A few more images of my current favourite pizzeria, as profiled in my Japan Times column on Friday...
L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele only opened at the end of January, but the Harley riders have already discovered it.
From the outside it looks a bit big and impersonal — not the compact, intimate setting of the original in Naples. But this is all that counts: the handsome blue-tiled wood-fired oven.
Inside it's bright and spacious, white tiles on the wall, retro lampshades up above, tables packed in close together.
Busy all the time, even midway through a Saturday afternoon...
The menu is short and to the point...
To start: an order of the zeppoline di alghe, pizza dough mixed with ao-nori seaweed and deep-fried in puffy one-bite balls. That's one I never saw on the menu in the old city of Napoli. No complaints, though: it's good. And the house wine, a Nero d'Avola, ain't too bad either.
But tradition rules when it comes to the pizzas: only the two official kinds are offered, Margherita and marinara, each available in two sizes — and just exactly the same dimensions as you'd get at the original da M in Naples. This was the Margherita, in the normale size.
Yes, excellent. The flour, the tomato puree, the mozzarella, everything is imported fresh (virtually daily I was told) from Naples. So good it's worth a close-up...
There's nothing fancy here. It's certainly not a place to linger, and really there's no reason to. Having eaten your pizza — and they have mandatory "one pie per person" policy — you reqlinquish your table for the people waiting in line outside. Bottom line: it's fast food, but done at a comfortable, friendly Napoli pace.
This is just the first branch (anywhere in the world) of the venerable da Michele. But judging from the reception it's getting in Ebisu (and the word I got from Maurizio, the manager), it won't be the last. Expect to see plenty more branches of da M around town before too long.
Here's the web site...
