Week 6 out of 13 of my time in London has just begun! I can't believe that we are basically at the halfway point already - this place feels far too much like home for me to contemplate leaving in less than two months!

One place that is certainly helping us to feel at home is L'Antica Pizzeria in Hampstead, the latest to be reviewed in my London Mini Reviews series. One of my biggest complaints about Exeter is that you can't get a proper Neapolitan pizza anymore since Pizza Stein closed down. 

(Ok, that's not one of my biggest complaints about Exeter, just one of my many complaints. But still.)

It's so good that I've been twice already - and I have a very long to-eat list for the next few weeks, meaning that if somewhere gets a second look-in, it must be special.


Name/Address: L'Antica Pizzeria, 66 Heath Street, Hampstead, NW3 1DN

Nearest tube station: Hampstead

What's the idea?: An authentic Italian pizzeria serving up Neapolitan delights straight from the wood-fired oven.

First impressions: We had to wait about half an hour for a table, stamping our feet and rubbing our hands together in the blistering cold. This was made even more unbearable by the extreme cosiness of the place, with golden light leaching out onto the street and the hubbub of happy voices drifting out every time the door opened. But once inside - what bliss! If you nab a seat facing the back, you get a view of the pizza oven, which has "fatte 'na pizza" written into the tiles (which means "make yourself a pizza" and is the name of a song, of course). Pretty much every voice in the place is speaking Italian and with the rustic stone walls and general joviality, you could quite easily be in Italy.


What we ate: Pizza! Michele had the margherita and I had the special of the day, which had ricotta and aubergine on it. I've since been back with a colleague for a boozy gossipy evening and we had pizzas slathered in mushrooms and truffle oil, yum!

What we thought: Damn, this is good pizza. I start with the crust which is a perfectly baked pillow of a dream. It stretches as I pull at it, before yielding into cloud-soft strands that are promptly dipped into the abundant tomato sauce. The dough is perfectly salty, the tomato brings a little sugar and acidity to balance, and the cheese and other toppings are just an extra bonus. It's near impossible to pick a slice up without slopping topping all over the place - which is exactly how I like my pizza. In short - I've had many, many worse pizzas in Italy, and very few better than this.

The important stuff - what were the loos like?: They're at the bottom of some narrow windy stairs, so don't get too drunk if you're likely to need to pay them a visit. Nice and clean and, happily, not authentically Italian (no holes in the ground here).

Do they take bookings?: Yes but not on Saturdays (and therefore probably not other peak times). It's worth the wait though!

What I'd say to a friend: If you want real Italian pizza, go here. Even if you don't want real Italian pizza, go here and eat the damn pizza anyway.