“After each bite I want people to say ‘Wow! This is the real deal’,” says Pilo. He wants to be the best at everything – it is a Neapolitan trait, he says.

“I’m from Naples and we are very competitive,” he laughs. “I never lose football or a pizza-making competition.”

The southern Italian city of Naples is the spiritual home of pizza, and the Neapolitan recipe is strenuously protected, with strict rules governing the use of raw materials, shape, flavour, as well as the dough and baking process.

Pino is also protective. Do not ask him for half-and-half toppings on your pizza, or to add extra ingredients.

“You must be able to see each ingredient,” he says. “American-style pizzas, you don’t see the tomato or the basil, just a carpet of cheap cheese.”

New to the menu is the Monaca, with toppings including pork sausage, smoked mozzarella and San Marzano yellow tomato sauce – a change from the usual red ones, the thin and pointy variety of plum tomatoes from the town of San Marzano sul Sarno.

“There’s a sweetness, a fruity flavour to the yellow ones, and they’re less acidic,” Pino says.

His fried stuffed pizzas, a crispy dough pocket filled with tomato sauce, mozzarella and other toppings, and a classic Neapolitan street food that ignites happy memories for Pino, are also popular with diners.

What better day to read about pizza than February 9 – World Pizza Day? It’s a day to celebrate the best pizzas Hong Kong has to offer. Here are more of our picks.

1. Fiata

Head chef Salvatore Fiata had a fantastic 2023. Fiata ranked fifth on the 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific 2023 list, while he scooped the region’s coveted Pizza Maker of the Year award.

The version that secured the win was Fiata’s Pizza Estate (HK$235/US$30), which is topped with burrata cream, Parma ham, white fig jam and salty ricotta.

Now he is hoping his newly created Bronte 5.0 – with a topping of fior di latte cheese, pork meat sausage, lemon zest, semi-dried tomato, Buffalo ricotta, pistachio and lemon oil – will hit the spot when the awards return to Tokyo on March 4.

“I’m always restless,” says Fiata, whose mantra is “75 per cent moisture, 510 degrees Celsius, 90 seconds and 100 per cent passion” – the formula for the perfectly cooked pizza.

G/F, 2 Staunton Street, SoHo, Central, tel: 6032 6626

2. Mayse Pizzeria

“My dad [Alex] is the main baker behind the sourdough, and my dad’s wife, Yanti, is the head chef in our Jordan outlet,” says Latvian co-founder Elina Strelita Strele.

Mayse’s flavours include its bestselling tom yum sourdough pizza.

“Our charcoal truffle pizza (Truffle Love, HK$150) with a black base, garlic oil, roasted Portobello mushrooms and truffle oil and rucola (rocket) is also popular,” says Strele.

5-11 Woosung Street, Jordan, Kowloon, tel: 6011 1715

3. Falcone

Flying the flag high for female pizza makers is Falcone head chef Roberta De Sario.

“Pizza making is a science – the study of chemistry, temperatures and fermentation. You need to be precise and patient,” she says. “When you bite into a Falcone pizza you can tell it’s been made with top ingredients and technique.”

Whatever is seasonal in Campania, a region of Italy, is brought to the menu.

“What inspired me was the use of mature Italian cheeses, such as Taleggio and Pecorino, with the combination of Parmesan which gives an extra touch, with the addition of seasonal potatoes flavoured with garlic and rosemary, giving you the rustic feeling, as if you were at home in Napoli,” De Sario says.

Main Atrium, IFC, 8 Finance Street, Central, tel: 2631 1190

4. Emmer Pizzeria & Café

Emmer Pizzeria & Café in Pacific Place, Admiralty, is taking it up a notch with the recent launch of its Tako Pizza (HK$178) inspired by the Japanese street food takoyaki (grilled octopus balls). As well as octopus, it oozes mozzarella, bonito flakes, teriyaki sauce and wasabi mayonnaise.

We love the look of its boat-shaped veggie favourite Khachapuri (HK$108), filled with mozzarella, feta and egg, and its new Dolce Diavola (HK$168) with pepperoni and spicy tomato sauce.

407, Level 4, Shop, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, tel: 2780 1110

5. And there’s more …

Fini’s (49 Elgin Street, Central, tel: 2397 6338 and 69 Stone Nullah Lane, Wan Chai, tel: 3182 0128) New York thin-crust pizza uses red sauce and home-made mozzarella. Carnivores will love the Bronx, which comes with pepperoni, meatball and home-made sausage.

Ciak – In The Kitchen (Shop 327-333, 15 Queen’s Road Central, tel: 2522 8869) is an oldie but a goody. Want to indulge? Try the Pizza Tartufo (HK$1,680) with sausage, Taleggio cheese, mozzarella, Italian egg yolk and black truffle.

The crunchy crusts of Interval’s sourdough pizzas – the product of a 48-hour low-temperature fermentation process and made in a Neapolitan wood-fired oven shipped from Napoli – keep customers happy with varieties such as Mortadella and pistachio, and squid ink frutti di mare (Cyberport, Shop 207, Level 2, Arcade, 100 Cyberport Rd, Pok Fu Lam, tel: 2380 3498).

Alice Pizza (G/F, 92 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, tel: 2518 3502) brought its pan-cooked rectangular slices sold by weight to the city in 2023, its first branch in Asia. Known for its innovative toppings, this month it launched a tuna and onion version.

The Gorgonzola and apple pizza at Jacomax (Shop C, G/F, 88 Commercial Building, 38-42 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, tel: 2851 4688) has a huge fan base.

“Many Hongkongers don’t like blue cheese; they think it smells like old socks,” says a Jacomax spokesman. “But our signature pizza [has] turned their belief upside down.”

The thick, chewy crusts at Mother of Pizzas (13-19 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, tel: 2891 2221) are made using superior caputo nuvola super flour. How does a birthday pizza with a chocolate chip cookie crust, red velvet ganache and white chocolate shavings sound?