I can't say I'm much of a pizza lover to be honest, but after a Facebook post caught my eye, with authentic looking Italian-style pizzas, I thought, wow, they look amazing.
None of that greasy, dripping with cheese, thick, soggy bottom chip-shop style pizzas for this place, these ones looked thin, crispy, authentic and just like the ones hubby and I had in Rome, so we decided to give them a try. The place is called Sugar and Slice and is based at Park View in Whitley Bay. We placed our order the day before and told them we’d be collecting, although they do offer delivery. As I waited for them to be finished off, the owner, Anthony told me that he runs the place and makes all the pizzas himself, by hand. Very impressive so far. The ingredients he told me he sources as many locally as he can, but he also imports some specifically from Sicily, as it’s authenticity is so important to him.
I ordered the Fitzeroni, which is pepperoni, nduja (a spreadable pork from Italy), cherry peppers, buffalo mozzarella, burrata, san Marzano tomatoes, haberna flakes finished off with chilli infused oil. There wasn’t an inch of this pizza that wasn’t covered in pepperoni and the smell was off the scale. The car journey home was the longest in history and I couldn’t wait to tuck in. Rich ordered Colony, which is buffalo mozzarella, pepperoni, sea salt flakes, san Marzano tomatoes, chilli infused maple and chilli flakes. Sides were Maldon sea salt flakes on hand cut wedged chips and a garlic bread, which came with truffle oil on it. There were three dips served with these as we couldn’t choose just one, miso garlic and rosemary aioli, fermented chilli aioli and smoked garlic aioli. I never thought it would be possible to get a take-away that tasted as good as what we ate in Italy, but oh boy these were amazing. Chips, perfectly salted and the dips gave you a different taste explosion with every mouthful. The garlic bread was no-ordinary garlic bread either – it oozed butter and truffle oil, but still remained crispy on the bottom. The pizzas however took on a life of their own, they were packed full of flavour. There was far too much food for just the two of us, so we enlisted the help of our grown-up children who polished off the remainder.
They also serve a selection of desserts, so we had one between us. We chose the cinnamon infused dough with 70% Becolade noir chocolate and roasted pecan nuts. This is served hot and is amazing. We served it with ice cream and the combination was a dessert to die for. Very rich, creamy and the crunchy nuts complemented it perfectly.
As I mentioned earlier, this is no ordinary pizza place, with its stone-built pizza oven, it’s a paradise for pizza-lovers everywhere. If you like authenticity in your food, this is one place you should definitely consider. Sugar & Slice – 133 Park View, Whitley Bay, NE26 3RG 0191 253 7831 www.sugarandslice.co.uk