Malaysians in general are looking for good food that comes at a good price, so finding a pizza chain that offers the best of both worlds can be challenging.
If you happen to live in the Klang Valley though, there is one up-and-coming chain that offers delicious wood-fired pizzas at reasonable prices.
Fino Piza currently has three outlets in the Klang Valley, but its first branch is situated in the bustling food haven of Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
The parlour takes pride in the fact that its pizzas are made entirely in-house with dough, sauces and toppings all made on the spot. Customers are also able to watch their food being made to order and baked in an actual wood-fired oven.
It’s hard to generalise Fino’s pizzas, considering the diverse variations of toppings available, but they are all united by the inescapable crisp bite and flavourful combination of their ingredients.
If you simply cannot decide which pizza to pick, go with Fino’s Big Breakfast, the perfect pizza for folks to break fast with.
The base is an in-house tomato paste topped off with beef bacon, chicken pepperoni, chicken sausage and egg. It’s nothing short of a love letter to meat lovers.
Given that it is the Raya period now, some of the pizzas are seasonal such as the Moroccan Lamb Pizza which features shredded lamb drizzled with parmesan cheese, scallion, cream and chilli flakes.
A flavourful delight through and through, you will be savouring every slice with unstoppable relish.
Longing for a local flavour? Try the Chicken Rendang Pizza, featuring this Malaysian comfort food in pizza form.
The chicken rendang is sprinkled with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, while making use of turmeric, better known as “kunyit” that gives the pizza a distinct and lingering taste.
Fino also has pizzas to feed an entire party easily in the form of the 21-inch pizza. The best part about all the pizzas in Fino? You can actually have more than one topping on a pizza!
How so? The restaurant offers half-and-half pizzas, so you can have a different topping on each half of the pizza, offering you a chance to try more than one in a single sitting.
This pizza parlour has more than just pizza though. The pastas on Fino’s menu are certainly a bang for your buck and filling in its own right.
The Carbonara is delightfully creamy, cooked with sauteed garlic and topped with a soft-boiled egg and parmesan cheese, before being garnished with parsley.
Additionally, you can choose from a total of four protein options, with beef bacon, chicken ham, tiger prawns and smoked duck available.
The Bolognese is also equally delicious, with the homemade beef Bolognese going perfectly with the passato tomato paste and the light sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
Fino’s starters are also worth trying such as the Mushroom Arancini which is a crowd favourite.
Don’t gobble the bite-sized rice balls all at once. Instead, take your time and enjoy its rich stuffing of four types of mushrooms, along with mozzarella, parmesan and parsley.
The unusual but similarly delicious Cauliflower Fritti is also worth a taste, and as its name implies, it is made from the crunchy vegetable.
The roasted cauliflower is immersed in batter, then deep-fried to produce a hot, soft and chewy treat that’s truly delectable.
Wash it down with a glass of iced chocolate which is Fino’s perfect blend of bitter and sweet.
For the holy month of Ramadan, Fino is offering an All You Can Eat Buffet at RM59.90 for adults, and less than half price for children above five.
It’s certainly a bargain for Malaysian diners looking to break fast with family and friends, with the only limit being the capacity of their stomach.
Speaking to FMT, Fino co-founder, JJ Phun, explained why he and his partners, Jet and Shaufi, decided on opening up Fino.
“We wanted to bring a different quality of pizza to the market,” he said, adding that there were few alternatives between cheap, conventional pizzas and pricey artisanal pizzas.
He expressed hope that Fino will one day be a household name associated with quality and reasonably-priced, wood-fired pizzas.
Fino Piza
44, Jalan Datuk Sulaiman
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
Kuala Lumpur
Fino Piza
G30, Ground Floor
Subang Parade
Jalan Kemajuan Subang SS16
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor
Fino Piza
UG16, Dpulze Shopping Mall
Persiaran Multimedia
Cyber 12
63000 Cyberjaya
Selangor
Operation hours: 11am-10pm (Sundays to Thursdays), 11am-11pm (Fridays and Saturdays), closed on Wednesdays
Contact: 03-7733 7474 (TTDI), 03-5611 5561 (Subang), 03-8325 1856 (Cyberjaya)