Michele Pascarella, recognized as the world’s best pizza maker in 2023, is redefining pizza dining in central London with a £65 multi-course tasting menu at his Soho pizzeria, Napoli on the Road (NotR). This innovative approach challenges common perceptions of pizza as merely fast food by elevating it to a dining experience comparable to those found in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Pascarella’s career began in 2019 with his first NotR location in Chiswick, west London, where he gained a reputation for inventive pizzas that blend traditional Italian foundations with experimental toppings. His creations, which include a fillet tartare pizza with parmesan fondue and fior di latte, as well as the award-winning “ricordi d’infanzia” topped with a slow-cooked beef ragu, have set new standards for the dish outside Naples, where culinary conservatism typically limits pizza varieties.
The tasting menu, priced at £65 per person, is complemented by a £40 wine flight curated by Nadia Khan, head sommelier at Frog by Adam Handling in Covent Garden. The selection deliberately avoids expected Italian wine pairings, beginning with sake and concluding with a Moscato d’Asti to accompany dessert, thereby enhancing the diverse flavors presented throughout the meal.
Guests begin with a showcase of the San Marzano tomato in four preparations that highlight the ingredient’s evolving flavor through raw and cooked emulsions. This is followed by three one-bite fritti, including fried polenta with stracciatella and truffle, a potato croquette filled with scamorza, and a deep-fried nerano pasta twirl, each paying homage to Italian culinary traditions rooted in resourcefulness.
The pizzas themselves include a slice featuring fior di latte paired with artichoke puree and crispy violet artichokes dusted with hazelnuts, and the signature margherita, notable for its crisp barley and rye crust topped with datterini tomatoes, wild-garlic pesto, buffalo mozzarella, and sweet tomato jam. These are accompanied by a selection of wines such as a demi-sec Vouvray and a saline Assyrtiko from Santorini.
A palate cleanser of diced barattiere, a lesser-known southern Italian vegetable, precedes two more pizzas: a stuffed padellino filled with vitello tonnato and caper leaves and a richly textured ricordi d’infanzia prepared with a 15-hour reduction of pork ribs, oxtail, beef cheek, and skin.
The meal concludes with a pre-dessert sgroppino and a trio of pasticceria, highlighted by a bitter chocolate and hazelnut “mini Magnum” inspired dessert. Scheduled to expand his culinary reach further, Pascarella is set to bring his signature pizzas to Osteria Francescana, Massimo Bottura’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Modena, later this year, underscoring the rising recognition of his craft in both casual and fine dining spheres.