P20,000 pizza offered by pizza parlor along Tomas Morato Avenue

Scores of foreign restaurant brands—from America's IHOP pancake chain to Indonesia's hugely popular J.Co Donuts—have been setting up shop in the Philippines, attracted by the country's strong economic performance and the relative affluence of an increasing number of Filipinos.

 

A recent addition to the market is Steveston Pizza, a Canadian pizza shop whose claim to fame is selling what the Guinness World Records recognizes as the World's Most Expensive Pizza, the C6.

 

The $450 pizza created by Steveston Pizza's owner Nader Hatami is topped off with lobster thermidor, Alaskan black cod and Russian osetra caviar. Prior to Hatami's creation of the C6,  British chef Gordon Ramsay held the record for making the world's most expensive version of the well-loved Italian food. Ramsay's truffle-loaded pizza is sold at $178 at his London restaurant.

 

Steveston Pizza had only three branches—all found in Canada—until Filipino-Canadian entrepreneur Paolo Tan thought of opening a branch in Manila.

 

In an interview featured on State of the Nation on Friday, Tan disclosed that Hatami was so enamored "with the mystery of the Filipino people" that the chef agreed to let him own a franchise of the pizza parlor. 

 

The local branch of Steveston's Pizza is located along Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City.

 

For customers who can't shell out P20,000 to have a taste of the C6, Tan is offering another Steveston's house specialty, the C1 pizza that's generously garnished with tiger prawns, crab meat, tomatoes, and fennel salsa. It costs P1,299.

 

Tan said that although the pizzas come with a steep tag price, customers surely won't regret splurging for a slice of Steveston's pizza.

 

"Yung mga pizzas naman na sine-serve namin po, it all has top-notch ingredients. At the same time, we're the only pizza here that serves pizzas na fully loaded ang toppings," he said.

 

With the Steveston's Pizza now open for business in Manila, gourmands who are just plain curious or yuppies who just want to spend their cash can now buy a slice of luxury. —Xianne Arcangel/VC, GMA News