Nancy Silverton is the reason you eat sourdough.
It was her pioneering LaBrea Bakery that first popularised it back in the ’90s, and since then she’s become a legend in her own lifetime, opening restaurants, starring in Chef’s Table, and winning more awards than we can list. It almost goes without saying that she has a Michelin Star.
And now, at long last, she’s opened a restaurant in London.
This is Pizzeria Mozza. There are two others in California, but this one’s just off Oxford Circus, at the base of the Treehouse Hotel. It’s all very Italian on the inside, with a stone tile floor, some smartly red-striped banquettes, and a polished marble bar lined with azure-blue leather seats – the kind that make you want to sit at the counter.
On the menu there are all the Pizzeria Mozza classics with their characteristically well-structured crusts. Toppings include the likes of courgette blossoms with burrata; fennel sausage with fior di latte mozzarella & red onions; and a ‘PLT’ with smoked pancetta, onion cream, guanciale, and aioli.
Alongside all of that, there are smaller appetite-fulfillers like shrimp with melon, mint, plus chilli & lime vinaigrette; marinated baby peppers with tuna; and Nancy’s Chopped Salad, recipes for which you’ll find scattered all over the internet. And for dessert? There’s a delightful thing called a ‘Banana Gelato Pie’.
Drinks-wise, the people behind that bar are furnishing you with a wholllle lot of Italian wine, plus house cocktails like the Sicilian Highball (vodka, almond, cherry & red wine), and the Mozza Martini, which blends olive-infused gin with olive brine, basil, vermouth, and olive brine oil.
It’s dirty.
NOTE: Pizzeria Mozza is open now. You can check out their website, and make a booking right HERE.
Pizzeria Mozza | 14-15 Langham Place, W1B 2QS
While you’re in the area… here are the best restaurants in Oxford Street