Pizza from New York via Italy - Motorino Pizza

Motorino positions itself as a neighborhood pizzeria, it is indeed very conveniently located right by the SoHo escalators. The decor, the food and the staff are friendly too. My hospitality industry background makes me pay attention to trivial details in restaurants, Motorino's staff takes pride in their Neapolitan food and serving style and would ask you to go to the back of the restaurant to see their special wood fire oven - That impresses me and it's what I am talking about living the company culture and proper training. Anyway, let's go back to the food.

Their pizza dough are fermented longer than the others (24hrs long I heard), and there are 2 types of sauce base available - tomato or cheese. We ordered the famous Brussel Sprout this day and it came with a whole lot of Brussel sprouts on the pizza, beautifully distributed. Apparently they were added not long before the pizza finished baking. The top part was charred but the slices of sprouts were still crunchy and not dry out yet. The combination with the shredded Pancetta (a type of Italian bacon that is salt-cured but not smoked, so it tastes more like dried ham), and light Fior di Latte mozzarella cheese was phenomenal. It's like a nice salad with a warm crust you actually feel healthy eat it.

Brussel Sprout pizza - Fior di Latte / Garlic / Pecorino / Smoked Pancetta / Extra virgin olive oil

Motorino uses a special wood fire oven to bake pizzas, which gives their thick and chewy (the kind of spongy chewy you don't find it unpleasant at all) pizza crusts charred patches. Don't freak out on the black marks because they don't taste burnt, in fact, this oven baking style is traditional Neapolitan. 

One special note is they way wines are served at Motorino - in tumbler glass! The wine list is encouraging as well with comprehensive descriptions. The white I had this time was Cortese Gavi Di Gavi, it has a distinctive apple note to the nose that I felt like sipping apple juice at one moment, but the apple note didn't last once I started eating pizza - this wine is good as an aperitif maybe~ Next time I will try the 'Perfect Pizza Wine' - Gregnano, Cantine Federiciane, Campania, 2011 DOC. It's a semi-sparkling red wine, really curious how it is! It actually reminds me of the other Italian sparkling red wine I used to have at restaurant La Tour, Le Bouveret Switzerland...:p

Dessert- Tiramisu! It has a nice creamy mascarpone layer, well soaked lady fingers but the coffee could taste stronger (good for my friend sharing this with me who doesn't drink coffee..haha). There are only 2 desserts on the menu, Tiramisu and chocolate cake (Torta al cioccolato). Sometimes it's better to specialize than be a Jack of all trades :p

Motorino Pizzeria (food menu ; drink menu)
SoHo, Central- G/F, 14 Shelley Street
Tel: 2801 6881

Wanchai- G/F, 15 Ship Street
Tel: 2520 0690

Weekend getaway - Lake Egret Nature Park

What's in your mind looking at this picture?

 

The picture above is not from my Swiss travelogue...indeed it's a local nature park in Tai Po, N.T. - The Lake Egret Nature Park.

I wouldn't have imagined so much fun in this place when my friend Gary told me what I could do with my group of friends there are boating, water cycling and having dinner at the restaurant...I thought, in a remote location (yea it's pretty remote anywhere beyond walking distance from the MTR station) and calm environment like this, I wouldn't expect anything more exciting than a chillaxing hang-out.

But I was wrong.

Walking in, the beautiful view from the restaurant's patio overlooking the lake, and the perspective of the curved patio itself wowed me. The first thing coming into sight usually makes an impression, and that surely made a good one.

Towards the end of the patio smelled my favorite cheese of all time, the chèvre goat cheese? Wondering why, a herd of black goats appeared right away :) Goat-feeding is one of the park's many activities, the goats are kept right by the lake, they are just like gatekeepers of the dock and watch every excited visitor going out for boating or water-cycling simply with indifference. They only concern how much hay you have in hand to feed them~ funny :D

 

Just now I mentioned there are many activities for individuals and families, children to adults at Lake Egret, what are there to offer? Some available activities include sand painting, reed weaving, bread making, leather craft making, sand-filled bottle craft, paper clay...there is also a Museum of Ethnology to satisfy the most curious and fun-loving minds. Reservation is required for most of the guided activities.

Bread making - doughs were ready, what we did was to shape and decorate - this simple but fun DIY workshop made us laugh like kids

Dinner at Little Egret Restaurant was great too. What more could you ask for when you are already sitting out in a beautiful weather, being served attentively, and eating in the spectacular sunset view by the lake? Perhaps a gigantic whole pan-fried dover sole fish (left of the below photo), which was crispy and savory outside but tender and juicy inside :D Another dish that was cheerfully done was the crab meat, mango and avocado salad (right), its mango puree dressing went well with .

I had a great getaway filled with fun and decent food there! Lake Egret Nature Park is designed to house a range of events, venues with different functionality are available, from birthday parties for kids, weddings, BBQ parties, to corporate meetings, banquets and trainings. You can find more details from its website. 

For Easter, there will be a Woodstock outdoor concert and BBQ party welcoming people of all age to join. Details here. Don't forget to stay tuned to their adverse weather notice! Happy Easter long weekend!


Lake Egret Nature Park 
2657 6657
2 Hung Lam Drive, Tai Po Kau, N.T. Hong Kong

How to get there?
MTR Train: Get off at Tai Po Market Station, then transfer taxi (around HK$21) to reach "Little Egret Restaurant"

Islamic halal food in Xinjiang/Chinese style- this famous halal beef dumpling(清真牛肉餅) is prepared in batches fresh off the frying pan, it would keep you drooling long enough before taking a juicy bite :) yum!

Islam Food
Address: 1 Lung Kong Road, Kowloon City
Tel: 2382 2822

Lin Heung Tea House - Rocking Lotus Bun in Hong Kong

Yum Cha during lunch hour sounds like a group thing - but not at Lin Heung Tea House, where you don't look odd at all sitting along with strangers at the same table, eating lotus seed bun and drinking tea in traditional cup, all alone :p

Lin Heung Tea House
Address: 160-164 Wellington Street, Central
Tel: 2544 4556