In 2011, Jacopo Contiero founded Pizzeria Jacomax, becoming famous for his unique pizza style and interesting flavours in Hong Kong.
With an almost-signature Italian bravado and confidence, Jacopo Contiero credits himself with dishing out unorthodox flavours of Italy in Hong Kong, and that includes “real” pineapple pizza, whether you like it or not.
Co-founder of Pizzeria Jacomax, one of Hong Kong’s longest running pizza brands since 2011, the former “farmer boy and chemistry student” came to the city not to work in a chemistry lab or a pharmacy as his former studies dictated, but to run a business.
“I was very fascinated about the opportunity to do something here,” Jacopo says of his move with his wife to Hong Kong back in 2009. As a Lake Garda native, a region in northern Italy, the sight of Pizza Express and Pizza Hut dominating the local pizza market motivated him – he was inspired to boost Italian culinary legality in Hong Kong.
“I opened an ice cream shop in Sai Kung right next to the first Paisano’s [Pizzeria] restaurant in Hong Kong during the mid 2010s when they were wildly successful. I had the idea that if they are making New York-style pizza and are doing well, I am going to open up my own pizzeria because I am Italian.”
Jacomax opened in Sheung Wan in 2011 to much fanfare within the neighbourhood. The pizza recipes were designed in a rejection of what Jacomo saw on the market and came to innovate. “I do not like biscuit-like pizzas, mass produced and without soul.”
“Our Jacomax way is a mix of Neapolitan style with a touch of chemistry.” On opening in the white-collar business district 13 years ago, Jacopo’s pizzeria was heavily favoured by the local Hong Kong community.
With locations also in Causeway Bay and Tseung Kwan O, Jacopo demands authenticity throughout his menus, with some playful risks taken. Take the gorgonzola cheese apple pizza for instance, introduced to the restaurant eight years ago.
“Typically, we mix savoury and sweet elements in the north of Italy, such as figs and cheese or pear and taleggio, so I asked myself, why not pizza?”
The blue cheese apple pizza sprung into the mainstream from an interview he hosted alongside a budding Hong Kong food YouTuber in 2019. Now, many Hong Kongers associate Jacomax simply with the funky pizza invention.
“Another talking point [of Jacomax] is our white pizza. It is not a familiar style to many, but I am famous because I am Italian and proud of making pizza the way I want. White pizza is good.”
But, it is the pineapple pizza, a recipe for intense global debate of what a pizza should be, that has conjured a great deal of hype for Jacomax. “When Gino Sorbillo [of Gino e Toto Sorbillo in Naples, Italy], the godfather of Napoli pizza, started to sell pizza with pineapple, people went mad, madly in love. I also wanted to sell pizza with pineapple too, but I do it to pay my rent and because Hong Kong loves pineapple pizza! [laughs]”
Beyond the white, gorgonzola-apple, and pineapple pizzas, Jacomax sells the classics too: four cheese, spicy salami, mushroom, and smoked salmon are his strong sellers.
Ultimately, as a legacy brand in Hong Kong, Jacopo maintains that to compete with other Italian restaurants locally, he must look to the past to innovate for the future. “Our next menu is going to look toward the food my grandpa and grandma have cooked for me in Italy. Food is a conduit to link with people and make conversation.”
Jacopo may have gained his fame from cooking pizza over a decade in Hong Kong, but much publicity the Italian has found can be rooted in his viral online presence. He runs Jacopo Only Friends on YouTube, “wishing to become the smartest Cantonese-speaking Italian person,” where he joins other YouTubers and influencers to explore Hong Kong by bowl, plate, and cultural rituals.
“I love Cantonese because it is a very funny and direct language. I have always wanted to make people happy and smile. I found YouTube to be the perfect echo-chamber for my silliness and, if it can even bring me some extra customers to Jacomax, it is totally worth it.”
Try Jacopo’s pineapple and gorgonzola-apple pizzas today, among other classic recipes, by heading to his three Jacomax locations.
