Not being satisfied with just the one pizza, on the day I went to Pizza 1889, I decided to make a quick stop into Taste of Napoli, a small café nestled on the edge of Bristol Arcade on my walk home.
Taste of Napoli is, I’ll admit right away, one of my favourite places to grab pizza in the centre of Bristol. Whatever time you drop by, the place is crawling with Italians, which is obviously a good sign- Italians being famously staunch in their protection of their cuisine- I refer again to Hawaiian Pizza, and the incomprehension of Italians as we make our ‘Italian classic’ Spaghetti Bolognese (this does not exist in Italy).
In the morning, there are blokes hunched over espressos reading newspapers, and at lunch you hear the telltale rapid exchanges paired with exuberant hand gestures of the people sat sipping coffee, smoking, laughing and munching in the seating area on the pavement out the front.
Taste of Napoli differs from the usual fare, in that it sells the Sicilian-style Pizza al Taglio you’ll find much more frequently in Italy, a large square pizza with a base that’s much more like focaccia than what we’re used to in the UK. Usually this is sold by weight in Italy, but this is probably too far removed from norm in the UK, so wisely the owners have opted to sell it pre-cut.
Taste of Napoli also sells Italian pastries and gelato, but that can wait for another day, frankly- my tummy yearned solely for that sweet, sweet savoury beige goodness, and who am I to deny myself that?
Despite the incredible looking selection, I, as is protocol, went for the Margherita. The guy scooped it up and warmed it up in a small oven at the back, which would usually indicate that this would be a bit of a sweaty mess, but surprisingly this is the exact opposite of the truth.
It in fact came out lovely and crunchy. The sheer wonderfulness of the base here makes the whole thing taste absolutely incredible. The tomato sauce and the mozzarella were alright, but frankly, when the base tastes as good as this does, who gives a shit how the toppings taste? A crunchy, light, airy base. Perfection.
You may have noticed, in the photo of the pizza behind the screen, there were further little beige things tucked away at the back- in Italy, little take away pizzerias all tend to have little side nibbles called suppli.
First time I came here for lunch and had the best arancini I’ve ever had, which makes sense as they’d bloody run out of them when I got there after work, so I had a fried mozzarella strip instead.
Obviously, as it was fried cheese, it was amazing.
I love the authenticity of this place, almost as much as I love the damn pizza base. I wish there were more Pizza al Taglio places in the UK, but if you want to give it a go, try Taste of Napoli.
🍕🍕🍕🍕
Cheers, Con
Pizza on Earth 