Grays, Pizza Restaurant Guide

Lucky Lee residents have this “fabulous family-owned Italian eatery” as their local – Enzo Masiello and his team turn out accomplished wood-fired pizza, home-made pasta and breakfast with a Calabrian twist (shakshuka with nduja, for instance). The restaurant is named after Enzo’s papa.

“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.

2023 Review: “Tasty thin-crust dough – cooked well in the middle, so no soggy bottoms” – is the secret to the appeal of this seven-strong South London sourdough pizzeria group, where the emphasis is on local ingredients (including Shipton Mill flour and British-made buffalo mozzarella) washed down with locally brewed craft beers and juices from Kent.

“Still our pizza favourite no matter how successful and busy they get… the black dough even makes you feel you’re eating healthy!” – this eight-strong chain has grown from its Islington base over the last ten years (est. 2016) and its successful formula revolves around four 48-hour slow-fermented doughs – charcoal, wholemeal, gluten-free and traditional. Of these the first is the most eye-catching: “interesting charcoal-based pizza with delicious toppings”. The original N7 branch near Arsenal and the W14 one (they call it ‘Hammersmith’ but it’s closer to Olympia) attract most feedback, but it’s the food that wins fans: for example, “the original one feels buzzy when Arsenal play at home when it’s packed out, but otherwise can feel a bit grim and loveless”.