Rossopomodoro

Rosso Pomodoro is the most authentic Napolitan food you will find in London. They have opened 9 restaurants in London with all their ingredients sourced exclusively from Naples. Their first ever restaurant was in 1999 in Naples (the home of Pizza) and due to their popularity, they opened a series of new restaurants in other countries such as the UK, Japan, US and Argentina.

I found this place for the first time when looking for a quick eat with my boyfriend. We are both Italian therefore we are a very tricky couple to please when it comes to Italian food as we have been spoilt most of our lives by authentic Italian cuisine. However I must admit Rossopomodoro is one of a very limited number of restaurants that can be considered Authentic Italian.

Their menu includes a wide range of options starting with their appetizers of bruschettas, parmigianas, and Italian street food (arancini, crocché, frittatine ecc).

We tried a parmigiana as a starter and it was perfect - they bring quite a big portion so i would recommend sharing or you will be too full to have your main. The tomato sauce is so rich in flavor and the aubergines are cooked to perfection.

Their main courses include a variety of pizzas. The menu makes it easy to decide as it is divided between red pizza (with tomato sauce), white pizza (mozzarella based) and whole-grain pizza base. They have numerous amount of options, which makes it very hard to decide but they all seem tasty so you cannot really go wrong. The two pizzas I always go for is the Leggerina and the Brezaolina, not only because they are the only two pizzas with less than 500 calories, but because they have my favourite toppings. The Brezaolina which is my absolute favourite is buffalo mozzarella, rocket, beef bresaola, cherry tomatoes and tomato sauce. The toppings are put on after the pizza is cooked in the oven so they taste fresh and create a contrast with the warm pizza dough. My boyfriend always choses the classic Margherita and I must admit, classic is always best when you do not know what to chose. I find that their dough is so tasty that it doesn't matter what toppings you chose, the pizza will taste just fine - I think I am the only person in the world that prefers to eat the crust than the inside.

** They also offer gluten free pizza which is a plus if you are gluten intolerant.

If you are not a pizza fan you are not to worry as the menu is filled with alternative options such as Pasta alla Puttanesca, Pappardelle alla Bolognese, Tagliatelle alla boscaiola (mushroom based) and other intriguing options. If you fancy meat then you have a variety of chicken and fish options to chose from.

In London I have been to three of their restaurants, the one in Hoxton (where my boyfriend and I celebrated our birthday), the one in Chelsea and the one in Covent Garden. They are all similar in terms of décor – very Italian – It is not the interior that is important. The interior of an Italian restaurant is never too glamorous as in Italy that gives an impression of being slightly touristy or for hotel restaurants. Us Italians give more importance to the food. We do however like to hang up drawings or autographs of our Italian stars; especially Totò.

They also serve the tastiest deserts. I remember at our birthday they brought us the best chocolate desert with a candle whilst singing happy birthday. It was such a sweet gesture, and the chocolate desert was heaven, I think I ate most of it. I have also tried the tiramisu here which, if you like coffee, is delicious.

I have found that the staff is always attentive to your needs; as soon as you need something there will always be someone ready to serve you. Having staff that actually pays attention to their clients is something that makes a humongous difference in a restaurant - there is nothing worse than going somewhere and literally having to wave down a waiter.

The restaurant in Covent Garden is usually quite busy therefore I would recommend to book in advance, you can do it here.