Age: Just over a year.
Previous incarnation: A fried chicken joint.
Where exactly is it? On Tavistock Place, which probably doesn’t mean very much. Safe to say, it’s just off leafy Marchmont Street (home to legendary bookshop Gay’s The Word) and literally minutes from St Pancras and King’s Cross. But a world away.
So what goes on there? Pizza, small plates, salads, bruschetta and a mere trio of pastas. The menu is handwritten, with convincing accompanying blurb about the quality of ingredients, the dough being made onsite from cold-extracted stone ground flours to preserve wheatgerm and aid digestion. And the cheeses, meats and vegetables are all from independent suppliers.
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What should I eat? There are antipasti and sharing platters, and traditional as well as fancy toppings, but in the name of research, we shared one pizza and one large version of a small plate (ie. a main). A bruschetta guacamole (£10.95) comprised home-made bread, toasted and chewy, piled sky high with shrimp, creamy avocado, jalapeno chilli, tomato, rocket and a lemony basil dressing. Oh, and tons of garlic. This is bruschetta to reckon with: make sure you divvy it up equally if you’re eating with a loved one, as the garlic-honk lingers.
And the pizza itself? Tastier still: a Bandito (£10.95) had a light-as-air base attractively burnt at the ends smothered in a base of mozzarella, and tomato, and topped with a really fennel-y Italian pork sausage and generous heaps of friarielli (which is similar to broccoli leaf).
The interior: Discuss. It sums up the current wave of hip artisan pizzerias to a tee. Lots of wood, an open kitchen, a busy, buzzy vibe – and a subterranean dining room with cosy booths, banquettes, bottle-green tiling and chalkboard menus. On our visit excitable Italian teens were all sharing margueritas and colas, making it feel even more authentic.
To drink? We stuck to house red (£18) –a totally unremarkable Sollazzo, a medium-bodied fruity red wine from Sangiovese, Cabernet and Barbera grapes. Cherries and blackberries. In future I think I’d at least go for a Nero D’Avola (£22).
What’s the service like? Uncannily speedy. The pizza arrived less than five minutes after we ordered it, with the bruschetta shortly afterwards, despite the restaurant being two-thirds full on an early Thursday evening at 6pm.
Do say: ‘This is some of the finest pizza in the West End.’
Don’t say: ‘Where’s Pizza Pilgrims?’
Main image: SE
