.jpg)
From Ischia to Edinburgh: Finding Real Pizza at Pizza Posto
- Anne Pia
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
Life is often full of difficult decisions.
What to eat for dinner
Where to eat out that’s new and good
Where to get the best pizza.
Edinburgh, like any other city and indeed small town or hamlet, teems with pizza joints…from take-away to up-market glitz and cocktails. And here, I am thinking especially of a negroni sbagliato in Howe Street’s cool Little Capo…a stopover not to be missed!!
However, though pizza places crowd the capital, a good honest pizza is less easy to find.
Avoiding the temptation of sermonising or indeed quoting the Associazione Verace Pizza
Napoletano which gives detailed clear criteria as to what constitutes the true Neapolitan pizza, two food moments come to mind. One is the pizza I recently ate in the port area of Ischia… a simple margherita, the sweet tomato sauce with lush, collapsed tomatoes, mingling with olive oil and fat, soft pillows of buffalo mozzarella. The corniccione, was crisp, slightly blackened yet dippable; the base dry on the underside, but springy and thin in the middle. This was heaven complete with an angelic choir; this pizza sang. This pizza could bring tears of joy and gratitude but also sadly, much despair at the overladen, chilli splattered dough that too often passes for pizza here in Scotland.
My other food memory is of my Lazio born grandmother, taking a notion early mornings: her pizza came in big trays; her dough crusty underneath, the top light, soft and springy, with only a sparse covering of a few fresh tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.
All in all, what is clear is that as well as pasta, pizza is a serious matter.
Here in Edinburgh, three or four pizzerie come to mind where the pizzaiolo knows and is proud of his craft. One such place is Pizza Posto: “l’impasto lo faccio io” (I'm the one who makes the dough”) Francesco announced proudly. When you walk in and you find the place buzzing with Italians, people shaking hands and kissing… people taking a moment to chat at someone else’s table, you know you are in the right place. You are in Italy.
The pizza menu is interesting and extensive; both respectful of tradition and on the button with new and changing trends: pizze rosse, tomato based…margherite, marinare and calzoni; and by contrast, specials with interesting options…a cream of courgette or pistachio base, stretched buffalo, diced rosemary potatoes (much loved in Naples) and the recent southern Italian mania for pizza fritta … a deep fried pizza filled with salami napoli , fior di lattte,ham and a tomato sugo.
Sides, extra toppings, dips and additions offer a wide range of additional options including pesto, Gorgonzola, artichokes friarielli ( small broccoli or or greens) so that you can customise your own. There’s a separate menu offering specials of the day.
Leaving my own preference for pizza bianche aside, on a recent visit, I opted for a simple
marinara. There is no hiding place for a simple dough and nothing more than a sugo and fresh
basil topping but this was just delicious; the sauce mouth watering, deep and rich in flavour, clearly cooked for hours, yet rounded and vaguely sweet; and the basil added an earthy undertone. There are enough small plates if you prefer not to have pizza but a tapas style meal instead. These include zucchni fritti, parmigiana di melenzane and polpette or meat balls in sugo. Our choice however, was fior di zucca…fried courgette flowers filled with a ricotta mousse, basil pesto, with chilli and lemon; the batter light and crisp and as good as any I’ve had in Rome or further south.
A Monferrato Chiaretto rosé from Piemonte bright and fresh completed our meal and was an
excellent pairing; the customary espresso, a perfect ending.
Pizza Posto: 16 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9DH
Open daily from noon-10pm, and to 11pm on Fridays & Saturdays. +44 131 557 9941 or pizzapostouk@gmail.com.
