Fatto a Mano’s recreates the ‘best pizza in the world’

Everyone loves to see an independent restaurant thriving and the hugely popular pizzeria has grown at a nice pace since opening it’s first branch at the apex of lovable, but slightly lairy, London Road.

That was back in 2015 (it doesn’t seem that long does it?) and was followed by branches at enviable Hove and North Laine locations (Church Road and Gloucester Road respectively) before progressing to the metropolis with restaurants in ultra-competitive hotspots – Covent Garden and Kings Cross.

In the proceeding eight years all three Brighton and Hove venues have always seemed to be in perpetual state of chock-a-block popularity, day and, always nicely lit, night.

The Church Road site will be synonymous in many people’s mind’s eye with a packed forecourt of diners living their best Hove lives in the sunshine.

But time waits for no one, (actually), and recently some of those happy Hovarians may have been surprised to see very same venue closed.

Fortunately it was just for a light refurb and refresh and it’s open in time for summer, although it’s possible to argue we may still be waiting for spring…

We had the good luck to visit on one of the first genuinely warm and bright evenings of the year and conservatively took our places inside due to a lack of sensible cardies for later.

After a hard day at the local news coalface a Campari spritzer seemed like a logical decompression drink, generations of open pit miners probably did the same...

On the subject of a difficult jobs, my chum is a nurse and since the public displays of gratitude have dried up she’s entitled to a few nice things in life, like the Fragola Spritz.

A brand new addition to the F a M cocktail list and one for those who like their boozy concoctions on the sweeter side. Martini Rosso is mixed with lemon juice, Spumante, a strawberry syrup, topped with a fat juicy strawberry.

Olives were the obvious accompaniment with the spritzers and F a M’s choice of Sicilian Olives Nocellara was on point.

These plump buttery beauties are so well thought of that the Nocellara del Belice (which produces olives for oil and for the table) has been given a DOP certification, which protects the reputation by guaranteeing its production and heritage.Nocellara olives also have high levels of antioxidants, and are linked to health benefits, including a reduced risk of heart disease – which was good to know ahead of the wonderful mozarella-laden pizzas that were to come.

We exercised a surprising, but justified level of restraint around the starters and shared a leviathan of a calzone.

The Calzoncino Fritto was a fried variant on the traditional Neapolitan dish, made with a super-light dough and filled with ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, basil, and a mightily meaty and lightly spiced salame Napoli which was bursting with flavour and made the dish soar.

From our seats near to the venue’s bar we could see the Negroni’s were flowing. We're living in a Negroni world, or at least that's how it increasingly seems in Brighton's bars and boozers.And FaM version of this classic no-mixer cocktail is one that will put hairs on your chest and a smile on your face.

Fatto a Mano has built it’s burgeoning reputation by serving up authentic and affordable Neapolitan pizza which the good folk of Brighton and Hove have appreciated accordingly.

As with all the best pizzas the key is the dough. The F a M dough is made fresh every day using Italian 00 flour, salt, water and yeast and left to prove for at least 24 hours, which they say is the reason it’s so light.

The recently reopened pizzeria is currently serving a new monthly special inspired by a visit to Master Pizzaiolo Franco Pepe in Caiazzo.

Pepe, star of Netflix’s Chef’s Table: Pizza, has been named World's Best Pizza Chef at the Best Chef Awards and his Margherita Sbagliata was named the Best Pizza in the World from 2016 to 2018.

Fatto a Mano has recreated the Margherita Sbagliata and will donate £1.50 from every Margherita Sbagliata sold (until June 2) to Italian children's charity La Scugnizzeria. Later this month they will also host a fundraising masterclass event for the charity – see here

Their take on the Margherita Sbagliata is impressive. Fatto a Mano has always offered a great selection of white pizzas, so the unconventional, inverse Margherita not a huge stylistic leap for them.

It’s a marvellous-looking pizza with a deep unbroken layer of melted cheeses, creamy Buffalo mozzarella and the lighter fior di latte mozzarella.

The tomato element (atop the cheese and added after the white base is cooked) Pomodoro Riccio is sweet and very subtle and topped with basil oil, parmesan, and Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

It looked gorgeous and is very likely to remain the best and most refined pizza I’ll eat for the foreseeable future.

My chum chose an established Fatto a Mano favourite the Capricciosa. A great all-round pizza with plenty of toppings, including ham, salame Napoli, mushrooms,

artichokes, black olives, resulting in a satisfying salty bite.

Both pizzas had a excellent slight char to their bases which had been kissed by the flames of the hefty traditional pizza oven.

My goodwill to my hardworking NHS friend didn’t stretch as far as letting her order the tiramisu, which was light, and had a stronger coffee taste than most, the nurse instead chose the Fattobon gelato sandwich, a biscotti and stracciatella gelato which is almost certainly the best and most refined choc ice she’ll eat for the foreseeable future.

Viva Fatto a Mano we’ll undoubtedly see you again before the summer is out.