Donna Margherita

Donna Margherita clapham battersea sw11 london

http://www.donna-margherita.com

Donna Margherita: The long and winding road. [invite to review ...

I do spend abit of time taking pictures of the food with every meal just to get a really good shot, all just for a blog post.

I was served the margherita (tomato & mozzarella & fresh basil ) on first visit (£5.90) and on my 2nd visit, I tried the Marinara (tomato, garlic and oregano £5.50) and the San daniele (parma ham, tomato, parmesan £7.95).

Its very difficult to call, both pizza bases are very good indeed, but I may just give it to FM for better flavour and more chewiness and bounce as well as an overall wow factor.

FM’s wow factor and big flavours, as well as the sizzling heat it is served with makes it akin to a classic Penfolds vintage, everybody will be in agreement that it’s a great pizza.

With DM, its silkier, its more subtle, its juicier, its more fragrant, its mellow, its abit more complex and like a great bottle of Nuits St Georges (erm, Im leaning toward David Duband), I could stick a straw in and drink in any day and any night.

Review: Donna Margherita | English Luxury Brands

IT WAS only last autumn that I finally visited Naples for the first time, sampling some of the finest cuisine the Campania region had to offer, from speciality seafood pasta dishes to exemplary Neapolitan pizzas , washed down with exquisite ‘Lacryma Christi’ wine made on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.

Opened in 2003, Donna Margherita on Lavender Hill is a typically unassuming neighbourhood Italian which imports its (mostly organic) ingredients directly from southern Italy, establishing a menu that is so faithful to its homeland that the venue has become increasingly popular with Italian expatriates, many of whom were dining there when I visited on a cold Monday night in March.

Shelves brim with vino bottles and speciality Italian foods such as olive oils, breads and pastas, which are available to purchase for any customer wanting to take a taste of the place home.

To ensure that I enjoyed a comprehensive sample of the restaurant’s menu I took the dégustation option which covered many of Donna Margherita’s signature dishes.

There aren’t many Italian restaurants around which attain this standard of evocativeness and consistency from the outset of the meal.

Donna Margherita delivery from Lavender Hill - Order with Deliveroo

Donna Margherita restaurant review 2009 July London | Italian ...

In the elusive search for the “best pizza in London” a couple of names usually pop up in foodie circles: Franco Manca in Brixton Market and Donna Margherita in Battersea.

The pizza base was fairly thin, reasonably puffed up and was cooked fine, but the base was not as airy an ideal pizza should be (I wonder just how hot the oven really gets here).

We tried three different pizzas between us, and I did not get any sense that the toppings we tried were the result of any careful research into sourcing (again compare and contrast with Franco Manca).

I found the garlic bread actually to be the best thing we ate here by some margin, and the quality of this is why I am puzzled by the ordinariness of the pizza itself.

Certainly the pizza was better than those served in restaurant chains, but I actually prefer the pizza at my local Tarantella (another place with a pizza chef from Naples) to this, while to evoke comparison with the superb Franco Manca pizzas seems absurd to me based on my visit.

Donna Margherita - Battersea Pizzeria with an authentic Naples Pizza

The next year we made friends with an Italian young woman called Tina and her cousin Etta, who invited us to stay at their summer apartment which was built on the rocks above the sea between Minori and Amalfi.

Sipping a chilled glass of Prosecco and nibbling on amazing olives at Donna Margherita brought all that back to me, not least as the table behind us was occupied by a group of Italians talking and laughing in Italian as they shared a meal.

I had gone to Donna Margherita’s with good intentions to order the steamed mussels, and then sea bass in crazy water, but the staff were keen to show us the range of Neopolitan dishes that the kitchen can produce and had chosen our dishes for us.

One of my favourite dishes was served next, aubergine parmigiana with mozzarella.

We were then presented with the perfect Margherita pizza, a dish synonymous with Naples.

Donna Margherita | Restaurants in Clapham Junction, London

With its faded awning and ramshackle roadside terrace seating, you might not give Donna Margherita a second glance.

Then again, you might note that the place is remarkably buzzy; on a sunny day the terrace is often packed.

Wander in, order the eponymous pizza, and all will be clear.

Gabriele Vitale and his brothers take great Neapolitan pride in the warmth of their native land’s cuisine, importing essential ingredients from Naples and crafting wood-fired oven pizzas (and cones, and calzones) to rival any in London, with terrific, chewy but bubbly and charred-edge sourdough crusts.

Animated Italian families, locals and young professionals clearly appreciate the authentic food, warmth and internal decor; with your back to the road you might be in a backstreet trattoria in Naples.