Pasqualinos: possibly the best pizza in Newcastle..

A couple months ago I dragged the guys from Precept along to Pasqalinos’ first birthday party, to sample their amazing pizza for the first time since their refurb. With a four tonne Woodstone oven, the press release for the event had boasted the best pizzas in toon. Naturally I thought the guys would be pretty good critics and they definitely weren’t disappointed. Having already sampled a few slices that night, you can imagine how keen I when I got invited to review the menu properly and dragged Justine along for the ride…

After spending a disproportionately long time talking instead of looking at the menu, Justine and I decided to opt for garlic bread with cheese while we continued to browse the menu (probably not the greatest idea when we knew we’d both be ordering pizzas for our main courses!) We also opted for the bocconocini buffalo mozzarella salad with Gaeta olives, fine beans, crunchy walnut, white onion compote and watercress, to share. Since Justine is a veggie, we decided to both choose vegetarian options so that we could just share it all. And since I’m not the biggest eater, it made more sense that we ordered options we could both pick at. After a lot of indecision, we finally chose the Pizza Joel, consisting of San Marzano tomatoes, ricotta, brocolli, chilli and toasted pinenuts (£6.95) and the Pizza Coco, topped with San Marzano tomatoes, cherry tomato, buffalo mozzarella, Kalamta olives, hazelnut pesto and fresh basil.

With thin and crispy bases and puffed up crusts (which kinda makes them look thicker than they were), the pizzas could be straight from an Italian American pizzeria. Although they came with plenty of toppings, they were were rich without being too sickly. Cooked in the Woodstone oven reaching 900 degrees fahrenheit, the pizzas arrive quickly and packed with flavour. The idea behind cooking them in such high temperatures (so we were informed) is to lock in as much taste from their fresh ingredients. And with both of making a good effort to try and clear our plates, we can certainly vouch for them – so much so that although I was technically supposed to be working, I actually forgot to take notes so had to steal a menu on our way out! Although our sides were splitting, we could resist ordering desserts. On our waiters recommendation Justine decided to try the apricot and almond cake with vanilla ice cream, and I opted for one of my favourites, creme brulée which was served with a plum compote and homemade almond biscuit. Unbelievable. It was the first time I’d tried creme brulée with compote so I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it’s a delicious twist on a classic dessert. And by the time we’d polished those off, we were pretty much ready to be rolled out of the restaurant.

dress: Urban Outfitters