Our Pizza Cup may be finished for this year and our worthy winners crowned but that doesn’t mean that pizza restaurants have finished doing what they do best: serving the ravenous Beijing mashes and we still have a few last places to highlight from this year’s contenders list.

In this Pizza Profile we hear from Massimo Masili, owner of LMPlus, about what makes their pizza unique.

What’s your style/pizza philosophy?  
A purely Italian rustic pizza. 

In a market crowded with over 100 different pizza shops, what do you do to stand out?
I stand out with in a simple way: consistent service and the best ingredients imported directly.

What would you say your style is?
Sardinian Italian thin crust. In Sardinia we only make pizza with a thin crust with a thin edge as well. I find this kind of way to make the pizza easier to enjoy because it has less carbohydrates. I only use 170 grams of dough to make a 12-inch pizza, which makes it easier to digest. 

Thick vs. thin: What’s your take?
Sardinian Italian thin crust specific made with the use of Italian flour and coarse flower named semolina, which gives it an extra crispness.

What’s the secret to your sauce? 
The best quality tomatoes are used here. Plus fresh herbs, never dried, such as oregano, basil, and parsley.

What kind(s) of cheese do you use and why?
Mozzarella cheese, produced by an Italian farm called Brazzale in China. The owner’s cheese is always fresh. Importing mozzarella for pizza from Italy directly would mean using frozen cheese. This way the quality of the cheese is exactly the same and there’s no need to freeze. Buffalo mozzarella can also be used, in the case of a customer’s request.
 

Tell us about your standard pizza.
Its name: Margherita.
Thick or thin crust? Thin.
Type of sauce? My margherita pizza is made with tomato sauce and only fresh herbs. 
Type(s) of cheese? Mozzarella. 
What other things make it special? It’s topped with baby basil leaves, which give the pizza an extra mediterranean feeling .
How many sizes does it come in? Seven-inch for the kids for RMB 40, and a 12-inch normal size for RMB 60. 
 

Tell us about your most unique pizza.
Its name: PizzaPlus.
Thick or thin crust? Thin.
Type of sauce? Tomato. 
Type(s) of cheese? Mozzarella.
What other things make it special? It has three sections with different toppings: seafood; parma ham, arugula, and parmesan shavings; or sausages and salami.
How many sizes does it come in? This pizza is 24 inches x 10 inches, which gives my clients a chance to choose kind of toppings from all the pizza menu. The price of this pizza is RMB 198.

Photos courtesy of LMPlus