Get close to Berwick Street Market at 12pm on a weekday, or post-5pm any day, and you’ll start spotting huge blue and white boxes emblazoned with the words: BIGA IS BETTER. If that walking marketing doesn’t lure you to Breadstall—a Soho spot selling Neapolitan pizza by the quarter, half slice, or whole pie—the excited crowd that congregates around the takeaway hatch will. And the fact that Breadstall serves some of London’s best pizza. The best thing about Breadstall’s pies is the dough. It’s a twice-baked, slow-fermented biga dough. For the mere mortal—who still hasn’t caved and brought an Ooni for their one-bed flat—that means the crust is big, fluffy, and airy, but the base remains crisp and rigid, with minimal flop. It’s delicious. You’ll be as excited to dredge the crust through the creamy spicy ‘nduja mayo as you are to eat the toppings like sweet vodka sauce or rich, halal beef ragu. It’s a useful spot too. Head to the takeaway hatch with colleagues you actually like at lunch, or swing by for a few post-work beers (they’re open until 12pm on weekends). Inside at street level there’s standing-only counters for those who aren’t keen on their colleagues, perhaps, and need to be close to the frozen marg machine. Downstairs is a little quieter, with a big table for groups and some tableside theatre as you watch dough being prepared in the little kitchen opposite.
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