Summer in Oxford feels like summer at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco -- tourist-ridden. While restaurants on the high street offered refuge from the crowds (and the unusual UK heat wave), I was craving something a bit more unique to Oxford.
Alas, there's a location in London as well. But this cozy, homey pizza restaurant certainly stood out from the dozens of chain restaurants that we had walked past earlier. The restaurant's interior, with tasteful splashes of color, feels a bit like an Italian grandmother's kitchen -- imagine shelves full of pasta boxes.
After an early morning visit to the Ashmolean Museum, we got there shortly after 12:30 p.m., which means that we had just missed the lunch rush. I doubt it would have been a problem had we decided to dine earlier, as there are plenty of tables in the restaurant. The pizzas are rectangular and come in both whole and half versions. (Buongiorno E Buonasera encourages you to order the latter so you can share.)
There's a sign somewhere in the restaurant that derides untraditional pizza -- I can't remember what pizza blasphemy it cites, but pineapple on pizza, chicken on pizza... you know the drill. As I don't eat red meat (part of me wished that they served a pizza with chicken, but c'est la vie...), I mentally prepared myself to order a margherita pizza. Which, you know, is delicious in its own right, but I wanted something a bit more daring.
I shouldn't have worried. Still authentic, the vivace pizza checked all of my boxes: tomato sauce, mozzarella, peppers, chili, and basil. An extremely filling lunch for less than £10! read more