LONDON PIZZA TOUR
We were lucky enough to head over to London in November 2024 to check out some of the heavy hitters on the London Pizza scene. Now developing its own distinct style, London pizza is characterised as thin & crispy, but we were also on the lookout for Neapolitan, Detroit Style and everything in between.
Bite Twice Food Blog have organised a big red London Bus to pick up 50 hungry pizza lovers, us included, and after digging into the bottomless Peroni ice box, we were salivating for our first pizza stop, which was Alley Cats Pizza in Chelsea. A NYC style pizzeria, the chef went outside the menu to bake a Sicilian style pie for us, which was one of the best pizzas we’ve ever tasted. It was baked in a shallow pan, and had a sweet cooked sauce with a little spice from some Calabrian chillies. The charry corner piece was absolute perfection. Their regular pizza was a classic NYC, but unlike a run of the mill pie you might find on the streets of Brooklyn, it was high end and topped with the freshest and best ingredients. No skimping on product. We’re off to a good start!
We snake through London traffic, sipping on cans of Peroni and trying to pace ourselves pizza-wise, but we’ve all consumed two slices each at the first stop. Could be a rookie mistake. After 15 minutes we arrive and park up at Base Face Chelsea, a Neapolitan joint that churns out proper Neapolitan pies from an electric oven. Impressive. It must be a high temp oven, as the crusts are authentic; light and airy, high hydration for sure. We try the carbonara pizza, a difficult pizza to get right. They’ve nailed it. A white base (admittedly not my favourite), but the guanciale is perfect. The fat has been rendered off, mixed with egg yoke and a boat load of parmesan, and drizzled back on after the cook. Mozzarella cheese and black pepper finish this pizza off, and a serious umami hit it is. Top stuff.
After finding our rhythm both with pizza and with the free beer, we’re excited to try Breadstall but don’t know much about it. Seb has been making bread for 20 years but only in the last 6 years has forayed into the pizza game. By god his experience has stood to him; his pizzas are exceptional. This was the BEST PIZZA IN LONDON by far! Made with a biga, these 20” pies are sold by the quarter, which is just the perfect way to eat them. Big bastard slices to feast on. Baked in an electric deck oven, he has somehow managed to get a perfectly thin delicate crispy NYC base but with a huge airy Neapolitan crust. This is no mean feat, and especially when it’s done at a stall on the side of Northcote Road. With plans to open several slice shops over the next couple of years, Breadstall is the one to watch. Well done to Seb and the team.
Bad Boy Pizza Society started off as a university society aiming to get discount pizza, but they’ve since realised they have the knowledge, and have opened three locations across London. We visited their spot within the Railway Bar in Tulse Hill. Immediately we were brought back to the days of the Bernard Shaw with Ollie’s Big Blue Bus out the back. The bar was originally a small enough venue, but with a large yard and couple of well positioned awnings and out buildings, this is a sprawling venue with nooks and crannies galore. The vibe is cool and with pool, table tennis and sports on TV, this is perfect for those boozy summer nights. We tried their NYC spicy Notorious P.I.G. and it was proper spicy, and unfortunately this more or less killed the taste buds. It was still a good pizza and they’re a sound bunch of lads, so we will be back to sample their wares again. For a more suburban chilled out evening, give the Railway in Tulse Hill a go.
Our last visit was to the insta-madness of Crisp W6. Again a pizza place within a bar (it’s a great combination of course), this wasn’t part of the tour so we could only manage to get a slot the next day before we raced back to Stansted Airport. We had high hopes for this one as every man and his dog has professed it to be magical and top tier stuff. No official slots were available but they were so accommodating for a fellow pizza crew, that they squeezed us in. A two hour round trip in the throes of a hangover was not ideal, but it’s London and we’ve only ourselves to blame.
Crisp W6 is probably the leader in what is becoming the new “London Style” pizza. Baked at around 350OC in an electric deck oven (the preferred oven for New York style, Detroit, New Haven and many other styles) this had an oily well-charred crust with the best and freshest ingredients. Basil, parmesan and mozzarella are on the pizza when it is cooked, and after the cook it gets more fresh basil and a giant fistful of grated parmesan. Always welcome! It looks fantastic, and we were salivating, but unfortunately that’s where the magic ended for us. We need to preface that this is just our personal preference of course, but the dough for us was not to our liking. Excessive use of oil killed the vibe. There is oil in the dough mix, the pizza is cooked with oil on top (almost all pizza is), and then after the cook another drizzle of oil is poured around the crust, making this the dominant flavour of the slice. We found it just too much, and although I’m sure the oil is of high quality, it ruined the profile of the other fresh ingredients and the overall pizza went down a peg.
The guys are clearly doing something right and we may have just had an off day, so we will return for another try sometime soon and try the rest of the menu. rr
For us Breadstall wins the day and if anyone is planning a trip to London, do not sleep on this experienced baker’s pizza project. Any pizza chef will tell you the most important ingredient is the dough, and Seb and the crew have this aspect of their operation nailed! Onwards and upwards.