Pizza
The city’s appetite for pizza clearly cannot be sated as another new pizzeria has opened in the capital – this time courtesy of Ugly Dumpling restaurateur Phil Chaykin and Gerry del Guercio and Paul Delany, the guys behind Bite Twice. The trio have teamed up to open the NYC-inspired Carmela’s on Upper Street, named in tribute to formidable Italian-American matriarchs and also a homage to Gerry’s late nonna and Paul’s younger sister. The pizza at Carmela’s is crispy yet foldable and made with ingredients sourced from local and Italian producers. As well as a small number of house pies – cheese, tomato, white – there’s a selection of toppings for people to customise their perfect pizza. Alongside the main event, there’s a tight menu of starters, salads, beers, wines and cocktails.
ACE Pizza in Victoria Park has taken over the old chip shop in the village and transformed it into a super-cool 70s-style disco diner. Starting out at the Pembury Tavern, ACE is known for its biga-based dough that’s slow-fermented for 48 hours to create pizzas that strike the perfect balance of crispness and chew. Toppings range from inventive combinations like the Honey Pie, with fior di latte, spicy salami, fennel seeds, chillies, and chilli honey, to the vegan Clapton Cowboy with Texas “beef,” jalapeños, pickled pink onions, and chipotle ranch. Don’t skip the snacks either: the pickles and anchovy tomato toast are excellent, as are the house soft serve and grown up sundaes, with flavours that change regularly (including a hot honey version). Add in a banging wine list and cocktails, and you’ve got a perfect spot for an adult date.
There’s been another new addition to the city’s pizza scene in the shape of Paulie’s, now open on Commercial Street, right next to the Commercial Tavern. Though it comes from the same team behind Detroit Pizza, this spot is all about retro 80s vibes and thin and crispy NYC-style slices, with toppings like pepperoni, burrata, white sauce & mushroom, and vodka sauce & sausage. Prices for a slice range between £4.50 – £6, with all the options (apart from Sicilian squares available at 14″ and 18″ pies, and there’s a soft serve machine pulling swirls of ice cream too.
Alim Nayil founded acclaimed Kingston pizza shop Patio Pizza in 2020; after throwing pizza parties at university and working in his dad’s pizzeria, he began researching dough before landing on a hybrid style that blends New York crispiness with Neapolitan chew. His thin and crispy pizzas are topped with the likes of nduja, chilli honey & whipped ricotta; goat’s cheese, sundried tomatoes and caramelised onion; and pepperoni, pancetta, caramelised onion and chestnut mushroom. Don’t skip the sides either – the mozzarella sticks are particularly good.
After exploring his passion for pizza during the pandemic, and selling them in lockdown with his wife Tessa, Michelin-starred chef Tom Kemble (ex-The Pass at South Lodge, Bonhams and Hedone), has opened his very own pizzeria in Borough. Located in one of the arches next to Omeara and Four Quarters, Spring Street Pizza, with its modern retro interior and outdoor seating, serves 18-inch pizzas made with Italian-style biga dough (fermented for 48 – 72 hours to create a crispy but airy crust) and high quality toppings. The NY-inspired pizzas on offer include Classic Marinara (San Marzano tomato, garlic, wild oregano, confit garlic oil and basil), New Yorker (San Marzano tomato, Rebel Charcuterie pepperoni, Parmigiano Reggiano, hot honey and basil), Anchovy, Burrata & Rocket (San Marzano tomato, garlic, wild oregano, Parmigiano Reggiano, anchovies, burrata, lemon and rocket) and N’duja & Burrata (San Marzano tomato, fior di latte mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, burrata and guindilla peppers).
The Fulham Shore, the group behind Franco Manca and The Real Greek, is diving into the world of Roman pizza with Super Club Roma, now open in Westfield Stratford City. There are a number of crispy Roman pizzas on offer, including the Super Marg (with San Marzano tomato, basil, Jersey buffalo mozzarella and pecorino), the Truffle (a ricotta base with mozzarella, mushrooms, confit garlic, truffle oil, black pepper and chives) and the Super Nova (with San Marzano tomato, mozzarella, salami Napoli, habanero hot sauce, burratini, chilli crisp and pecorino). The fritti selection – we’re talking the likes of ndjua bombs, pesto lasagne, and smoked mozzarella, potato and aioli crocchetta – also sounds banging, and if you manage to have room after that, you’ve got rum baba, chocolate pizza and bomboloni soft serve on the dessert menu. With the Radical Design Movement, Roxy Roller Rink NYC and Italo Disco inspiring the vibe and lots of bright colours and bold graphics inside, you’ll have no trouble finding Super Club Roma either.
SHORT ROAD PIZZA
If you like your pizzas thin and crispy, you need to get down to Short Road Pizza at the Three Colts Tavern in Bethnal Green. Founded in lockdown on Short Road, Leytonstone, by Ugo and Kate who used pizza to connect with their neighbours, Short Road Pizza has grown from a garden oven to a proper kitchen biz, with local pizzaiolo Jack Knight joining the party. Inspired by Ugo’s nonno Gigi, the pies at SRP are properly thin and crispy, cooked using the “a bocca o forno” (on the edge of the oven) technique resulting in Romana-style meets Chicago thin crust pizzas. Toppings include butternut squash puree, chimichurri, soy roasted funghi, burnt leeks and chilli; mortadella, burrata and guindilla chillies; and mozzarella, pepperoni, fresh basil and pecorino romano. While you wait for your pies, there are some killer snacks to get stuck into – hello cacio e pepe peanuts. And if you like your pizzas extra thin and crispy, get down to the pub on Tuesday nights for authentic Chicago-style tavern pies – it’s the only place in town doing them.
Photo credit: @teodellatorre
Once dominated by Neapolitan-style pizzas, London’s pizza scene has been steadily growing to include a whole range of styles, especially from across the USA. Lenny’s Apizza (pronounced ‘abeetz’) run by Max Lewis and in residence at The Bedford Tavern in Finsbury Park, specialises in New Haven-style pizza from Connecticut. This pies are known for their thin crusts that are charred and chewy as well as being less cheesy than other pizzas – mozzarella is considered a topping rather than a standard base ingredient. As well as classic tomato, cheese & tomato, pepperoni, and sausage & onion pies, Lenny’s does specials like a potato pie and a pepperoni, sausage, bacon and hot pepper pizza.
A pub in Hammersmith probably isn’t the first place you’d think to look for some of the best NYC-style pizza in London but it’s there. Crisp Pizza, which is slinging pies from The Chancellors pub close to the river, is much-hyped (and rightly so) for its thin and crispy pizzas with classic toppings, like pepperoni, burrata and hot honey; nduja and buffalo mozzarella; and mushrooms, mozzarella and parmesan. Pair with plenty of the garlic and herb dip and prepare for pizza heaven. It can be a bit of mission to secure your Crisp Pizza – the pub is too small for the amount of people that want this pizza, especially when it was walk-ins only but you can pre-order for pick-up and you can now actually book too.
There are plenty of places to get pizza in London but surprisingly few that do it by the slice. Enter Breadstall, the pizza brand founded in Battersea that has now opened in Soho. The pizzas, made with slow-fermented biga sourdough, come topped with the likes of cheese, pepperoni, NY vodka sauce, burrata and rocket, and pepperoni with burrata and candied jalapenos (plus regular specials and collabs). The quarter slice (at £7) is massive or you can get them as halves (£14) or wholes (£28 and more than enough for two), and once you’ve chosen what you want from the window – the queues are long but they move fast – it gets a quick blast in the oven before you take it away or grab a spot inside, where they’ve also got beers, cocktails and soft serve on offer.
After starting out as a pop-up stall back in 2011, Dan Birch has now grown sustainable pizza brand Sodo Pizza to four standalone sties and two pub kitchens across London. Its base is what really sets Sodo Pizza apart – it’s made using 48-hour fermented sourdough and heritage grains milled into flour on-site – but Dan has put just as much effort into sourcing toppings from local producers and growers too. They include mozzarella and burrata made in Acton, pepperoni and nduja cured in Islington, honey from Walthamstow and leaves from a salad farm in Dagenham.
After a lockdown bread delivery service turned into pizza nights, the four Alby’s Pizza founders moved into the world in New York-style pizza, opening a pop-up in Vauxhall in 2022. Two years on and many whopping 22″ pies later, the team has moved north of the river and taken up residence in Finsbury Park bar Someday. As well as a classic Margherita, Alby’s is also slinging pizzas like the Alby’s Hot (with Alby’s marinara, mozzarella, chorizo, sweet peppers, red onion, pickled jalapenos, confit garlic oil and Grana Padano) and the Funghi Town (with Alby’s marinara, mozzarella, garlic & parsley braised mushrooms, confit garlic oil and Grana Moravia), which you can get by the slice or as a whole pie. Don’t forget a pot of Alby’s buffalo hot sauce for the crusts.
The duo behind The Prince Arthur in London Fields, The Plough in Homerton and You Call The Shots on Morning Lane has teamed up with pizza king Rich Goodwin (who’s spent time at Mike’s, Flor, Hart Bageri in Copenhagen and Flout! Pizza in Belfast) to launch another venture, and this one’s all about pizza. Bing Bong Pizza, which specialises in NYC Nonna-style pizzas, aka square pies, is popping up at You Call The Shots, with classic slices like The Marinara (tomato sauce, garlic, oregano & pangrattato), The Pepperoni (tomato sauce, mozzarella, pecorino, pepperoni, pickled jalapeno & basil) and The Sausage (mozzarella, sausages, Mike’s pickled peppers, sliced potato & crispy kale).
Ria’s, run by Ria and David Morgan-Ratcliffe is a Detroit-style pizza and natural wine bar on All Saints Road. It’s a real looker – the gorgeous, light-filled space boasts blue panelled and cornflower yellow walls, cafe curtains, and wine bottles skirting round the shelving. Detroit-style pizza is the star here – the dough is made with regenerative flour and slowly fermented for 72 hours, resulting in a thick and chewy base that’s impressively light .There’s been a real focus on quality ingredients and thought has clearly been put into creating interesting combinations, like the roasted king prawn, salsa macha and parmesan cream pie and the beef merguez sausage, sweet pickled shallots and red chillies pie. The pepperoni & soppressata slice, made with Cobble Lane cured meats, cheddar, hot honey, aged parmesan and fresh oregano is also a winner, especially if you drizzle it with some Frank’s hot butter. Make sure you save room for the smashed spuds with whipped feta and the deep-fried Mars bar with soft serve though.
Part of the Dinner for One Hundred fam (there’s the perm place in Telegraph Hill and D4100 Pizza at The Perseverance pub in Bloomsbury), Bar D4100 in Nunhead is slinging the same quality pies you’d find at the other locations and spritzes for under a fiver. Head down, order up a Macgyver (tomato, mozzarella, chorizo, whipped feta, hot honey, crushed fennel seeds) or a Why Not (tomato, mozzarella, basil, pancetta, artichokes, leeks, mushrooms, olives, jalapenos and garlic oil), a lemon & rosemary dip, and whatever slushie is coming out of the machine that week, and enjoy.
Classic cars and pizza are an unlikely pairing but 67 Sourdough in East Finchley is proving that it works. Run by Cam and PJ, who met on a bread course at The Dusty Knuckle and became dough obsessives, 67 Sourdough specialises in light and crispy NY-style sourdough pizzas, with toppings like pepperoni, vinegar red onions, and chilli honey; ‘accident’ vodka-style sauce, artichokes and garlic mushrooms; and nduja, burrata and parmesan (and don’t miss the garlic knots either), which you can tuck into in the dining area that overlooks a range of classic Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, and Jaguars.
There’s been a lot of hype around Vincenzo’s Pizza, a Bushey pizza spot helmed by Tom Vincent, on social media but it’s more than justified. Tom and his team are slinging New York-style pies inspired by the coal oven pizzas found on the East Coast, which are more charred and crispy than their wood-fired cousins. The topping combos are fairly classic – pepperoni, sausage & onions, roast mushrooms & garlic – but the Raging Hog (with aged mozzarella, tomato sauce, Grana Padano, pepperoni, roquito peppers, and chilli honey) gets a lot of love and rightly so. If you’re not local, it’s time to plan a trip to Bushey asap.
Alley Cats is bringing a bit of the Big Apple to London with exposed brick, red and white gingham tablecloths and Italian-American inspired thin crust pizzas. Sicilian Head Chef Francesco Macri makes use of quality Southern Italian ingredients, including San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella from Campania and aged mozzarella from Molise, for his 14-inch pizzas, which come with toppings such as smoked pepperoni, aged mozzarella, tomato sauce, habanero and honey; fennel sausage, tomato sauce, aged mozzarella, pancetta, red onion and pecorino flakes; creamy vodka tomato sauce, aged mozzarella and buffalo mozzarella; and wild mushrooms, aged mozzarella, taleggio, red onion jam and fried sage. If you’ve got an American-sized appetite, you can bookend your pizzas with cheese & garlic bread knots, meatballs in slow-cooked tomato sauce, loaded vanilla soft serve, and tiramisu topped with hazelnuts, salted peanuts and pistachios.
