Our story
Made properly,
or not at all.
There is no secret to Neapolitan pizza. There is only doing each small thing well, and refusing to hurry the parts that cannot be hurried.
01
The dough
A short recipe and a long wait.
Neapolitan dough is four things: finely milled flour, water, salt and yeast. There is nothing to hide behind and nothing to add. What separates one pizza from another is almost entirely what happens in the hours before it is cooked.
Proved slowly, the dough develops the structure that gives a Neapolitan base its character — a thin, soft centre and a cornicione full of air. Rushed, it is just bread. It is the least visible part of the process and the part that matters most.
02
The oven
Sixty seconds, and then it is gone.
A wood-fired oven runs far hotter than a domestic one — hot enough that a pizza is finished in about a minute. That speed is the point: the base sets before the toppings can weep, and the leopard-spotting on the crust comes from heat, not time.
It also means there is no second chance. The pizza is turned by hand, watched, and pulled at exactly the moment it is right. Everything before the oven is preparation; the oven itself is judgement.
03
The ingredients
Italy does some things better. We let it.
Fior di latte and buffalo mozzarella. Grana Padano and gorgonzola d.o.p. Burrata from Puglia. San Marzano tomatoes. These are not marketing words — they are the things on our menu, chosen because the difference is on the plate.
Sauces are built in the pan rather than poured from one. Bread comes out of our own oven. The bruschetta board that arrives at your table was cut and dressed a few minutes earlier, which is the only way it is worth eating.
04
The room
Dereham, not Naples. That is fine.
We are on the High Street in the middle of Dereham, sixteen miles west of Norwich. The room is warm and quiet, built for long dinners and for the Tuesday evening when you cannot face cooking.
You do not need an occasion. Two of you at the window with a Margherita and a glass of something is exactly what the place is for.
Come and eat
The rest is best explained at the table.
30–32 High Street, Dereham · 01362 601090