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Please note, Firezza has now closed. Time Out Food editors, May 2019.
Bike-bound heroes Deliveroo might have turned your fave eateries into takeaways, but it’s rare that a take-out joint becomes a decent sit-in spot. That’s what’s happened with Firezza, though, which has just opened its first ‘proper’ restaurant on Soho’s Dean Street – a punchy move considering the competition from nearby Princi, Pizza Pilgrims, Franco Manca, MOD and so on. First impressions are good. The room is a snazzy space, wood-clad with plants and planks hanging from the ceiling, and higgledy-piggledy Italian posters on the walls. So far, so roll-out-ready.
Takeaway-wise, Firezza’s pizzas are a cut above standard delivery pies. Here, it’s sensibly stuck with a tried-and-trusted selection, only shaking up the formula by offering metre-long versions. I sampled four and all were excellent. First up, two specials. The tutta bufala, topped with buffalo salami, buffalo mozzarella and basil, was a perfect mish-mash of good ingredients on an excellently chewy Roman-style thin base. Then, a patate, festooned with sliced roast potato (carbs on carbs = obvs good), sweet red onion, fresh rosemary and taleggio cheese. Let it be known that taleggio – sweet, sharp, tangy – is a truly underrated pizza cheese. The Firezza go-to of the piccante, strewn with ’nduja, pepperoni and red chilli, was as good as it’s ever tasted after a night on the sauce (or with a raging hangover); while a salsiccia – served white, with Sicilian sausage, friarelli broccoli and garlic – was a fine example of a classic pizza. It didn’t quite pip that served by Theo’s in Camberwell – theirs is a bucket-list dish – but it was absolutely respectable.
There’s a smattering of antipasti and a couple of dolce available, but these feel like an aside. Firezza’s remit is pizza all the way, and it rolls with the best of ’em.