One thing London is not short of is places to eat. The city is crowded with cuisines from every corner of the world, at a multitude of price points, with about a thousand different service styles.
I always think the best places, however, are those that are conveniently placed, well-priced, serving delicious food with a little flair. So imagine my delight when I turned up to Firezza on Dean Street on Wednesday evening and found a brilliant little location (smack dab in Soho, a few steps from Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road), serving tasty food at a nice price point (£7.95 or less for a pizza? Yes please, purse-friendly dining) efficiently and with a smile.
We selected some lovely cool drinks to enjoy while we went through the menu. Matthew had a crisp and refreshing IPA while I sipped a lemon and mint San Pellegrino which was divine - tasting more that a little like a virgin mojito with the lovely combo of mint and citrus.
After I placed our pizza order I returned to our table with a plate of antipasti to share. Creamy buffalo mozzarella, oodles of sundriend tomatoes, olives, pickles, rocket and a scrumptious pesto were perfect paired with fresh bread.
Acqua Panna took me straight back to Tuscany, even on a grey day in London!
At Firezza they serve pizza by lengths of 25cm. So if you're in a group you could end up with a metre or more of pizza to share (side note: Pizza Club, when are we going?)! Matthew and I ordered different ones but had them put on a half-metre because it's a heck of a sight to see!
We tried two of the current specials.
M went for the Tutta Bufala with fiery buffalo salami, Buffalo Mozzarella D.O.P., tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil. It was rich and tasty, with the salami adding a salty, meaty note to proceedings.
My half was the Patate - fire-roasted sliced potato with creamy Taleggio cheese, mozzarella, fresh cream and red onion, finished with fresh rosemary & sea salt. This was a creamy, cheesy dream, with the onions perfectly balancing the richness and the starchiness of the other flavours. The dough was superb - chewy and light and risen to perfection.
I was impressed to see that the menu had many additional options too, such as vegan cheese at no extra price, and gluten free bases available too.
We washed down our mains with a carafe of crisp white wine, tangy and cool. I was really happy with the speed of service - often in Soho I'm between meetings or off to a show or an event, so it's always good to know of places with a speedy turnaround time (we spent a smidge over 1h 20 here, even with starters and drinks and photo-taking pauses!).
The decor is cool and eclectic, and the social seating worked nicely, with plenty of space for everyone to enjoy their food. I love reviewing places I know I'll return on my own time and my own dime, and Firezza is definitely on that list.
Thank you to the team at Firezza Dean Street for having us!
Firezza Dean Street (open 10am-midnight)
22-25 Dean St,
Soho,
London
W1D 3RY
Disclaimer: As stated on several occasions above, I was invited to review Firezza and our food and drinks were complimentary. All opinions, mispellings and pizza-love my own.
