Motorino Malaysia – Italian Meatball Pizza, Calzone & Fried Calamari at Genting Highlands

The dining scene in Resorts World Genting will make the foodie in you scream internally. With levels dedicated to casual dining, middle-tier eateries and big names restaurants, you can never run out of options during your stay here.

Motorino is a popular Italian pizza restaurant brought in from New York. If you have read The New York Times, this Brooklyn and East Village pizza place has been critiqued fondly for their pizzas. With several existing branches in New York, two in Hong Kong and Manila, and one in Singapore, it has finally landed in Malaysia, specifically at Sky Avenue, Resorts World Genting.

 

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Staying as true as possible to its original pizza making process, two large Italy-imported pizza ovens are used, together with custom-made Napoleon pizza spades. The menu skews largely towards pizza. From the classic Margherita to meatier ones topped with meatballs or pepperoni, revel in the seafood pizza filled with clam meats and the calzone, folded over with lots of stuffing too.

Don’t miss out on the antipasti; a concise list offering Motorino’s better half. It’s hard to gush convincingly how good the salads were but the Mixed Greens Salad RM14 freshened the palate with a little acidity from the red onions while the balsamic vinaigrette lightly dressed up each piece of leaf.

Another satisfying prelude to the main course was the Fried Calamari RM28. The crispy batter was music to my ears as I sank my teeth through the thin layer and unto the tender meats wrapped within. I usually shy away from squids, afraid to relive the moments of chewing on rubbery textures. At Motorino, these were moments of bliss.

Two others we tried were Motorino’s Meatballs RM25 and Roasted Chicken Wings RM19. If you like the meatballs, chances are that you would enjoy the Meatball pizza later on. The three sizeable chicken meatballs served as the antipasto sat in a puddle of tomato sauce holding up shavings of pecorino and basil. The balls were stuffed fat and braised tender.

The later, on the other hand, came drenched in an inviting sauce which was sticky and acerbic with hints of spiciness. I had expected this dish to shine as much as its counterparts until I tasted the bland meat, sadly neglected from the most amazing component – the sauce.

The highlight of the day was of course the Lamb Sausage Calzone RM58. Folded in half, it was huge, about the length of my arm. The pizza base was spotted with charred patches, and delivered a firm bite. Tore the calzone apart and out spilled a mess of chopped lamb sausages, eggplants, melted mozzarella and oregano.

The Egg, Bacon & Chilli RM52 resembled your breakfast pizza with all the morning essentials – fried egg, streaky beef bacon and basil on melted mozzarella, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. I thought it would do better with some tangy tomato sauce spread over the rather one-dimensional taste.

The Meatball RM59 was similar to what we had tasted earlier on, though this time the minced meat sprawled across the pizza base in a sea of tomato paste. None too pretentious and simplicity at its best.

Menu:

 

Motorino

Level 1, SkyAvenue, 69000 Genting Highlands, Resorts World Genting,

Pahang Darul Makmur, Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +60 3 61059182

 

Sun to Thu: 11am-11pm

Fri, Sat and Eve of PH: 11am-1am

Website: https://www.rwgenting.com/dining/continental/motorino/

 

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