Klausen Burger (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Bine. Bre. Cie faci. Aratam cecele. Ciuperci.

That’s a short demonstration of useful phrases in Romania, or at least those that we’ve learned. There’s also a phrase for thank you, which I have tried to learn and remember on many occasions, but for some reason, it just hasn’t stuck as much as “aratam cecele” (which, at numerous points during the trip, meant “hello”, “how’s it going”, or a “traditional vegetarian dish with fried aubergines”)

The whole trip began for me at 4am on Friday morning, 10th of June. I woke up to catch a train to Liverpool, from where, surprisingly, there’s a direct flight to Cluj-Napoca with Blue Air, a Romanian low-cost airliner. Slightly worried what that might mean, I was positively surprised and the whole journey went perfect (though we had a initial delay, which was due to (quoting) “heavy traffic along the way” (???(!))).

I haven’t seen any traffic jams up in the air, but perhaps that’s because I slept like a baby the whole journey. The traffic came, however, once in Cluj, where Ondro introduced me to the laws and rules of driving in Romania. It took a while, but towards the end of our stay, we had our theories about how it works. Mine was something like: "if there’s just one lane, go up to 100km/h, otherwise it's unbounded speed". But I must admit, that Juro was probably closer with: “it doesn’t matter what the number in the speed limit says, it always means "nejeb si to moc"” (couldn’t find a good enough translation in English).

Bre!

We did a bit of shopping, especially at the central market, where one could get beautifully red tomatoes (RGB 255,0,0), home made juices or cheeses that make one hungry just by looking at them. We also bought a rain poncho and some thermal underwear in Decathlon. Did we just get crazy in the middle of June? Nope. I forgot to mention our plan - to hike up to Moldoveanu, the highest peak of Romania with height 2544 metres above sea level. The temperature there gets down to about 6 degrees Celsius, not to mention the chances of rain, which even in the most optimistic forecast were 100%.

That's not where we went, but it's a good picture

The mood was positive, however, and when all 12 of us finally gathered, I realized that the team spirit and the company of a group of friends is simply the most important “item” to take with you into the mountains. Of course, Juro would object that toilet rolls should be highly considered too, but let’s not get carried away this way :-P

The whole hike was quite loosely planned, but luckily, not too little. On Friday evening, Ondro found a phone number which we nicknamed “the important number”, as the lady on the phone told us not only that the path we initially wanted to take wasn’t traversable due to too much snow, but also that the cabin Podragu (~2100m) where we wanted to sleep would not be opened till few days later! She thus advised us on alternative journey from Victoria, with a sleep-over at Cabin Turnuri (~1500m), from where a round-trip to Moldo is possible in a single, yet challenging day.

Thus the next day we got up early, split into 3 cars and after some safety instructions about emergency exits and fastening the seat belts, we took off in a rocketing speed (as per Romanian driving laws), proven by the blurry background in the following picture.

Kika’s need for speed.

The hike to Turnuri from Victoria can be managed in half a day and leads mostly through the forest, with occasional refreshing crossings of a stream. You’re likely to meet a salamander, walk by an (open) entrance to old abandoned mine, or find food along the way, although not everyone is able to appreciate the “good protein” as much as Juro.

Good protein

At Turnuri, it’s small but cozy and beautifully natural. Mountain peaks all around, water from the nearby stream, donkeys used to carry food or (most importantly) beer and toilet sheds with a hole large enough to make your everyday need a feared experience (ok, the last thing was a bit less beautifully natural).

Scenery at Turnuri

We came to the cabin quite hungry and I’d like to dedicate this paragraph to an activity called “zajesť si”, which can loosely be translated as “snack on food with the greatest joy imaginable”. It can sound as a synonym of “eat”, however, there’s a fundamental difference and a whole new dimension to it, especially if you do it as a team with Ondro and his brother Jano. Basically, it works like this: Ondro takes out dózičkas (food boxes) and igelitkas (bags) with amazing šmakovičkies (unimaginably tasty goods). Jano than says: “Ondro, nože odvaľ (cut off a giant piece) from that klobása (sausage) and naváľaj (keep cutting off giant pieces) the cheese!”. So Ondro does, addding in e.g. “slanina? Mmmm?” (how about some delicious bacon, my friend?). Finally, you'd say you eat the food, however, that's not the right term. What you do is "zničiť" (destroy) it.

All kinds of šmakovičkies

That night we slept like šproty in a can (i.e. like dead, but also in a similar density) and soon Mišo was hailing a beautiful morning at something like 5:30am. The "wohoo" moment lasted, however, only till we got ready. 100% chance is 100%, and already the first steps from the cabin were in rain. For me, it was a new experience as I have never hiked up in the mountains in a rainy day like that. However, it did not ruin our spirit, and although some of us turned around a couple of kilometres before the peak, it was still a very enjoyable hike, with a bit of added fear for life at the “exposed passages”.

Before setting off for the hike to the peak

Shelter at cabin Podragu

Exposed passages undertaken by the first group

Clouds opened up at times to reveal beautiful valleys around

The next day started, but this time also continued, with a beautiful weather and we all stood on our tiptoes to catch the first morning sun rays peeking in from behind the mountain. Getting down, I’ve learnt two new important hike songs - one about sun and one about children of Soviet Union, which, combined with “Nepi Jano nepi vodu” made up for a pretty enjoyable musical experience for everybody around, I’m absolutely sure.

Next day morning

Another positive experience came a bit later, when we found an amazing restaurant half an hour drive from Fagaras by using "OK Google: restaurant" (although first attempts of Ondro led him, for some reason, to Vietnam). For the similar price as one would barely get a single main dish in UK, I got a brilliant soup, large main dish (half saved to dózička), a beer, pancake and a coffee.

After the feast, 5 of our comrade pioneers forked off and left back home. The rest of us decided to have a bit of exploring around the region and aimed for the city of Brasov. It was not much we’ve done there, other than scaring a fleck of pigeons, interviewing European Central Bank or playing around with AV mode on my camera, but was certainly a nice day :)

Coming back to Cluj, we’ve reunited with Ondro, and went for a “Viking dinner”. Here, yet again, a portion exceeding our capabilities was brought to us. More interesting was, however, the waitress. I couldn’t help it, but when you come from UK, where everyone forces a smile and super-excited cheers-mate-excellent-good-one! behaviour, even if all you've accomplished is literally a shit on toilet, I couldn’t but appreciate that this lady was simply “authentic”. She was not rude or in any other way ruining our experience - not at all. She was simply busy and doing her job efficiently. Her behaviour was a polite one, yet a reflection of the situation. And I say - why not? In those moments, if you get a smile, you know you’ve deserved it (and we got one :)).

The Viking dinner

What we probably did not deserve, however, was a Lei or two for our busking attempt down the road. On the other hand, that was not the goal either and we were pretty happy with just enjoying the night and shouting some weird hockey commentary from 2002.

The rest of the comrades left Cluj the following morning and I stayed two more days with Ondro, before heading off to Brussels to see my sister. I was working remotely, so we could say the trip was finished. This blog post, however, isn't, as, quite obviously, it misses a mention of pizza. All right, I agree I should make a separate blog and keep this one for pizza fans (if any).

On Wednesday evening, I went to meet Ondro in the office. He was just finishing off work and we went out for a soup to nearby place (coincidentally called something like Moldovaneau). Dorin joined a few minutes later and soon him and Ondro were discussing which place to go to. They agreed on Klausen Burger, a nice place with a restaurant/bar on the roof, which fitted great the sunny evening. The only worry was their mischievous smiles when they told me they will let me experience a Romanian tradition there, and that it's a must. Well, if it's a must...

Up in Klausen Burger it was almost full as Romania was playing a match in the Euro finals. Fortunately (unfortunately?), screens were not visible from some tables and those were thus free. We sat down and ordered a beer, examining the menu. Quite a few to choose from, and with some surprisingly Italian ingredients. Ondro, for example, went for Pizza Gorgonzola, which, other than the blue cheese, featured also prosciutto crudo, mushrooms and rucola, a very nice looking combination. I decided to choose something conventional, and ended up with Diavola - salami, onions and chillies, of course.

I made a quick visit to bathroom and when I came back - nothing. Hey, not even the beer! "Ah, the waitress came and she accidentally spilled it", Dorin and Ondro unashamedly lied :) . Well, so that's the tradition than (though, as I found out, it's only Romanian tradition in Rubrikk). Never mind, having drunk all my beer, they soon needed to excuse themselves and there was a time to pay back. Sooner or later, the business potential of this tradition dawned on me! It makes people drink more beer in less time - a dream of every pub. At least we were in Romania, where beer still costs reasonable money :) .

A bit later, the pizzas came (Dorin had pasta) and we smiled for the picture. Then we "destroyed" them. They were good. That's it.

By now, you've probably guessed correctly that this was merely an excuse to write this blog post about our trip, as I have no other suitable blog :- ) . However, that would not be fair to Klausen Burger. It really is a place worth paying a visit when you are in Cluj. The staff is friendly, views amazing, beer is beer and the pizzas - were actually very good! Quite crunchy, well baked (perhaps up to the slightly undercooked bottom), and most importantly tasty.

Chill in the Central park in Cluj

As on many other occasions in Romania, I can say I was simply surprised - in a positive way. Did I just have low expectations? Maybe yes, Romania is more developed than I had thought. But that's not what I came to like it for. Arriving from UK, I found it more relaxed, without too many rules, and much, much more authentic. Ondro would make fun of it, e.g. when he'd see unfinished piece of pavement ("Botond, you call this "shithole", Fero calls it "authentic""), and of course, I've spent there only a week so I can't say how would it be to live there. However, I felt good in Romania, and I believe that at the end of the day - that's what counts.

Dough - 7
Ingredients - 8
Sauce - 7
Pizza atmosphere - 7
Atmosphere - 9
Service - 10

PS: Bit thanks to Ondro for organizing trip, lending me thousand things I couldn't bring in hand luggage and hosting me at his place :-)

Il Galeone (Stupava)

It was late April 2016 and the wind was still cold in Cardiff, though the sun would pop out from behind the clouds much more often these days. With a smile on my face, I now recall the time I was writing my blog post about Real Italian Pizza in Cardiff from October, where I talk about the nice weather and sun we were enjoyed up till that time and naively added "Perhaps the "lousy UK weather" is just a myth? Or we're just lucky?" .

HAHA. Guess who was reading your post Fero? That's right, Mr. Rain and Mr. Wind. Yeah, there they were, one day sitting in their house, feet on the table in front of the fireplace (not sure if they have one), reading ferovpizzaquest and laughing in that typical mischief sinister type of laugh. They would have kept on laughing, had it not been for knocks on the main door. Silence felt on them as Mr. Wind mustered the courage and went to open the door. And there they were: Barney, Henry, Katie and many other Misters and Misses storms of the past winter, about to perform in their full glory.

All right, it was not so bad, but it was one of the worst winters in Wales for past X years and I've had enough of rain. Thus I was really looking forward for some real spring in Slovakia, but most of all, for my family and friends.

As I have mentioned before, the journey from Cardiff to Slovakia is not the easiest and if you want to do it inexpensively, you have to plan ahead. So I did, buying everything in advance, including airport bus, plane tickets and trains in Slovakia. Time is precious, vacation days not many, and so the plan is tight.

Zleteli orly z Tatry, tiahnu nad Podolia...

Unfortunately, I also mentioned (in some blog post) that statistically, you're bound to experience problems when travelling. It might be 5%, it might be 10% of your travels - whatever it is, my time came this time and as a very unfortunate first link of the journey. The bus to the airport came just 15 minutes late to the place of departure, which would be fine. However, the rules in UK say that the driver must have a minimum legal break before continuing driving and so I was told to make my own way and try to ask for a refund afterwards. Well, not that I would have much options to choose from - either I stay home, or I take a taxi for the 1 hour ride. So I did, with a naive hope that National Express would reimburse the price (about the same as the price of all the other tickets added up). No miracles, all I managed was a refund of the original bus ticket, after about 20 minutes of haggling with the customer service and (eventually) talking with the manager. So two advises for you, dear readers:

Better than pizzas! Fazulovica & lokše from Teta Marta

1. Allow more time before the flight, if you can at all. The worst you risk is having some more time for yourself and the book you've meant to read for ages.
2. If you talk to customer service, don't give up, and if nothing works with the person you talk to, ask for the manager.

Anyway, all was perfectly worth it when I met consecutively friend from Erasmus Matus in Kosice, my grandma and aunt in Vazec, cousin Rasto with his family in Poprad and my parents and friends in Bratislava. Home is simply home :-)

On Saturday, me and my parents went out for a short hike in Male Karpaty, which, as the name translation suggests, is really just a small mountain range. However, there's beautiful and peaceful nature and many options for hiking with interesting stopping points. We've walked just a small fraction near Lozorno, to Cerveny Domcek ("Red House"), not meeting a single soul along the way, except for the few glimpses of a deer in the forest. Lenka would be probably worried when reading this that I'd ditch my normal life society for a cottage in the middle of nowhere.. No worries, not YET :-P), but there just is something about being in the nature, just by yourself for a while..

Just as well, there is something about going for a nice pizza afterwards :-) . And since there is a recently opened place in Stupava, which boasts of "real Neapolitan pizzas" and an Italian chef, my pizza hunting rifle took on an easy next target in the scope.

The place is a rather inconspicuous one, based in a large house in Stupava's centre. That induced quite homely atmosphere underlined by the large oven with fire by the kitchen. But I was mostly interested in the menu - what kind of level of "real Neapolitan pizzas" are we talking about :)

I must say that Il Galone offers quite a range of pizzas and ingredients. You'd find the standard not-so-much-Italian topped pizzas that are common in Slovakia, yet are still featuring Neapolitan base and for a great price (starting as low as 3.5 euros). Bit more up the ladder would be ones featuring Italian this or parmigiana that and if you're ready to spend around 10 euros, you can go for some of the specialities with Buffala, rocket or Parma ham.

We decided to one spicy option with Italian salami, then Quatro Staggioni and a plain Marinara, just to get a better idea of the dough and the sauce. Then we moved on to observe the process. First order made, then ticket printed, pinned to the board.. After 2 minutes, the chef came from the kitchen with a box of what I guessed was mozzarella. Read the ticket, stretched the dough, topped it. Someone came to ask him something. The bases were on the desk for some time and when he started to get them on the peel, they were already sticky. He tried several times, eventually succeeded and not much longer, our pizzas were being taken out. At that point I came to have a closer look and said hello. And although we hardly exchanged few words, I got the idea - this is a friendly guy who likes what he does.

Ehm. If you've just glossed over the last sentence without appropriate few minute pause in which you'd stare in disbelief at the screen, please go back and re-read. You see, dear readers. A friendly chap who simply likes to make pizzas is just not that common type of pizza-chef character. Sure, you could find a "Easy peasy, I'll make your pizzas in 3 minutes" guy (in reality 10 minutes), a "get ready for the best pizza in Africa" guy (true story) or a one of the many other variations of "Bam! This flour is 12% protein and I made that pizza, I made that menu, I built this house and cheers have a nice day, but I'm a macho" type of guy. Perhaps I spoke too little with the chef in Il Galone, but I was definitely positively surprised :)

And as for the pizzas themselves? Well, although they won't top my list, we've enjoyed them very much. The edges were round, puffy and quite as I imagined they would be on a Neapolitan pizza. The sauce was also very nice (though not one I'd wake up craving for in the middle of the night). And ingredients fresh, abundant (especially on the 4 seasons pizza) and tasty, though I expected something more from the "Italian salami" on our spicy pizza. However, we happily finished off everything and kind of agreed, that the basic Marinara was the best, after all, which is a good sign of the dough and sauce quality.

And though we were full, we did have a space for one more home made Tiramisu - and a happy birthday song : -) .

Whether you decide to go for a walk in Male Karpaty and feel hungry afterwards, or just fancy a nice, not-co-common-in-Slovakia pizza, you won't go wrong stopping by in Stupava. Neapolitan pizzas, homely Slovak atmosphere and a successful pizza hunt.

Dough - 8
Ingredients - 8
Sauce - 8
Atmosphere - 7
Service - 8

Delirio Culinario (Luxembourg)

I was on my way back to Newport from the Christmas holidays, which I'd spent in Slovakia. It was one of the warmest ends of the year in the recent history and so the Christmas lacked the white touch from the songs and fairy tales. In fact, it was quite the opposite. In Vazec, the village where my grandma lives, the temperatures reached beyond 13 degrees, the sun was shining and there was even a story of a man who found a blooming flower in the forest. Yet it's the same village where me and my sister used to build igloos and snow shelters in the early winter, in the beautiful unique atmosphere where snow and cold makes everything peaceful (not that it's busy other times in Vazec), as if covered with a duvet provided by mother nature.

But coming back from my poetic mood, this (as many recent) year was quite different, with at least an interesting inversion that also had its magic.

Me and my father on Marianska hora. Above the clouds - 14 degrees, below the clouds, 0.

All the same, the snow finally came on 4th of January, just when I was about to set off for the two day journey "home". One reason why this took so long was that the post (as well as pre) Christmas time is very busy and expensive, but also that Bratislava-Newport is not exactly a frequent direct flight link (who knows why).

But the main reason was that I planned a stop in Luxembourg, to visit two friends - the old-school pizza hunter and korbič Lubo who's raking and shovelling Euros in the EIB bank and the next Einstein from AIMS, Cyrille, who's currently studying the financial shovels and rakes at the university. Since I'd like this blog to have an educative touch, I provide a picture of the tools Lubo and Cyrille use.

As you can see clearly from the picture, the rake at the left is more suitable for investments at Bachelier markets. The other is better for pizzas.

If Newport is difficult to reach from Bratislava, it does not get much better for Luxembourg. Fortunately, rome2rio and similar websites make impossible possible these days, and so I managed to get off in Luxembourg only after 24 hours of travelling, including a bus to Vienna, one hour walk for interchange, a bus to Munich, midnight change for another bus to Saarbrucken, failed attempt at hitch-hiking and a car share to Luxembourg.

There, it took another couple of trains and I soon greeted Cyrille in the small village of Dudelange, at the outskirts of Luxembourg. He was the first person from AIMS I've seen since I left, and so it was really nice to bring back the memories, or practice the snap-fingers-handshake.

We later caught up with Lubo in the city centre, and although Luxembourg is not a place famous for pizzas, it would simply be shame not to put it on my pizza hunt map while being there. Plus we were hungry.

We aimed for the place called Delirio Culinario, one that I'd found on the internet when searching for the best pizzeria in Luxembourg. The name sounds Italian, the reviews on Trip Advisor were excellent - a guaranteed gem and successful pizza hunt, right? And "delirio", hm, that sounds like an authentic Napoli car-honk stressy-messy hustle-bustle cucina! Well, not exactly.

There's more ingredients to a great pizza hunt, and I think the one that I missed the most was one often underestimated - the atmosphere. Here, the light was dim, music low, waiters extremely professional and polite. Yeah, that's all great and Delirio did nothing wrong in this respect. But for me, it was simply too posh and if I took off points for atmosphere in my pizzeria in Cardiff as it seemed a bit too "normal", it looks like a wild jungle with Tarzans compared to Delirio. True, it was a quite evening in Luxembourg, but I just missed some liveliness.

On the other hand, I must commend on the professionalism of the waiters who could serve and do their work quite "invisibly", i.e. without much disturbance, which might suit some customers (especially, I believe, those that Delirio aims for), although I like more relaxed atmosphere with an occasional joke.

Back to the previous hand, the pizzas took a bit long to prepare, considering the restaurant was almost empty. But having been in a similar situation myself, I understand that on a quiet evening it's pointless to keep more chefs, and a single chef will simply take a bit longer to do the work.

Sorrentina

After the roughly 20 minutes of waiting, the pizzas arrived and it was clear straight away our hunger will lose the game - they were definitely bigger then standard pizzas. On the other hand, it was also clear they were not in a wood-fired oven, as the texture of the crust was not one that would make you jump with excitement and write poems about it (I mean, I don't do that in case you're wondering). But then, the restaurant did not say so.

Mine was Sorrentina, a quite salty and spicy pizza with anchovies, capres and fresh peppers, among others. Again, it was my choice, but it was bit of a fight to eat the whole pie and I thought I'd be breathing fire at the end. At one point I simply no longer felt what I eat, a bit similar experience as with the blue-cheese pizza I've had in 2013 in Slovakia.

4 Stagioni

Lubo opted for 4 Stagioni and we advised Cyrille on Siciliana, with aubergines, capres, parmesan and (funnily) also breadcrumbs. We all agreed, however, that the crust was a bit too dry, sauce was nothing special (again, no poems) and overall, the pizzas were somewhere in the grey average (and that's including Cyrille, who's only had experience with supermarket pizzas so far!).

Siciliana

All in all - what's to say. Delirio is a high quality restaurant with a professional staff and, I'm sure, a very good cuisine. But if you want a mind blowing pizza, you'd have to go elsewhere, or order Sorrentina with triple fresh peppers (but then get ready, it will really literally blow your mind away).

Visiting Luxembourg however paid off and I am really happy I've seen you guys and that you're doing well.

Handshake aaand.. snap!

Dough - 6
Ingredients - 9
Sauce - 6
Atmosphere - 4
Service - 8

Primo Amore, again! (Bratislava, Slovakia)

It's been more then two years now since I visited Primo Amore on that memorable July day when I discovered Maurizio, the pizza that I positively liked the most since I've started this pizza quest. During this two year gap, however, I've hunted for a perfect pizza in 10 other countries (!) and I couldn't help that creeping feeling of doubt slowly entering my conscience like a snake preparing to snatch its prey at the late autumn dusk in the middle of Sahara's oasis full of lush vegetation.. I mean, I simply got doubts.

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.

But let's get back to the pizza hunt. Me, mum and dad went for a stroll and I tried to paint them the picture of a perfect, real Italian pizza waiting for them that evening. My dad responded in his typical way - he said he likes the frozen one from Kaufland baked in a micro with strips of extra bacon. Coming from Zahorie (literally "over the hills"), he decided to call it Real-Over-The-Hill-Pizza :-) Mum was trying to show more enthusiasm, but in the end her mum instinct would prevail and she'd start asking things like if I would like to take some tomatoes with me back to Cardiff. Well, you won't change your parents I guess :-)

When we came to Primo Amore, however, it dawned on me - it's Sunday! It's easy to lose track of time, especially now when I work irregularly and weekends tend to be my busiest work days. Thus we strolled a bit more and went home to get some real-over-the-hill pizza. It was good, I must say :), but we still agreed to come back the next day for lunch.

I booked a table for half past noon and when I came, mum was already there. We ordered two pizzas. Maurizio (with the amazing mushrooms. Hmm, I am not sure of the English translations of "Dubáky" mushrooms, but its referred to as "summer cep", see wikipedia), of course, plus a Margherita with extra parmigiano, which was part of the lunch menu. Dad came a short while after and then... moment of suspense... tramtadadaaa! The pizzas!!! (am I weird?)

I was really curious about Maurizio and went for a slice straight away. And it was.. great! But was it the best? Not sure any more, it was definitely not the same "victory" feeling I had in July 2013. One reason was probably that there was not so many mushrooms this time (neither parmigiano), and thus the pizza lacked the intense aroma which charmed me the first time. Further, I've noticed the sauce, which was great too, but I now remember having better, e.g. in Stockholm, or in the Real Italian Pizza Company, where I currently work. On the other hand, I still loved the dough and the crust, and the combination of the tasty and quality toppings. All in all, I am sure this is amongst the best pizzas I've had, and if I had to choose one, I perhaps would point my finger at Maurizio...

Maurizio on the bottom.

However, the best pizza is still probably waiting somewhere out there, and might be the combination of what I've seen and tasted so far. I really loved the crunchy crust in Dough Roller in US, the rich sauce in Birkastan's in Stockholm or the unique shape of the pizzas, as well as the atmosphere in Berlin's Pomodorino. But then, that's the beauty of hunting for the best pizza, you always get to find something new, experience a new favourite taste, or simply have an great time with your co-hunters.

Like I did this time. Thanks, mum and dad :-)


PS:
Dough - 10
Ingredients - 9 (1 point less for slightly smaller quantity)
Sauce - 8
Atmosphere - 8
Service - 9

Real Italian Pizza Company (Cardiff, UK)

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?

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 :-) .

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?

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!" :-)

Paola and me

Chocolate fudge cake with ice cream

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