Name: Franco Manca
Address: Third Floor, Westfield Stratford City, 2 Stratford Place, London, Stratford, E20 1EJ, UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8522 6669
Rating: 7

Franco Manca pride themselves on their slow-rising thin dough and carefully selected ingredients; there’s Old Spot ham, chorizo from Brindisa, imported Italian tomatoes, and cheese made by the owner himself. More importantly, their pizzas are delicious, therefore it’s no surprise that this mini-chain is so beloved of foodies and critics alike. Up until now their two branches were situated within Brixton’s market (incongruously sat next to a fishmongers, although this hasn’t stopped them from doing a roaring trade) and the contrasting area of Chiswick, but they are soon to open new branches in Hoxton and Covent Garden, and their most recent opening has been at Westfield in Stratford. Clearly, Londoners love a good pizza.

Their success is deserved considering the degree of care that goes into making this crowd-pleasing fast food - the dough rests for 20 hours before being cooked at extremely high heat (500 degrees), necessitating less than a minute in the oven, ideal for turning them over fast enough for the waiting queues. Before cooking the chefs stretch the dough out like an elastic band and sprinkle exactly 70g of cheese over the top without the need for scales, a feat that takes a certain amount of dedication.

The Westfield site is as one would expect any eatery within a shopping mall’s food court to be, i.e. characterless. Luckily, the pizzas are not. Chunks of minced lamb containing chopped chili are sprinkled over mozzarella and tomato, resulting in bursts of intense spice that never become overbearing. The ricotta and mozzarella is a creamy white pizza, peppered with garlicky wild mushrooms; both are less than 7 quid. The panuozzo is a slice of slightly thicker dough smothered in tomato, garlic, olive oil and liberal amounts of oregano, while the one dessert on the menu is the butter picker, a variation of tiramisu made with savoiardi, the Piemontese version of lady fingers, chocolate, coffee liquor and butter for added gloopiness. As with their other branches, there are just two organic wines on offer sourced from a vineyard in Piemonte; one white, one red (with no sulphites for the health conscious amongst you). Regardless of their setting, prices remain low and the quality has not floundered, hopefully this won’t change with their imminent expansion.

Franco Manca

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