La Gigante

When I walked in La Gigante for the first time I was like ‘wow this is a proper pizzeria’. It feels very newly refurbished, it’s been tiled to mid height in a deep red and then left largely neutral except for some lovely lights and a set of tables and chairs. Absolutely no bullshit whatsoever. It’s so nice to be inside there, top marks to whoever was in charge of the refit.

And it’s backed up by some very serious pizza. This is top end pizza but it’s NOT napoletana, which for me is both brave and very refreshing (…as the whole pizza zeitgiest has been moving towards napoletana for some time now). So if it’s not napoletana what is it? I guess it’s actually what most people, especially from the older generations know as ‘thin and crispy’ Italian pizza, which is much more traditional in most parts of Italy. When you order a pizza here the base is really ‘croccante’ (crispy), they’re definitely using farina semola either on the pizza making table or in the dough (or both) which is more classic for the deep south of Italy. If you hold a slice up it won’t flop over but will stay firm. They have a spectacular array of pizzas from humble options to more fancy-pants top-end choices packed with the very best local ingredients from Salento and Puglia.