Santa Maria Pizzeria, London 02-2018

The award winning (I found out later it was a Timeout award for best pizza in London) pizzeria recently opened in Fitzrovia and the 50% off opening special made for a great reason to brave some windy and icy weather and test it out. Many an Italian were also enjoying their fill, using the technique or folding the pizza over into some kind of sandwich. I suppose it's helpful for these pizzas with thin floppy centres.

The pizzas are all unevenly hand shaped and large to fill the plates with puffy, soft crust edges and an ultra thin core. The crust had a little seasoning, a discernible touch of char flavour and bouncy texture. In true Italian fashion they are not precut at all.

San Francesco (tomato sauce, mozzarella, peppers, courgettes, aubergines, parmesan) £9.45 was a simpler pizza with the vegetable flavours standing out. It wasn't overly seasoned/salted and could have used a little. I probably would have preferred the old version listed there with the artichokes.

Santa Rosa (tomato sauce, smoked mozzarella, salame Napoli, roasted aubergines) £9.95 was a tastier more savoury version thanks to the salame. The mozzarella didn't have a very noticeable smoke element.

It's a very good pizza. I'll look forward to trying the San Gennaro complete with anchovies and capers next time.