I was playing on the street again, this time at a corner of small church in central Cardiff. The rugby was on that time, or about to start, or something like that, and I decided to use that hustling-bustling time to earn some money through busking on one of the first days of our stay in UK. The weather was nice and sunny, and I was about to write "exceptionally nice", when I realized it's been like this for almost a month now, since we came. Perhaps the "lousy UK weather" is just a myth? Or we're just lucky?
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| Cardiff Central, on a nice autumn evening |
Don't know, but I was definitely lucky on that day. Not with street playing, which went pretty bad and I felt more like practising then really playing. But with something else. Earlier that day, I had printed some CVs to hand out. It was for some time I was pondering getting a job in a pizza place, as making pizza has been my hobby for years now, intensified after the summer of 2012 in US. So I made two versions of my CV - an IT, and a pizza version :-) .
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| It worked! :-P |
I printed ten from each but before handing them out, I did the mentioned street playing. When I finished, I packed all the stuff and took off, but straight away, I noticed this place next to which I was playing. It seemed to be under construction and the name said "Real Italian Pizza Company" . Hmm... Why not?
There were several people working on the terrace, apparently finishing off the details for a nearing opening day. I approached the closest person, who, funnily enough, turned out to be the HR manager just talking with the owner. We talked briefly, I passed over one of the CVs and as if heavens wanted it that way, Richard (the HR manager) called me an hour later: "come tomorrow 12 o'clock".
And so I became a "pizza chef", although I still feel a bit too honoured being called like that. However, doing something you like is important and making pizzas has always been fun for me. And they say, the most important ingredient of a pizza is the pizzaiolo's passion for it :-)
I soon discovered that my experience from US is great, but nowhere near "enough" and I will still have loads to learn. First of all, RIPC (as I will abbreviate) is on a whole different level then the seasonal businesses I worked for in Ocean City. Most importantly, one can feel here, that the restaurant aims to provide nothing short of the best possible. Ingredients? All fresh. Spaces? All clean. The pizza is a slightly bit burned? Make a new one. And every customer, every order is important, no cutting corners, just extra something in the cases when time permits.
For me, as an employee, one big plus is the people around me. It seems that it's not only the vision of the owners to do the best job, but also those who work here. Even more importantly, the management seems to understand the importance of their employees and their happiness, an appreciated contrast with the "I'll show you who's the boss" type of attitude I met with in US.
All in all, working at RIPC is fun and even when I find a job I want in IT, I want to keep this one. After all, what can be better then take the "pala" and making beautiful pizzas in wood-fired "forno" after hours of sitting in front of a PC? :-)
But this is a pizza hunt, so let's jump into it a bit more. I have a pizza there every time, so to choose a concrete occasion, we can go for the time when Tinka came to pick me up from work. I won't be very critical, however. It does not get much better then this, I believe, and plus, you know.. I made the pizza that time :-P .
It was a colder day, and she was spending it handing out CVs around Cardiff, thus she came in quite frozen. We sat down in front of the counter, behind which two wood-fired ovens were giving a nice warm feeling to the modern interiors. I've made a Margherita with spinach and chicken and went to change quickly. Tinka and the pizza waited, although as a customer, you'd enjoy it virtually straight out of the oven. So how is it?
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| We ate the pizza too quickly and so decided to make a picture with the cheesecake instead :-) |
The crust is normally crispy but soft on the inside, and tastes great on its own. It is much thicker then the middle, but not as much and bubbly as with Napoli pizzas. As I heard, this is basically the standard with "classic" Italian pizzas, which are not super thin, as some people would think. The role of the crust is not just to provide an enjoyable plain pizza taste, or give a nice look to the pie, but also to keep the boiling sauce and ingredients in place while in the oven! I learned this the hard way after some of my early pizzas with too-little crust spilled some of their "content" into the oven, while rotating them inside :-) Anyway, the crust is simply great, mostly owing to the beautiful wood-fired ovens, which (when properly baked) adds it a nice dark shade and char, especially on the bottom.
The pizzas are first topped with sauce and grated mozzarella, followed by the rest of the ingredients. The sauce and cheese are great and tasty too, as good as it can get in UK, I believe. As for cheese, however, I heard from my Italian colleagues, the very best pizzas in Italy would have pieces of fresh, high-moisture mozzarella instead of the grated "solid" blocks, but obviously this is only possible when you don't need to import them. Plus the price in such cases would most probably sky-rocket too. All the same, you can still make an order to replace the "normal" (yet very good) mozzarella with Mozzarella Di Bufala to achieve a similar effect.
The ingredients, as mentioned already, are all fresh, meaning e.g. that the chicken was marinated and cooked on place, rather then imported ready-to-use in frozen bags. Similar for mixed peppers, mushrooms and basically everything else that can be prepared locally. This is one major thing that puts the restaurant on a higher level, and what makes the price really justified. Doing things the proper way simply takes time, effort and extra people, but pays off in long term on good reputation and stable clientèle.
There's about 30 pizzas to choose from and it took me some time to remember all of them (ok, let's be honest, I still don't know everything), plus there are pastas, salads, many starters, deserts or a beautifully arranged plate with antipasto. Actually everything is beautifully arranged and in a honest portion, as otherwise the head cook Paula would give us a "I-kill-you" scowl and say "Hey, amore, make it nice", or "Did
you pay for the cheese? Put more!" :-)
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| Paola and me |
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Chocolate fudge cake with ice cream
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RIPC is really real Italian. And that's not a tongue twister, that's a fact. It's also a honest, friendly and not really expensive place, considering UK standards and the fact it's in the middle of Cardiff. Yet, it's a place I would most likely
not visit just by strolling around. And that's perhaps the only thing I could put on the "could be improved" side. The place is newly opened and has a modern air. The pizzas are valuing traditions and Italian standards. If therefore I miss something, it's bit more homely or cozy atmosphere and a touch of originality. I guess it comes down to personal preferences - I can imagine Italians feel home here straight away :-) . But then, if you visit Brussel's Posto al Sole, or Berlin's Pomodorino, and experience their unique atmosphere, you'd understand what I mean.
But anyway, that's a very small wrinkle, plus it's certain the place will build it's own popularity and clientèle by simply doing what people come there for - the real, Italian, quality and tasty pizzas. And the work and passion of those running the place adds one more, the most vital ingredient. I can only be grateful I was given a chance to be part of that. Thanks!
Dough - 10
Ingredients - 10
Sauce - 9
Atmosphere - 8
Service - 10
And thus on 18th of October, I decided to use my brief visit back home in Bratislava to make a second visit to Primo Amore. I came back for a couple of days to pick up many things I did not want to buy in UK, and of course, to see my family and friends :-) . Although not pizza related, I must mention the interesting journey via Kosice, that really wound up great. First the surprisingly pleasant WizzAir flight from Bristol (mostly thanks to the crew) which landed something past one AM. Then a few hours nap on the sack chairs at Kosice's small, but really nice and cozy airport. A strange ride with EasyTaxi to the station at 4:30 AM (the only thing the driver said was "hrrggh"), and, finally, amazing RegioJet train from Kosice to Bratislava. All of this was low-cost and including airport transfers to/from Bristol, the return journey was just something over 100 euros. Very well worth it.
