Motorino – noun literally means small engine which colloquially describes
gasoline mopeds and scooters
It was a beautiful sunny day to go and try out this restaurant in Estancia Mall. Received an invite from Zomato to visit Motorino Pizzeria Napoletana and experience their best sellers.
Per Nems ( Motorino Estancia), Motorino Pizzeria Napoletana’s roots can be traced to its original store which opened in Brooklyn in 2008. Founder Chef Mathieu Palombino is a Belgian-born Chef with an Italian immigrant father. It started with Chef Mathieu’s fascination with pizzaiolo and the old way of making pizza — the Napolitana way. These seemed good enough reasons to start up a restaurant of his own. So that’s what he did 10 years ago. Today Motorino has branches in NY , Soho, Hongkong and Manila. In the Philippines , the first store was inaugurated in Greenbelt 4 years ago in 2014. Its the second store to be opened outside the US after Hongkong.
Motorino Estancia
Motorino in Estancia is one among four branches that currently operates in the Philippines to date.
Yesterday, Motorino served us a total of 9 dishes from starter to dessert, to try. 
APPLE WALNUT CHEESE SALAD P375
The greens were crisp and fresh. I loved the generous slivers of parmigiano regiano. The apples looked like slices of cheese as well. You get a surprise taste of sweetness and fruitiness when you bite into it. The walnut provided the crunch. The citrusy saccharine vinaigrette rounded up all the flavors together. Try to have one of each ingredient in one mouthful to be able to appreciate the balance of flavors in this simple yet refreshing salad.
CALAMARI FRITTI P395
A nice appetizer to start your meal with. You can even pair it with the Apple Walnut Salad to complement its savory notes. The portion was just right for its price
ALFREDO WITH PRAWNS P525
The prawns were cooked perfectly and paired well with the al dente pasta. This is a different take on the classic Fettucine Alfredo which we are familiar with. Motorino’s version uses spaghettini instead of fettuccine and in lieu of chicken uses prawns.
Trivia :
Per Wiki, “… Fettuccine Alfredo is a pasta dish made from fettucine tossed with parmesan cheese and butter. It is also called Fettuccine al burro. Serving fettuccine with butter and chese was first mentioned in a 15th century recipe by Martino da Como. The recipe cooks the noodles in broth or water and adds butter, good cheese and sweet spices.
Modern fettuccine alfredo was invented by Alfredo di Lelio in Rome. Di Lelio invented fettuccine al triplo burro later nrenamed fettuccine Alfredo in 1908 in an effort to entice his wife to eat after givinb birth to their first child Armando…”
CLASSIC MOTORINO MEATBALL P450
I loved how the red sauce has a little kick in it. It is reminiscent of Arrabiatta which I like. The meatballs were huge and scrumptious. I think Im more partial to this than the Alfredo variant
TRUFFLE HONEY AND 4 CHEESE P695
Easily everybody’s favorite, this 12 inch pizza was wiped out in no time. That perfect balance of salty and creamy from the 4 cheese and sweet and rich from the truffle honey was divine. The pizza crust was chewy and freshly made which I loved! Shall order this again
SOPPRESSATA PICCANTE P595
“Soppressata is an Italian dry salami… Soppressata is usually made from pork but may also be made with beef. Unlike traditioal salami, Soppressata is a much coarser grind, often mixed with red pepper flakes. Like Salami they are salted, then air dried to preserve them …” (Wikipedia)
Piccante – adjective meaning spicy, hot , strong.
This is one fiery pizza that can be called a “backstabber “. The first note gives you meaty, savory, delicious. Then bang, the spicy hot last notes come strong. It really was muy piccante for me given my low threshold for anything spicy
Praise the heavens for TIRAMISU P265. The cream in this dessert quickly doused the fire in my poor tongue. ‘Most accounts of the origin of tiramisu date its invention to the 1960’s in the region of Veneto Italy…
Tiramisu literally translated from Italian to English, means pick me up , cheer me up or lift me up…
It is an Italian dessert consisting of layers of sponge cake soaked in coffee and brandy or liqueur with powdered chocolate and mascarpone cheese ” (Wikipedia) 
TORTA AL CIOCCOLATO WITH CREMA INGLESE P250
What a sublime ending to an amazing lunch. This chocolate dessert just put an exclamation point to the whole menu served to us today. That butter-graham crust, silky and sinful chocolate mousse, that decadent dark chocolate glaze which was the last note to the whole ensemble, all swimming in a pool of Creme Inglese,,,, D-I-V-I-N-E
Overall…
What a simple yet amazing spread it was. Clearly it was not only the Napolitana pizzas that were stars of the show. The Torta somewhat stole the thunder haha.
Lest I forget, Motorino also LUNCH AND DINNER SETS.
LUNCH SET
11am to 4 pm only
Choice of antipasti, salad or dessert
Caesar Salad
Roasted corn
Chicken Wings or
scoop of gelato
PASTA OF THE DAY
PIZZA OF THE DAY (1/2 PIE)
P320+ per person
DINNER DATE
1 bottle house wine
1 antipasti or salad to share
Caesar Salad, Roasted corn, Clams Al Bianco
Chicken Wings or meatballs
1 pc 13″ PIZZA to share
1 PASTA to share
P995 for two persons
5pm to 10 pm only
“This is not about making everything new. Its about making it the way it was made before… “its all about the tomato, the pecorino, the crust , the sausages, the herbs”
-Chef Mathieu Palombino
(from the article of Vladimir Bunoan ABS CBN 5/2014)
MOTORINO PIZZERIA NAPOLETANA has 4 branches :
5th floor The Podium Ortigas
Ground Floor Estancia Mall Oranbo Pasig
Ground Floor Net Park 5th Avenue BGc
Level 2 Greenbelt 3 Greenbelt