Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 18 and Version 17 of Franco Manca, SW9 8LD

Version 18 Version 17
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* [http://www.andyhayler.com/show_restaurant.asp?id=599 Andy Hayler's review]
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formatted_website_text='http://www.francoman...'
 formatted_website_text='http://www.francomanca.co.uk/ '

Rather good pizza place in Market Row in Brixton.

The bases are thin, made from sourdough proved for 20 hours, and the pizzas are cooked at 500°C for less than two minutes. The result is a soft yet chewy crust, well-risen around the edges and scorched just the right amount on the bottom. There's only a small range of toppings available, in six combinations, and they're applied sparingly, since the star of the show is the crust. Pizzas are priced between £3.90 and £5.60, and are available as pizzas or as calzones (folded-over pizzas). A single pizza is enough for one person unless they're very hungry.

Beer (Hepworth organic, £1.90 for 330ml) and wine (organic Piedmontese, one red and one white, £6.80/bottle and £1.20/125ml glass) are available, as is some very good home-made still lemonade (£1 for 250ml, £2 for 500ml), served in swing-cap bottles.

Note the restricted opening hours; they're only open when the market is open. They're actually spread over two sides of Market Row (which is under cover), with some seating inside plus benches out in the Row.

There can be queues at peak times, but when Kake visited just after 2pm on a Friday in August 2008 there were seats available straight away. Service was friendly despite being amazingly fast and efficient, and they were happy to bring me tap water. My number three pizza (wild mushrooms, garlic, anchovy, no cheese, £4.80) was delivered incredibly quickly, and was very tasty. I'm not actually a fan of pizza crust, or carbohydratey things in general, but I didn't find the crust unpleasant at all. The tomato sauce was good and fresh-tasting, and the anchovies weren't overpowering.

Kake's verdict: I enjoyed this quite a lot and would happily come back. I would urge any fan of real pizza to come here and give it a go; unless you live really far north, it's worth the trip down to Brixton.

See also:

Last visited by Kake, 29 August 2008. Opening hours and prices taken from the Franco Manca website, August 2008 (prices are consonant with the ones Kake was charged in the same month).

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