Carmy’s

Covent Garden has always, for some indeterminate reason, felt a little like New York. Don’t ask us why! We don’t make the rules! It stands to reason then, that a New York-worthy slice shop would open here, in a grand corner building where Neal and Monmouth Street meet.

Carmy’s - a drop-in, spin-off of Islington pizza restaurant Carmela's - doesn’t just offer fast and breezy service, but a short, impeccable menu of five pizzas that range from simple, unadorned cheese slices to a potent vodka sauce, pepperoni, stracciatella, and a monster ‘loaded pep’ slice that combines almost all of the above. It’s a true feat of culinary engineering, in which a pepperoni slice is dolloped with huge splodges of fresh, creamy stracciatella and smeared with hot maple syrup (hot honey who?), yet retains its enviably thin and crispy base. Sogginess? Not even the merest suggestion.

Fridges are stocked with cans of dive bar favourite PBR, for the full American experience, and a couple of counter seats inside, though most prefer to stand by the outside tables while scoffing their slices. If a slice isn’t enough, they also sell whole pies.