Baked pizza al taglio

Glasgow

OK, they don’t have the pizza that our kids always used to have in Italy. That would be the wurstel and patatine or hot dog and chips. Hey, don’t laugh it’s hugely popular over there. But they do have potato and rosemary. So we immediately order four slices of what is a family favourite.

It’s usually the last piece of Italian food we eat in Italy every summer as we stop off at one of the once-great-now-sadly-not-so-good Autogrills that line the autostrade before the culinary bleakness of Switzerland.

We order tonight, too, a few squares of Calabrian sausage and onion; a prosciutto, straciatella and fig jam; pear and gorgonzola.

Delight is probably the best way to describe our first reaction to a pizza al taglio take-away-with-seats opening in Glasgow’s east end. On Duke Street, in fact, just opposite Tennent's Brewery.

Surprise is probably our second reaction. Why? Witness this. We gaze at the plump, freshly-baked, attractive-looking squares seductively laid out on racks at the counter. We ooh and ahh over which of the many exotic toppings we’re going to have. We order what we want.

Then we gape when it turns out those squares have hard-to-notice cuts on them and actually they’re not squares at all but subdivided into long rather thin rectangles.

Aah, they’re half the size then of those that are usually served at al taglio – or by-the-slice places – in rural Italy where a euro a slice of margherita is still possible.

Part of the joy of eating there is simply to have a huge, slobbery, delicious piece of warm baked goodness in the hand. Hold hard though. Allowance has to be made here for the amount of exotic toppings, the transporting across borders, Glasgow prices and, er novelty.

And in all fairness pizza al taglio is very expensive in places like Rome’s Pizzarium Di Bonci which often tops the Italian Gambero Rosso guide. Although Baked here is based on Rome’s fashionable al taglio joints, much humbler al taglio is available the length and breadth of the country in little bakers who do nothing else but turn out trays of delicious, crusty, creamy pizza that are usually bought by weight.

The best I’ve ever had was much further north in Varese, maybe 20 years ago. I can still taste its amazing creaminess, but I remember too as a kid being with my Nonna in a small town in Molise where we arrived at an al taglio just as the pizza margherita tray came out the oven. We stood and ate them from greaseproof paper right away.

Anyway, what’s the pizza like here? It must be good, I’m thinking, because it’s 7.30pm on a Sunday night, they’re closing in a few minutes yet there’s a steady stream through the door.

And, generally, it is good. We have slices of the last baked tray from the oven. Margharita – thick, puffed up, richly crusted, maybe a little bready but undeniably fresh.

The sausage and onion that Cal and Seona share is as it should be. The potato pizza has finely sliced, crisply-edged slices but maybe lacks seasoning. There are more rectangles to taste and try, all exhibiting the Roman style of pizza toppings as art.

Maybe a bit more work on the bases, which vary in rise, but as we arrived near to closing time there was only that margharita available still hot from the bake. Better to check again when they’re in full flow.

There are two rice balls stuffed with cheese too, suppli to you and me, pre-fried and then, because the fryer is now off, reheated in an oven. Not hugely successfully.

There’s a moment of excitement at a pepperonata topped slice with actual still-rare-in-Scottish-restaurants stracchino, but it turns out to have been substituted with burrata – a less pugnacious Italian cheese. Such is life in the last orders lane. Good shout though. And different. How long now till the cult fried Neapolitan pizza fritta arrives on these shores? Make it soon please.

Baked pizza al taglio

Duke Street

Glasgow

0141 552 7208

Menu: Traditional Italian pizza by the slice. Full marks for the range of toppings, the authentic ingredients and even the authentic cans of Nuova Ricetta Oran soda. 5/5

Service; It’s self-service at the counter but friendly, chatty staff and a feel that they know there’s a bit of a buzz about the place. 4/5

Atmosphere: It ain’t Italy in the east end but nothing wrong with a plain Jane interior made reasonably comfortable. 4/5

Price: Tricky one, this, as the slices are small but then the toppings are large and the prices are OK at £2.80 for pepperoni, £3.50 for Calabrian sausage. Extremely reasonable soft drinks and dirt cheap Suppli. 4/5

Food: Get there when they’re just coming out of the oven and it’s well worth the visit. Proper Italian al taglio with great toppings, more work on the base perhaps. 7/10

24/30