childhood—something you used to eat all the time, but rarely get to have now
Uni.
If you could share one dish from your childhood with your guests today, what would it be—and how would you serve it?
Unagi shirayaki on top of rice with some Japanese condiments.
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About
Lauren’s love for food came much later in life than one would expect— an obsession awakened in the streets of Melbourne’s multicultural dining scene. Armed with this newfound passion, she returned to the Philippines determined to discover the best eats in her home country, with a personal advocacy to champion local cuisines and homegrown talent. Nothing is off-limits; if it’s delicious, it’s worth celebrating.
Work
As Tatler Dining associate editor, Lauren covers all things food and drink, from listing the latest openings in our monthly Dining Radar to interviewing chefs and bartenders about the biggest obstacles crippling the industry today. Beyond the digital space, she also organises Tatler Dining’s tentpole events, including Off Menu and Tatler Dining Kitchen, as well as the annual Tatler Best Philippines awards night and guide launch, detailing the best restaurants in the country.
For leads and event invites, contact her via lauren@tatlerphilippines.com or follow her on Instagram at @laurengolangco.
Photo: Ralph Mendo
