?MANGIA! MANGIA!? IN ITALIAN THAT means ?Eat! Eat!? That might as well be the clarion call this month at Peninsula Manila?s Mi Piace, where chef Massimo Veronesi has prepared a sumptuous feast.

And it?s a feast with a twist. Seeing how diners often like sharing and tasting a variety of dishes, Massimo has prepared a degustacion menu for its Assaggio Italiano festival, which gives diners the option to savor anywhere from three to 12 courses at a fixed price.

This may pose a dilemma, however, once they look at the menu. Every dish brims with the promise of epicurean delights, from the fresh arugula and nectarine salad drizzled with balsamic dressing, to the pan-roasted salmon with lemon thyme sauce, to the duo of duck leg and breast with sautéed spinach and homemade pumpkin gnocchi in orange sauce. Choosing from all these and so many others could be a real challenge.

Luckily for us, Massimo and food and beverage director Laurent Le Deu had already chosen a menu representative of the festival?s dishes.

Our first course was a refreshing tartar of Scottish salmon, dainty cubes of salmon matched by a citrus salad of orange and tomatoes sprinkled with dill.

Favorite

The second course held a surprise. Tucked under a fresh arugula salad was a slice of ox tongue encrusted with a crisp coating. To those of us used to eating lengua swimming in tomato or mushroom sauce, this was certainly a novelty.

More familiar was the next course: a prawn curled over a salad of spinach and green beans, accompanied by a generous stick of crispy polenta.

My favorite was the scallop. Topped with a crisp crust of mashed truffles, the scallop sat on a slightly sweet pumpkin puree surrounded by a pool of brown truffle sauce. It was the perfect combination of textures and flavors.

A close second was the tortellini of Roma tomato. Stuffed with braised eggplant, the tortellini was smothered with an arrabiatta sauce that whispered of exotic spices from faraway lands.

And what is an Italian menu without a risotto? This rice dish is to Italian cuisine what paella is to the Spanish, a dish so fraught with variations that it has become the subject of intellectual treatises and dinner discussions.

Pan-fried foie gras

Massimo?s take on this is Arborio rice tossed with globe artichokes, made more irresistible by a generous cut of pan-fried foie gras.

Massimo and Le Deu had thoughtfully prepared only small portions of each dish so we weren?t too stuffed to have a trio of desserts: balls of fresh watermelon and a scoop of vanilla ice cream bobbing from a puddle of prosecco soup; a Tuscany cake layered with hazelnut paste, to be savored with fior di latte ice cream; and an assortment of Italian cheeses punctuated by apple mustard and walnut bread.

From all these, as well as from the rest of the menu, diners can opt to have anywhere from a simple three-course meal (at P590 per person) to a more lavish 12-course meal (at P1,800 per person). (For some items such as the risotto and the duo of duck leg and breast, there are additional charges.)

Ideally, one would come with friends or family because Italian food is one that should be savored with good company. Most likely, diners will still end up tasting from each other?s plate. That should be no problem -- tasting a variety of dishes is the very spirit of this festival. Mangia! Mangia!

Assaggio Italiano runs at Mi Piace until March 29. For info and reservations, call Peninsula Manila, 887-2888 ext. 6737 and 6738.