We meet the world’s best pizza chef who lives in London
He was awarded Global Pizza Maker of the Year by the Top 50 Pizza Awards. We speak to Michele Pascarella, founder of Napoli on the Road in Chiswick, about what makes the perfect pizza
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST PIZZA MISTAKE? Using too many ingredients and mixing too many flavours that don’t complement each other. It’s better to keep it simple.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF PIZZA EXPRESS? I heard about Marcus Wareing mentioning this restaurant as the best pizza in London. If I’m being honest, I respect the business and all the people who enjoy it, but the pizza isn’t great. The ingredients are low quality and there is no focus on the quality of the dough. I don’t eat a lot of pizza from high street chains. I prefer to support small or independent businesses for many reasons.
CAN YOU HAVE A GOOD DEEP DISH CHICAGO-STYLE PIZZA? Yes you can – I love this American-style variation! For the perfect Chicago-style, it’s essential not to rush the baking process so that you can achieve the perfect balance of crispiness.
WHAT IS THE PIZZA AND WINE PAIRING ON YOUR MIND? At the moment I’m loving our seasonal Salsiccia and Friarielli Pizza with Neapolitan greens (friarielli), fresh sausage and smoked mozzarella. This is perfectly paired with a lovely Gragnano red wine. It’s the ideal combination on a cold wintery day. People often associate the dish as simply ‘fast food’ but at Napoli on the Road, we focus on high-quality, seasonal ingredients and change the menu every three months to reflect the bounty of the changing seasons. For this reason, there are many flavour profiles and ingredients within our pizzas that can be complimented with a good wine pairing.
TELL ME ABOUT THE BEST PIZZA YOU’VE EVER EATEN… Excluding my own, I would have to say the best I’ve ever eaten was at I Masanielli in Caserta, Italy. I know the chef well and he puts lots of passion into his pizzas. My favourite is the Futuro di Marinara, a pizza first fried and then cooked in the oven with anchovies, tomato, capers, olives and cherry tomatoes.
WHAT SHOULD WE EAT IF WE COME TO YOUR RESTAURANT IN CHISWICK? The best way to try our unique concept is to first try a classic Margherita in order to understand our pizza: you can experience the quality of the dough and the simplicity of the ingredients. Next, I would choose one of two recipes to give a more complex display of flavours in harmony: the Ricordi D’Infanzia with 12 hours slow cooked Neapolitan beef ragù with parmigiano reggiano cream, which is based on my mother’s home cooked ragu that I used to eat as a child. The other option I would recommend is the Cheesewick, with buffalo ricotta cheese, buffalo mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano chips, blue dry stilton, stracciatella and a jam of piennolo cherry tomato.
Napoli on the Road is open 5-10pm daily; 9A Devonshire Rd, Chiswick, W4 2EU
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