Tonight:
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Andrew Neather's rating
Taste of Naples taken West thanks to Franco Manca
By
Andrew Neather
4 Mar 2010
Strange as it might seem today, before 1945 pizza was a dish largely unknown outside Naples or beyond Italian-American immigrant communities.
Only after the war did it spread thoughout Italy and the world: from Pizza Hut’s first joint opening in Wichita, Kansas, in 1958, the dish was but a scooter delivery ride away from becoming one of the pillars of modern nutrition.
Still, Neapolitans remain extremely precious about the ingredients and method required for “true” pizza. They were bolstered by an EU ruling last December that prevents any restaurant from describing its wares as true “Neapolitan” pizza unless it fulfils a series of stringent criteria such as using genuine Italian mozzarella di bufala.
Whether this writ — largely conforming to the purist definition laid down by the ultras of the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana — runs to sarf London remains to be seen. But in fact Brixton already rejoices in what is easily the most authentic Neapolitan pizza I know, at Franco Manca, which has now opened a bigger and better flagship branch in Chiswick.
Doubtless the purists will tut about the mozzarella from Somerset but the Franco Manca guys did send the cheesemaker to Naples to learn how the real thing is made. Ultras will swoon over the heresy of pizzas using chorizo or Gloucester Old Spot sausages. Let them. A swathe of west London will be swooning for very different reasons: simply, this is as good as pizza gets.
The menu is short and to the point. There are a few starters, mostly involving pizza-like constructions of bread and garlic or cheese, and olives. But the reason to come here is, er, the pizza, of which around eight are available at any given time, from basic tomato with mozzarella and basil to napolitana (oregano, capers, olives, anchovy and mozzarella) and porkier options.
As it should be, the crust is thin, stretched by hand and spun in the air by chefs. It is crispy on the edges and at the very bottom, soft in the middle, nuked at 485 degrees in a wood-fired, domed oven especially imported from Naples. Tomato sauce: hard to fault. Toppings: sparse but joyous (ie the inverse of Dominos).
We washed it down with some of the short but adventurous organic wine list: a very good prosecco, of which they have precisely three cases in stock, and a fresh and cherry-fruit-laden dolcetto.
The grappa di prosecco is brilliant too. Terribly inauthentic, of course. Except in making you not want to go back to work, if you’re here at lunch. What could be more southern Italian than that?
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (5)
Visited with high expectations. Place was busy and buzzing with atmosphere. Although pizza arrived almost within minutes of our order, our initial excitement was tempered with each bite. Dough was a tough to deal with, almost rubber like. Toppings were sparse and cheese had not melted much. Wine was truely dreadful, even tough the manger explained that it was supposed to be like that. It's not often a £20 bottleor red is left unfinished! Deccor was nice and staff friendly. Shame about the ultimate quality of food and wine but perhaps over time this can improve.
- Sam, London, 25/08/2010 00:43
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I went here last week. Pizza came out looking delicious. Half way through, I found a hair embedded amongst the cheese (I had the cheese vegetarian special!) I didn't complain as the half I had tasted really good. However, when my boyfriend had finished his, the manager came over asked if we had finished and if I wanted to take home my leftovers. I just said actually no as there is a hair in it (which was very obvious as I had left it where I found it!) The manager shrugged, took the plates away without saying a word and returned with the bill, and asked us to leave! No offer of more drinks or even a sorry about that! I was so shocked at the poor customer service, that I wished so much that I had kicked up a fuss and caused a scene. I would have been well in my rights to do so. We paid the bill including the 12.5 %service charge and left in absolute silence and shock! I Will never go back!
- Lindsay, Chiswick, London, 26/05/2010 16:25
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Goes to show how silly people in W4 are that they will pay so much more, doesn't sound better to me although at least this one is open in the evening unlike the original. They do a no-cheese pizza too, so even cheese-dodgers like me can enjoy it.
- James, London, 12/03/2010 18:00
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Price has more than doubled, I'll stick with the Brixton original then!
- Michael Kaldezar, Sarf London, 04/03/2010 15:22
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I'd get stoned for saying this in Italy, but that's actually what makes international Italian cuisine so good: the mix. You'd never drink Prosecco wine with your pizza in southern Italy ( It's a northern wine, and delicious too!), nor would you have chorizo on the pizza (yum!), and you'd top it all off with a limoncello in Naples....... but grappa is great too....
So take a great pizzabaker with a broad sense of ingredients, and ENJOY.......
- Juma, london, uk, 04/03/2010 15:01
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