The Philippine market, accustomed to the instant gratification satisfied so easily by cheap fast food, is possibly so saturated with American-style comfort food pizzerias that perhaps the fact that pizza is an Italian innovation has slipped our minds entirely. Motorino Pizza intends to remind us what authentic Neapolitan pizza tastes like and why it’s worth the hype.
Hailing from New York, Motorino Pizza is borne of standards higher than most American-style pizzerias found in Manila. The founder, Chef Matthieu Palombino, is an Italian born in Belgium and raised in Brooklyn dedicated to the craft of Neapolitan pizza-making as any born and bred Italian. He honed his skills in Italy under the wing of one of the first pizzerias in Napoli, Naples, famous for their decade-old pizza recipe. After a year, he came back to Brooklyn with a more refined understanding of classic Italian cuisine, and the guns to jumpstart Motorino Pizza.
The greatest contrast between Neapolitan pizza and your typical pizza chain, two strides and a phone call away, is production quality. While American pizzerias dutifully abide by the mantra of “bigger is better,” all in terms of size, topping, and oil drippings, Italian pies take careful measure towards balance of flavors. You can identify the latter by its charred, leopard spotted crust, a soupy center, and an arrangement of toppings that have all been calculated to create an experience savory enough to keep you off fast food (indefinitely).
Chef Palombino is a merciless mentor and demands that all his pizzas offer the same superb quality on par to his standards.To adhere to the high principles of the founder, the restaurant utilizes ingredients and equipment dictated by his strict parameters. The restaurant is fully furnished with a two-ton stone pizza oven, crafted straight from the stones of the Sta. Lucia Mountain in Italy. These stones allegedly retain heat better, and makes for the perfect oven. All ingredients, save for the vegetables that are sourced locally, are shipped straight from Italy. Their secret ingredient is the flour—one of the best pizza flours in the world. The owner refuses to reveal its name.
If your palate is used to American comfort food, Motorino Pizza is quite a breath of fresh air. And unlike other chains, Motorino promises not to compromise its integrity for the sake of market demand.