For the past two years, I’ve been working on a compendium of where to eat pizza in 48 countries around the world. It’s a dish that now has its own flourishing craft, gourmet, organic and food-truck movements. Real Neapolitan pizza is all the rage.
Good pizza must be consumed fresh and hot, as near as possible to the oven in which it was baked. An artisan pizzaiolo, or “pizza maker”, allows his dough to ferment for up to a day or longer, only to flatten stretch, dress and bake it in a matter of minutes. In the worst of hands, pizza is a salty, fatty, greasy, denatured heap of processed food, piled onto a rubbery, spongy or cardboard base. The rise of artisans baking pizza the old-fashioned, low-tech way is a strong trend in Britain. The image of the pizzaiolo lighting the hardwood in a brick oven reignites the ancient rite of man — or woman — and fire. There’s a certain romanticism to it.
“Pizza baking like this has existed for centuries,” says Enzo Coccia, the Neapolitan master pizza maker and teacher . “The British pizzaioli using a wood oven are now becoming aware of the true techniques and culture of pizza.” Using a pizza oven fired by wood to 480C does not ensure quality, but for the skilled and vigilant operator, it’s a point of distinction and a powerful statement of purpose.
LONDON
THE BIG APPLE
Homeslice, Covent Garden, London WC2
The bricks-and-mortar pizzeria created by London street-food warrior Ry Jessup and restaurant-industry pro Mark Wogan stretches the boundaries of Neapolitan style: the thin, lightly crisp pizzas are supersized to New York dimensions (20in diameter), and combinations are bolder. British ingredients include Lincolnshire Poacher cheese, pork belly and haggis, while the pizza with caramelised onions, anchovy and kalamata olives is a triumph.
homeslicepizza.co.uk
CHAIN REACTION
Rossopomodoro, Camden, London NW1
The quality and authenticity of the pizza at Rossopomodoro, an international chain of pizzerias, challenges any notion that biggies are invariably inferior to indies. The crust is puffy on the rim and bendy in the middle, as you would expect from any pizza that has been made in Naples, and the presentation is stylish and cheerful. Its gluten-free pizza, made with dough prepared centrally in a separate kitchen, is possibly the best in London.
rossopomodoro.co.uk
LIGHT AND EASY
L’Antica Pizzeria, Hampstead, London NW3
Luca de Vita and Alessandro Betti have always managed to find capable pizza bakers for their little Neapolitan pizzeria in Hampstead. None has surpassed Giacomo Guido — his crust is divinely light and airy. The only thing keeping the weightless margherita from levitating above the table are the tomato sauce and dreamy fior di latte (cow’s milk mozzarella).
anticapizzeria.co.uk
GOING NATIVE
Sacro Cuore, Kensal Rise, London NW10
A whimsical mural depicting the Italian capital of pizza may reveal Sacro Cuore’s origins, but it is the margherita and the salsiccia and friarielli (sausage and wild broccoli) pizzas that really make you feel as though you are in Naples. The tomato sauce and fior di latte glide over a wonderfully light, elastic crust.
sacrocuore.co.uk
THE BIG CHEESE
Saporitalia, Notting Hill, London W11
To experience mozzarella at its molten best, hurry here and see how the islets of fior di latte melt into one another. Lift the pizza up from one end and the cheese slowly slides to the other. The crust is on the crisp side for true Neapolitan, but its sure break in the mouth offers a special chew sensation.
saporitalialondon.co.uk
HOLY ORDERS
Santa Maria, Ealing, London W5
This west London pizzeria has had a recent facelift, but one key thing is unchanged: the pizzas still feature shimmering pools of fior di latte that float over the surface. Like its demanding and influential co-owner Pasquale Chionchio, they are Neapolitan to the core, too. The crust is delicate and resilient, and the tomatoes are San Marzano.
santamariapizzeria.com
SUNNY SIDE UP
Lardo, Hackney, London E8
This salumeria pizzeria and wine bar is a go-to restaurant with a go-to pizza: it’s the one topped with spinach, egg and lardo (cured white pork lard). When you break the yolk and let it run over the pizza’s topography, it’s pure heaven. The crust is thin and crunchy, too.
lardo.co.uk
UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES
Franco Manca, Brixton, London SW9
The first time I went to the original Franco Manca, I was so excited I asked a waitress to pinch me. Happily, the ground-breaking pizzeria beneath the Brixton Market arcades and its margherita were no dream. I soon found if there was any reality pinching to be done, it should be of the fluffy, chewy cornicione (border) that frames its pliable crust. Rapid expansion has brought decent pizza at a good price closer to more and more Londoners.
francomanca.co.uk
ISLAND LIFE
Addomme, Streatham Hill, London SW2
I can’t imagine what circumstances led Nadia Lionetti and Stefano Casanova to leave Capri to set up shop in Streatham. But if I were the official in charge of bringing tourism to this area of south London, I’d put pictures of their pizzeria at the top my home page. Pizzaiolo Nando Cirillo blackens and blisters the crust of Addomme’s margherita, yet preserves the purity of the toppings, and the marinara is a silky piece of heaven.
addomme.co.uk
MAD ABOUT THE BOY
Bravi Ragazzi, Streatham, London SW16
The base here can be so light it’s a wonder it doesn’t collapse under its toppings. But weightlessness in a Neapolitan-style pizza is a reflection of strength, from the way the dough is formed and rested to how it is stretched. By this measure, Michele, the head pizzaiolo, is one powerful ragazzo. His crusts’ dark spots and air pockets have an old-world authenticity about them.
braviragazzi.co.uk
SOUTHEAST DOUGH NUT
The Hearth Pizzeria & Bakehouse, Lewes, East Sussex
Long before it became trendy for artisan bread bakers to pursue a passion for pizza, the Hearth’s Michael Hanson was building wood-fired pizza ovens. By hand. Few pizzaioli can match this bread geek’s understanding of the baking process, the raw materials and the flavour a sourdough base can bring. His heavenly holy grail is an elemental margherita made with mozzarella di bufala DOP.
thehearth.co
HOME FROM HOME
A Casa Mia, Herne Bay, Kent
Chef and owner Gennaro Esposito started out in the business as an unpaid delivery boy in Naples. On Sundays, his family would send him out to Lombardi, the storied pizzeria, for takeaway. His place serves the UK’s first pizza to meet the guidelines of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. The popular house pizza comprises homemade meatballs, parmesan and San Marzano tomatoes.
acasamia.co.uk
BESIDE THE SEA
GB Pizza Co, Margate, Kent
Chef Rachel Seed and food and travel writer Lisa Richards launched GB Pizza Co in 2012 in the back of a 1974 VW camper van. In 2013, they took their freewheeling spirit to a fixed site on the Thanet seafront and renamed their margherita the margate-rita. They are revered as local heroes for their cracker-crisp pizzas and sourcing of cheeses, meats and ales from small local producers.
greatbritishpizza.com
WEST AND SOUTHWEST
MEALS ON WHEELS
Bertha’s, Bristol
Graham and Kate Faragher’s yellow Land Rover Defender is one of the country’s most beautiful food trucks, and this is slow-fast street food at its very best. The high, leopard-spotted cornicione is all air, forming a pillowy border around traditional toppings, as well as those with more of a hipster ethos (kimchi and creamed nettles).
berthas.co.uk
TRAVELLING SHOW
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Wild Bake, Wadebridge, Cornwall
Lewis Cole and his wife, Clare, transformed a vintage horsebox into this travelling pizzeria. Their dough, made with 00 flour from Shipton Mill, yields a light and airy crust, while the short menu of classic pizzas is augmented by more exotic seasonal specials, some made with foraged toppings — wilted nettle, wild garlic and hedgerow pesto put the “wild” in Wild Bake.
wildbake.co.uk
LOCAL HEROES
Kernowforno, Lostwithiel, Cornwall
After years in the Royal Navy and the RNLI, Simon Pryce sought a midlife course correction: Kernowforno, the moveable pizza stall he started with his wife, Sarah. Their emphasis is on local ingredients, with salami from Deli Farm Charcuterie, as well as Cornish mackerel fillets and sea salt, adorning their crisp pizzas.
kernowforno.co.uk
NORTH BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Rudy’s, Manchester
Jim Morgan uses a combi oven that burns wood or, when necessary, gas. And his gas-fired pizzas show they can produce a well-charred base, providing the dough is sufficiently rested (he leaves his for 24 hours) and the oven is hot enough. The tomatoes used are San Marzano, but not all his pizzas are red: the ancoazzese is a pizza bianca with mozzarella, sausage, wild broccoli and chilli.
rudyspizza.co.uk
HOME AND AWAY
Honest Crust, Altrincham
During a trip to San Francisco in 2011, Richard Carver ate pizza at Delfina. It changed everything for him. Back home, he set up Honest Crust, with a base at Market House and a mobile unit roaming the northwest. Carver ferments his dough for up to 96 hours, which gives a soft sourdough platform for the local ingredients he champions: the smoked pig’s cheek in the cheek and kale is from Trealy Farm.
honestcrustpizza.co.uk
MAKE SOME NOISE
Scream for Pizza, Gateshead
Victoria Featherby took Enzo Coccia’s course in Naples, and it shows in the lovely pizza she bakes in Goldie — Scream for Pizza’s Peugeot J7 van — though she sometimes burns gas in her oven. It’s probably best we don’t tell Coccia about this, or about the hello crabulous, a Tyneside original made with local crab, thermidor sauce, pancetta and chilli flakes.
07944 715714
WALES AND SCOTLAND
NEW BEGINNINGS
Anatoni’s, Cardiff
When the Ana and Toni behind Anatoni’s closed their pizzeria in January for renovation, they bade farewell to a huge brick oven that created pizza with an exceptionally puffy, black-bubbled crust in less than 90 seconds. The new oven was custom-made in Naples, with its quattro stagioni pizza — olives, artichokes, ham, mushrooms — very much in mind.
029 2076 5419
SMALL WONDER
Café Citta, Cardiff
A family-owned Italian restaurant tucked away in the city centre, Café Citta serves thin, crisp, pleasantly chewy pizzas — none better than the one topped with goat’s cheese, wild mushrooms and sausage. The kitchen also produces pasta and meat dishes, but this is of little interest to the habitués who know and love its pizza.
029 2022 4040
IN THE MARKET
Dusty Knuckle Pizza Company, Cardiff and Swansea
The menu of this mobile pizzeria benefits from the bounty of the traders at the markets it operates from: its blas y mor (Welsh for “taste of the sea”) Neapolitan pizza is topped with cockles, laverbread and samphire and lardons from the Llanelli smokehouse Charcutier Ltd. And the wood fire yields a crust that’s crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.
dustyknucklepizza.co.uk
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
Pizzeria Vesuvio, Swansea
Just across the road from Liberty Stadium, this place and its prosciutto and mushroom pizza could easily convince Italian football stars to play for Swansea City AFC. But I might not tell the possible new recruits about its hawaiian or tropicale — both are crowded with pineapple.
vesuvioswansea.co.uk
SPOILT FOR CHOICE
La Favorita Delivered, Edinburgh and Glasgow
With its fleet of yellow Fiat 500s, La Favorita delivers hundreds of varieties of pizza. At first glance, the selection appears to be restricted to 26 thin-crust pizzas, from the flying pig to the gluten-free haggis, but these are merely unfinished works awaiting customisation — the choice of toppings number 40.
lafavoritadelivered.com
TASTE OF THE SEA
The Big Blu, Dunbar, Scotland
Chef Chris Percy-Davis developed his love of wood-fired pizza as a teenager, working as a kitchen porter in southern Italy. In 2014 he fitted a Citroën HY van with a wood oven and set his pizzeria in motion. His margherita may hold truest to his memories, but it’s his seafood special, with smoked haddock and Atlantic prawn, that’s perhaps most at home on Scotland’s sunniest coast.
thebigblu.co.uk
For five picks of pizzerias in Italy, go to thesundaytimes.co.uk/food, or The Dish on tablet