Wednesday 20 March 2013

Pizza East

Pizza is one of those foods that everyone likes but hardly anywhere does particularly well. After having been to Rome last year and growing up in Germany with an abundance of authentic family run Italian restaurants I know what good pizza should taste and look like- simple ingredients (dont even get me started on pineapple, sweet corn or other "creative" toppings), good stretchy dough and ideally no layer of processed rubbery cheese a la Dominoes. Of course I have had some decent pizzas in my time in London, Vapiano and Polpo for example serving fresh and flavourful versions, but until stumbling upon Pizza East had not found a restauarant that convincingly and justifiably made pizza their main focus. Run once more by the Soho group, who as I have stressed many times in other reviews truly commit themselves to a  concept and translate it with out fault into the London restaurant scene (Chicken Shop and the Electric diner being other great examples of this) , once more succeed- here creating a truly Italian eating experience in a slightly  barren and industrial inspired environment. The menu is concise ( a choice of 8 or so pizzas and a few pasta and meat mains) yet each pizza comes with interesting flavours and textures, my taleggio, spinach and egg one, though simple in its ingredients, probably the best pizza I have had in London and not too far off from the ones I sampled in the cobbled backstreets of Rome. Sides are equally fresh and authentic and will please meat eaters (lots of cured meats)  and veggies alike, our side salad a delicious combo of goats cheese, an italian type of pumpkin and grains. Reasonable priced, always delivering in terms of quality and service and now in two additional locations in London to the Shoreditch original ( one is just around the corner from me in Kentish town, the other in Notting Hill) Pizza East is  the perfect place for casual dinner that will leave even the most fussy eater satisfied, it may not be earth shattering stuff but sometimes finding a place that does a staple food amazingly well can be better than any new food craze or haute cusine place. One last tip- leave room for dessert.  Even though on this visit I refrained myself from having a slice, their salted caramel tart with mascarpone is simply divine and one of those slightly perverse combinations of sweet and salty-  gooey caramel,chocolate and sea salt beautifully combined in a tart, that makes me want to drool just thinking about it! 

2 comments:

Student said...

Don't really agree about Vapiano serving good pizzas but this place looks good xx
Anastassia http://creativerussia.wordpress.com/

Teffy @ Sprinkle of Green said...

I love pizza east! you should try story deli as well. Both ah-mazing.

Teffy X

teffysperks.blogspot.com