JE TunNel: MOTORINO HAS MOTORED INTO THE ALL NEW SKY AVENUE AT RESORTS WORLD GENTING!

One of the attractions of Resorts World Genting’s is the Sky Avenue dining experiences that await the thrill-seeking foodie. With a carefully curated balance of accessible choices, mid-range dining, higher tier and bespoke culinary experiences, the broad view is to turn eating into an experience.

With an entire level dedicated to gastronomy, Resorts World Genting is not satisfied with merely bringing together well-known, established restaurant brands to its mammoth new development.

Instead, it has pushed the envelope and brought in brands whose franchises they now own.

One of their most lavish investments is Motorino. This Brooklyn and East Village pizza place has New York Times food writers hailing it as the best authentic Neopolitan Italian pizza restaurant in New York.

Owned and operated by Belgian-Italian born chef Mathieu Palombino who makes Neapolitan-style pizza in wood ovens imported from Italy, Motorino has multiple outlets in New York, two in Hong Kong and Manila, one in Singapore, and when it is unveiled in December, its first restaurant in Malaysia.

Motorino will take on the look and feel of an old space which has been refurbished, but with very little intervention. “Think about an old American 1920s grocer or pharmacy. It’s a place which isn’t posh, but which isn’t exactly a hole in a wall, either. In Brooklyn it would be a place where aspiring singers who do double shifts come to grab a good pizza.

"They are the kind of people who aren’t happy with main stream brands but who are looking for too trendy artisanal food,” fleshes out Dato Edward Holloway, Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations at Resorts World Genting.

The Motorino at Sky Avenue will be a 4,000 sq ft space with a façade featuring gold-bordered Italian windows. Compared to the space-constrained Hong Kong and Singapore outlets, this will be the biggest Motorino yet. Keeping to the original design ethic of the American outlets, seating will not be plush or opulent.

Instead, there will be 1920s metal chairs in burgundy. “Brooklyn was an Irish area during that time, so there will also be shades of green used to reference that, as well as to lend an element of surprise to the burgundy tones. There will also be white marble topped tables which are a continuation of the white marble topped pizza counters,” Holloway shares.

The most eye-catching feature of the restaurant will be two large pizza ovens which were shipped in from Naples in Italy. Customised pizza spades from Napoli were also fabricated to be used as decorations. These oar-shaped paddles traditionally made from one single piece of wood will also be used in the making of the pizzas.

With patrons being able to watch the entire process of the making of the famed Motorino pizzas, the design team made sure that spot cooling was employed around the ovens to amplify the air conditioning and thus ensure a comfortable dining experience. With Sixties-style lighting and Pantone glo-balls, Motorino is set to be a time capsule of an area where the pizza pie reigned supreme.

Diners who have not had the decadent pleasure of a Motorino experience may be a little taken aback as to how singularly their menu is dedicated to pizza. Apart from a selection of antipasti, pizza reigns supreme. However, in true Italian fashion, antipasti are not just about quelling hunger pangs before the main event. Italians know that antipasti set the tone for a meal.

As such, Motorino’s antipasti selection gives diners a glimpse into the quality of the ingredients that will appear on their pizzas. As evidence, the mixed greens salad and arugula and bresaola salad will always burst with crispness, freshness and flavour, while the roasted peppers will delight with their natural sweetness.

The buffalo mozzarella with tomato, extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil will combine richness with tangy juiciness, while the Octopus salad will bring together sensation and succulence, with clever use of capers, potatoes, chili oil, red onion and parsley. No self-respecting pizzeria is without chicken wings, and so Motorino offers up its roasted variety flavoured with lemon, mint and chili flakes.

Purists will also be able to delight in Motorino’s meatballs braised in tomato sauce, pecorino and basil. A little bit of New York Italian culture thrown in!

Motorino offers over 20 toppings that can be added on to existing pizzas. These include Brussel sprouts, two kinds of anchovies, fresh arugula, buffalo mozzarella and fior de latte (fresh mozzarella made with cow’s milk as opposed to buffalo milk), along with other more conventional ingredients such as turkey, pepperoni and clams. However, purists say that each Motorino pizza is perfect as it is.

Patrons can take their pick from ten stellar favourites, which range from the stripped (marinara, margherita and pepperoni) to the supremely Italian (stracchiatella with basil, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil; cremini mushrooms, and colatura di alici featuring cow’s milk mozzarella, red onions, grape tomatoes, white anchovies and sea salt).

Also on offer is a Brussel sprout pizza with fior de latte, garlic, pecorino and smoked turkey bacon; cherry stone clam pizza and an egg, turkey chili variation. Pizzas range from RM45 to RM67 for a whole pie.

Stella Artois on draft gives Motorino a decidedly up market feel, as does the wine selection of pinot grigio, garganega, catarratto and barbera primativo. Motorino has even identified the perfect pizza wine to be Gragnano Cantine Federiciane 2015 which is a plum red, medium semi-sparkling wine served either by glass or bottle.

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