Santa Maria – Pizza in Ealing

I’ll try to keep this one brief. Last Thursday, we went to Santa Maria Pizzeria in Ealing, voted recently as having the best pizzas in London by TimeOut magazine. It’s not far from where we live and so off we went. We were looking forward to trying their authentic Neapolitan style pizzas all baked in a wood burning oven.

When we got there, the tiny place was utterly packed and we were told to wait. We were perfectly fine with this and about half an hour later, a couple left and we got their table. However, after we sat down and were given menus, we had to wait another very long while to get our order in. To her credit, the waitress did let us know that she was coming to take our order soon but the third time she came over to say it was really taking the piss. Service was inefficient to say the least.

First impressions of the pizzas that arrived were good: the crust was thin and crisp, the centre of the pizza held its own, and the toppings looked good. The first few bites of my Santa Caterina pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, Neapolitan salame, fresh chilli, extra virgin olive oil, parmesan, basil) were good too – the crust had a good balance of crispiness and chew and was lighter than that of Franco Manca. Unfortunately, it sort of went downhill from there. Firstly, the tomato sauce was quite bland, lacking a good tomato flavour. And as I continued eating the pizza, I noticed that the crust lost all of its appeal as it cooled down. Towards the end, the crust became too hard and too chewy and my jaw was getting quite the workout. But really, my main complaint is with the tomato sauce – I want to taste that sauce, not just feel it. (The tomato sauce on the pizzas in Rome still stick in my memory.)

I also tasted Blai’s Santa Carmela (tomato sauce, mozzarella, prosciutto cotto, mushrooms, extra virgin olive oil, parmesan, basil) and his was considerably underdone on top (you can see how pale it is in the photo below) while inexplicably, the bottom was quite charred – too charred. Was this an off day? I have no idea but the kitchen sure didn’t seem rushed.

Trying to get the bill was a chore. Our waitress had disappeared and the other waiter was too busy chatting to his mate on his mobile to look up onto the heaving room; we ended up walking up to the counter to pay. I’ve read the other reviews online – most people have commented on the warm and welcoming service at Santa Maria; we found it to be the total opposite on our visit – it was cold and indifferent.

Best pizza in London? Well, they were good but I’m not convinced they are the best. I had really wanted to love them but we left disappointed. Others have had better experiences so I do hope it’s the same for you.

Santa Maria
15 St Marys Road
Ealing
London W5 5RA

 

Franco Manca in Chiswick

This is said quite often on London food blogs but this time I’m sure it’s true: I think I must be the last food blogger to make it to Franco Manca. I’ve just not found my way to Brixton market to try their pizzas, made with their renowned slow-risen sourdough. Last weekend though, this famed pizzeria opened a second branch on Chiswick High Road, only a short bus ride away from us. We visited on Tuesday evening.

There was a mix of smaller tables with benches for four and larger communal tables – we sat at the end of one of these, right by the beautiful tiled wood burning oven. The tables were set with the menus as placemats and cutlery and napkins were all bunged into big tins in the centre. I already liked the casualness of the place; service was friendly and eager to please. What struck me were the prices – they’re significantly lower than most of the well-known pizza chains and also cheaper than Rossopomodoro. And most of their ingredients are organic, with a lot of the non-perishables brought over from Italy and the fresh ingredients sourced locally. How do they do it?!

We started with a bottle of their organic homemade lemonade (£3.60 for a large bottle) and some filtered water (complimentary). Their lemonade was an odd colour – no lemonade I’d ever had was the colour of…orange squash. I think they must use golden caster sugar or some other more raw sugar for their lemonade to be this colour. It was refreshing and not too sweet but not lemony enough for us.

To offset the carbs we’d be consuming, we’d ordered a small salad (£1.90) on the side. This arrived before our pizzas: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mint, alfalfa sprouts all in a honey mustard dressing. This was actually quite pleasant and we made short work of the bowl. Their menu indicates that salads do change based on the seasons and market availability.

A number 4 for me: tomato, garlic, oregano, capers, olives, anchovies and mozzarella (£6.20). I started cutting a slice out and as my knife went through the crust, the surface started making little crispy, shattering sounds. Brilliant. The tomato sauce was very flavourful and all the toppings delicious and just salty enough. The centre of the pizza did go a little soggy due to the sauce and cheese but it was something I’ve encountered before – not sure how to overcome this while keeping the crust extra thin (How do the pizzerie in Napoli do it?). Bottles of very moreish garlic oil and chili oil were set on the tables and made for excellent crust dipping.

For Blai, the meat special of the day: pancetta, rocket, wild mushrooms, parmesan, mozzerella (£6.90). This was a tomato sauceless (aka white) pizza, which was actually fine with me this time. I felt like I didn’t miss the tomatoes at all – the toppings were all so rich and flavoursome. The pancetta was sliced so thinly and became crisp after baking while the wild mushrooms were all fresh (not tinned!). These pizzas were excellent and I think some of the best Neapolitan style ones we’ve found in London (and possibly the cheapest!).

Two things would make this place even better: 1. Fritti like they do in many Italian pizzerie and 2. Dessert. But what they are doing, they’re doing very well so please don’t change that!

Franco Manca
144 Chiswick High Road
London W4 1PU

(Oy, Franco Manca! You’ve got to update your website with your new branch information!)

 

Pizzeria La Montecarlo, Rome

Pizza pizza pizza! I couldn’t go to Rome and not eat proper Roman style pizza! A huge thank you to Shayma at The Spice Spoon for recommending La Montecarlo to me – there are so many pizzerias to choose from in Rome that my mind was boggling. This would be our first time having a proper Roman style pizza – they’re thin and crisp in comparison to the puffier, chewier Neapolitan style. You’ll definitely want to get there early as it gets packed very quickly. As is usual with most Roman restaurants, you’ll be sitting elbow to elbow with your neighbours, the place is loud and jolly, and the waiters fast and efficient.

Something I noticed in pizzerias is that on the fried section of the menu, items cooked from frozen are usually clearly marked. We avoided those and went for a couple of crocchette (potato) and suppli (like arancine, those fried balls of risotto). The crocchette were fine – tasty, crunchy, potato mash – but I prefered the suppli with their centres of tomato sauce and melting mozzarella.

I wanted the most classic of pizze, the Margherita. Oh boy, this was magnificent. The crust is indeed extremely thin and very crisp towards the edges, and I loved it. Though thin, it was still sturdy enough to hold its cargo of cheese and tomato sauce. The mozzarella does look different to the fresh kind used on Neapolitan pizzas but it was no less delicious for it. I hoovered this up, yum yum yum.

Blai went deluxe and ordered a capricciosa, topped with ham, mushrooms, artichokes and an egg. Though it was tasty, it was less successful than my margherita due to the number of toppings. This made the pizza heavier and more watery and led to a less crispy crust. Blai was also a bit disappointed that the artichokes on top were preserved (canned, we think). Do any places in Italy use fresh artichokes on top of pizzas? Still, the flavour was still good – I quite liked it despite its sogginess.

There was just enough space in our tummies for a spot of dessert. We ordered a torta di ricotta to split and it came looking comically like a helicopter. It was gorgeous – the filling was of creamy, fresh cheese studded through with chocolate bits.

We loved it here so much that we came back for a last lunch on the day we flew back to London. Looking for a relatively early meal, we were the first in the restaurant at noon. We needed another taste of proper Roman pizza! We opted for the pizza al prosciutto, again aiming for one of the simpler pizzas on the menu. This was simply a margherita topped with slices of prosciutto. It was excellent – I was happy to see that there was no reduction in quality even if this was the first pizza out of the oven that day.

We’d wanted to try one of their pasta dishes too as we’d seen others enjoying huge platefuls of the stuff on our last visit. This carbonara (we had to order a Roman pasta for our last meal!) wasn’t as transcendental as the one we ate at La Matriciana and tasted more like our attempts to make carbonara at home (with the whole egg), except for that wonderful guanciale they use everywhere. Still, if it’s pasta you desire, you can’t go wrong with one off their menu and you certainly won’t leave hungry! Look at the size of that pile! But you really should try their pizza at least once!

We paid about €20-25 total on each of our visits, making this an excellent budget spot. Oh, I miss La Montecarlo. London, you need a Roman style pizzeria!

La Montecarlo
Vicolo Savelli, 13
Rome, Italy

While this meal was good, I want to make note of the ugly as well. We had dinner one night at Da Ricci (Via Genova, 32) and while the fried bits and pieces were excellent, the pizzas were truly awful. They were thick and crunchy and reminiscent of many frozen pizzas available here. And Blai’s was very very charred on the bottom. I don’t think we were served “special” pizzas on account of being tourists as the Italian woman sitting next to me also received a pizza that was overbaked. Avoid.

 

‘Gusto, Rome

After a morning of church viewing, our tummies were crying out for something to eat and after a bit of disappointment at the Mausoleum of Augustus (totally covered in overgrowth and surrounded by big fences – it was a no go), I came across a big sign/map for ‘Gusto. The Graphic Foodie had recommended the place to me via Twitter and it was on my list of possible places to eat. ‘Gusto turned out to be a complex consisting of a restaurant/pizzeria, a seafood restaurant, a wine shop, a kitchenware shop, and I’m probably leaving out a few other things too. With such a vast collection of shops, I was wondering how each would fare – we settled on the pizzeria to find out.

At lunchtime, the ‘Gusto pizzeria had a few special menus on offer – one for pizza and a drink and another for the buffet and a drink. Buffet? In Rome? I recalled my initial disbelief over some interaction on Twitter with SpiceSpoon when she said that she’d found that buffets in Rome were fresh and excellent. I took a look at the offerings and decided it was definitely worth a try – everything did look fresh and vibrant and so delicious.

There were many locals there for lunch, always a good sign, and the majority opted for the buffet. There were both hot dishes and cold salads and I sampled bits from both. Of the food on offer, I skipped the roast chicken and the polpette but had silky soft aubergine slices topped with crispy breadcrumbs, sliced rare beef with a balsamic reduction and pine nuts, whole grilled prawns, roasted tomatoes filled with risotto. Fresh mozzarella knots, thickly sliced juicy tomatoes, grilled aubergine slices, grilled courgette slices, cooked spinach, and my favourite, the spinach braised with garlic and peperoncino.

As is usual with buffets, you’re welcome to go and refill your plate! I was craving vegetables and everything was amazingly fresh and simple yet tasty. If there’s one thing I learned on this trip, it’s just how simply Italians cook their food and overall, it’s the quality of the ingredients that counts. As for carbs, the bread basket on our table provided enough for me – my favourite was the crispy sheets of baked pizza dough.

Blai had a pizza, which turned out to be Neapolitan style with a soft, chewy, puffy crust. It was as delicious as it was beautiful but of course, I have no idea what the best is, not having been to Naples!

The bill for our lunch was only €20 altogether. If you’re in Rome but are unable to get yourself to this part of the city, it seems that there are a number of places offering a buffet at lunchtime and I’d recommend trying one.

‘Gusto – Pizzeria
Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9
00186 Rome, Italy

 

Rossopomodoro

With the recommendations of both a Neapolitan and a Sardinian, a group of us girls from work headed to Rossopomodoro near Covent Garden for dinner a couple Friday nights ago. This Italian chain has received quite a slating from the blogging world but it seems it’s all their dishes, apart from their pizzas, that disappoint. So, sticking with the pizzas must be the thing to do.

I bullied poor Mirna into sharing both a red pizza and a white one with me; unsurprisingly, the latter is made without tomato sauce but this can be added if you miss it. It was a long wait for the pizzas but I think it was worth it (and hey, the place was packed and we were a large group).

Our pizza rosso was La Verace (£10.20) with tomato sauce, DOP buffalo mozzarella, DOP extra virgin olive oil from Sorrento and fresh basil. I’m sure it’s difficult to find a more carbon-unfriendly pizza with all its ingredients flown in from Italy but you know what? I didn’t care as it was delicious with its great tomato base and dollops of fresh melty mozzarella. The base was both thin in the middle and thick (in a puffy way) out towards the edges and had a good chew and flavour. Excellent.

For our pizza bianco, I chose the Carmelo (£9.30) with Provola cheese, Neapolitan sausage, friarielli (Neapolitan wild turnip tops) and fresh basil. (Ah, those turnip tops! We had the same amount on our pizza as there was on that plate at Polpo.) I loved that combination of bitter greens with savoury meat and the herbal bite of basil. What would have made it better would have been some sweet tomato… I missed it! I need to get used to white pizzas, I think.

Even though we were all pretty stuffed (and the two of us were doubly so as we controlled pre-dinner hunger pangs with a char siu bun snack), I split a Mandorlotto (£5) – Almond flavoured ice cream with Nutella, whipped cream and chocolate brittle – with another colleague. Our waiter confirmed that all their gelati were made with buffalo milk – is this the norm in Italy? If you don’t like the flavour of bitter almonds, you won’t like this. I thought the gelato was alright though a bit icy and there was no sign of chocolate brittle unless they meant cocoa powder. But Nutella with ice cream – why haven’t I thought of this before?! What a fabulous combo that I will definitely recreate at home. Still, just an ok dessert from Rossopomodoro. I’m definitely going back but it’ll be just for those pizzas.

Rossopomodoro
50-52 Monmouth St
London WC2H 9EP

There are two other branches: one on Fulham Road and the other in Notting Hill.

I’m heading off out of the country soon and so I’ll be away from the blog for a while. New posts in about a fortnight!