16-02-2017
The entrance to Radio Alice at 16 Hoxton Square in Shoreditch, London. Launched with a soft opening on the 5th December, it’s the sixth Berberè restaurant in 7 years, after Castel Maggiore, Bologna, Florence, Torino and Milan. In the picture, Matteo and Salvatore Aloe
High quality Italian pizza in London, an oxymoron. Of course there are places doing a good job – especially in Neapolitan style – but exceptions drown in a mare magnum of discs previously rolled out and frozen, with dull ingredients scraping a living for a whole year. It’s like going back to 15-years-ago Italy, when the “gourmet” pizza fever – the word is semantically horrible but in lack of credible alternatives it is comprehensible – hadn’t yet raised the mercury column of dozens and dozens of new generation pizzaioli, capable of rewriting both the present and the destiny of the most beloved single-course dish in the world. This is why I was happy to accept Matteo and Salvatore Aloe’s invitation. The restaurant they’ve just opened in London in December is Berberè’s sixth establishment in 7 years, after Castel Maggiore, Bologna, Florence, Torino and Milan. But it’s the first abroad. The two brothers from Calabria chose Shoreditch, in north London. The lively hipster neighbourhood, with acid coffees and scrap merchants had everyone agree also for emotional reasons: before starting the successful pizza light saga, they regularly met here to keep up to date with their respective adventures (and quarrel about football: one supports Inter, the other Milan).
Parma ham, burrata, oil aromatised with orange and fiordilatte (photo by Francesca Sara Cauli)
Matteo Aloe (30), Salvatore Aloe (37) and their Australian partner Emma King
Berberè pizzerias are not part of a franchising: the owners control everything directly
In these two months of soft opening, what with lunch and supper, Radio Alice has baked some 200 pizzas per day, the amount they bake at Berberè Milano in one shift alone. The place is designed to make 500 pizzas. With the warmer season coming up, they’ll also be able to use the outdoor space. Radio Alice 16 Hoxton Square London, United Kingdom +44.(0)20.70183656 hoxton@radioalicepizzeria.co.uk Average prices: Small plates 3/6, Pizze Rosse and Bianche from 6 to 13 pounds Always open for lunch and supper
Gabriele Zanatta’s opinion: on establishments, chefs and trends in Italy and the world
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt