Monday Munchies - New York Fold

It's no secret that Ad and I are serious pizza lovers, I mean it's a running joke in my office that Friday night, in the Thomas household in pizza night and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Even if we can't have pizza on a Friday, it'll be scheduled in for as soon as possible after.

Point being, we love pizza.

So, when I read about NY Fold, a pizzeria in London offering New York style slices of pie (as well as pasta and salads if you're that way inclined) for dirt cheap prices, Ad and I knew we needed to pay a visit.

Holy mama, would you just look at those pizzas? I mean seriously? That alone is the most inviting thing alive after having had my work Christmas party the night before.

As you can see, everything is cooked in proper pizza ovens, and there really is a wide range of options to suit every palette.

There are even sweet treats available if you were that way inclined! I didn't have the room, but you know, each to their own.

The score is simple, £3.95 a slice, £7.50 for two or just under £20 for the whole thing. We were hungry so opted for a started and two slices each. I can assure you, that was a mistake, this stuff is seriously filling.

To start, we had cheesy garlic bread dunkers which came with a choice of three sauces for dunking: tomato marinara, parsley pesto or a spicy pink sauce. It actually came with 6 dunkers but by the time I remembered to take a photo we were kinda done. The dunkers were light, super crispy, uber fluffy and the dips were divine, the pesto was my favourite. We kept these to one side for dunking our pizza.

Next, it was time for the pizza, the slices were frikken HUGE, with a starter, I reckon one slice would be enough. I mean, I really struggled and I normally hoover my food down.

We ordered quite a selection including:

Juliet: mozzarella, Gorgonzola dolce, fig jam, prosciutto crudo and a balsamic glaze

The Butcher Shoppe: bacon, pepperoni, sliced meatball, ham, pinched sausage and mozzarella

Hot Italian: Cumberland sausage, caramelised onion, roasted sweet bell peppers, hot peppers and mozzarella

Starry Hope: Mashed meatballs, caramelised onion, whipped ricotta, mozzarella and house made pesto

The pizzas were absolutely delicious, again the bases were thin and crispy (none of this deep pan rubbish) and the toppings, I thought, were really full of flavour. The Juliet especially was lovely and sweet and not at all what I was expecting. Whilst I was uber full after my meal, I didn't feel bloated which is so often the way when eating pizza out. I just felt content and full of ooey gooey cheesy goodness.

On top of this, I found the service to be brilliant, our server was full of energy, super friendly and enthusiastic and this really added to our experience here. Good service goes such a long way towards your overall enjoyment when eating out and whilst I can only write a few short sentences here, the service was really on point.

Will we be back? In two words....HELL YEAH, the pizza was awesome, the prices were insanely low and the atmosphere here was just great. Why the heck this place wasn't packed to the brim on a Saturday afternoon I have no idea, but if this means I can always get a table without having to queue (trust me, this is a luxury in London) then that suits me just fine.

Do you know of any pizza gems in London? Have you tried NY Fold yet? If not, why not!

Monday Munchies - Franco Manca

London's restaurant scene is growing so quickly, it's become somewhat difficult to keep up with the ever evolving foodie trends, pop ups and even the street vendors finally moving into permanent spaces.

One such restaurant which is expanding at a rapid pace is Franco Manca which now has 15 branches all over London.

I visited the branch in Covent Garden which, to my surprise was available right away despite being 7:00 on a Saturday. Especially given that glowing reviews this place has had from the Times and even Tattler magazine.

The menu itself is simple with just 6 different pizzas on offer and a great range of drinks, there are also specials on the board inside the restaurant if nothing on the menu takes your fancy.

Ad and I opted for a simple starter of cured meats with a very simple salad.

Ad had a number 6 pizza which had organic chorizo and mozzarella, while I had the number 4 which came with old spot ham, buffalo ricotta and mushrooms.

Both pizzas of course came on a sourdough base which has been slow rising for around 20 hours before being baked in a wood burning brick oven at 500 degrees. The appeal of sourdough is that it's apparently easier for the body to digest than your typical white bread.

The pizza was delicious, the bases were soft and chewy whilst the toppings were delightful. Ad even said the chorizo was some of the best he'd ever tasted. It was clear that Franco Manca take pride in their ingredients which have been sourced from top quality suppliers such as Neal's Yard, the Country Butcher and Scorgiano in Italy.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about our super tasty first visit was the price. Despite starters, two pizzas and alcoholic beverages, the total bill came to less than £30. Thus meaning Ad and I will be back in the not to distant future if we need something to quell our pizza cravings.

Have you been to Franco Manca? Do you enjoy sourdough?

Our Croatian Adventure - Staying in Cavtat

So I'm finally back on the blogging front. Thanks for bearing with me over the last few weeks but I do find it's good to take a break from the net every once in a while to recharge the old batteries. 

In terms of what I've been up to, well, Ad and I recently came back from our first ever trip to Croatia. I'd done some serious research prior to planning this trip (it's kinda my thing) and decided to book our stay at the Hotel Croatia in the beautiful little harbour town of Cavtat. The photo above is the view from our hotel bar so I'm hoping you can see it's appeal already!

When researching the trip, I knew we both wanted the following: to go somewhere new, to go somewhere which wasn't too touristy, go somewhere which had plenty of things to do and somewhere which had great food (of course!).

Cavtat is just a short 10-15 minute drive from Dubrovnik airport and has a population of around 2000 people making it a fairly quiet little resort. Despite being quite close to the airport, the planes don't start coming in until fairly late in the morning and finish around 9pm. The arrivals and departures are few and far enough between that you don't really notice the comings and goings all that much.

I can safely say this place isn't a tourist trap at all, I'd even go as far as to say that it's far enough off the beaten track that it regularly attracts numerous celebrities, footballers and millionaires on their super yachts who regularly make port and stay at the harbour for several days at a time. It was quite enjoyable to watch the yachts coming in as I've never seen anything like it up close.

This one in particular caused quite a stir when it arrived, apparently costing almost half a million dollars a week to charter!

Cavtat has two harbour sections on separate peninsulas which are both a short walk apart. The main harbour which I've featured above has the vast majority of Cavtat's fantastic restaurants many of which are situated right on the water front giving you a prime spot to watch the yachts come in and the sun go down.

Now, just because Cavtat is small, don't go thinking that you won't find a good spot to eat! We ate at so many great restaurants and I can honestly say, we didn't have a bad meal the entire time we were there. Most places all have a strong Italian influence with pizza, pasta and fresh seafood all featuring on most menus. Given the freshness of the seafood, it should come as little surprise to my readers that I had to have a seafood pizza. What might surprise you though is that most of our meals, including alcohol, came in at 200 Kuna or less, which is around £20.

If high dining is your thing though, then Restaurant Bugenvila, which is situated on the main strip, is definitely worth a visit. We both wolfed our way through three courses which were more than worthy of a Michelin star and several show-stopping cocktails. 

Whilst the meal came to 900 Kuna, you need to bear in mind this included three courses each, three cocktails and a large glass of beer. As it's number 1 ranked on Trip Advisor, I would strongly recommend you book in advance as this place is almost always fully booked well in advance.

If you're looking for something a little more pared back, then it's worth heading around to the second harbour where many of the locals dock their boats. Here's where you'll find even more laid back restaurants which offer local wine by the litre and a stunning spot to watch the sunset.

Another big plus for me after having eaten so much food is that are so many spots where you're free to just pop down a beach towel and dive right into the water. The water is so clear and so beautiful it's hard to resist going for a swim every day to cool down. Just bear in mind you'll be sharing the water with some fishes, don't be too startled if they brush up against you.

Cavtat really does have something for everyone, gorgeous scenery, fantastic food, beautiful crystal clear waters, spots to sit back while watching the world pass by and some piece and quiet.

If I could, I'd go back in heartbeat, after all, who wouldn't miss staring at that view every evening?

I hope you've enjoyed this post, I plan an doing some extra travel based posts on things to do in the local area which I hope will be helpful if you're planning a trip away soon!

Tuesday Tasties No 21 - Pizza Night Part 1.

This week, you're in for a treat, and a heck of a lot more photos than you may be used to on a Tuesday Tasties post. I have decided to let you in on a tradition in the Ad and Laura household, pizza night. Tonight I am going to focus on showing you how to make your own spelt flour pizza base which requires almost no kneading whatsoever. I will be taking you through it step by step so I hope you're ready.

Spelt Flour Pizza Bases

 

Obviously as well as the ingredients below, I'd recommend grabbing some pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and whatever toppings your little heart desires. I am a chorizo girl whereas Ad also pops jalapeños on his as well. You'll need:

• 200g spelt flour plus extra for dusting
• One 7g sachet of easy bake yeast
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of rosemary
• A pinch of salt
• 125ml tepid water 

Grab yourself a blender, yup, that's right a blender. I make this on a Friday night, ain't nobody got time to make proper dough on a Friday!

Bung in the tepid water and yeast and leave for around 10 minutes.

 Next add in the salt, rosemary and olive oil and give it all a swish around.

I usually pop the blade back in at this point before adding in the spelt flour. I have used other  'healthier' flours before but I've found that this works best as the mixture it produces isn't overly dry.

Next, it's time to blitz. Only keep it going until the mixture is brought together, any longer than this and you may damage the mixutre.

Next, dust your work surface with the extra flour and use a spatula to get the dough mixture out of the blender, now it's time for a very quick knead to bring everything together.

Kneading technique:

Pull the dough back on itself with your fingers like so.

 Before pushing the dough out with the heel of your hand like the below.

Repeat until you can bring the dough together, it should have some stretch and shouldn't be overly sticky.You can always add extra flour to the work surface if need be. You'll know it's ready as you can roll it into a ball like this.

You can leave it for up to 10 minutes if you like so it can prove but the beauty of spelt flour is that you really don't need to.

Stretching The Dough: 

 

Well there are two options available to you here. As you get more and more confident, you can do this by hand as demonstrated by Ad below. Rotate the dough in your hands allowing it's own weight to stretch it out.

As an alternative option,  if you're not overly confident just yet, flour up a rolling and pin and roll away.

You'll note that in both pictures we've popped baking parchment underneath the dough. This will stop it sticking to your work surface and the pizza tray.

Topping Your Pizza:

This is the fun part, I'd recommend heating your oven up to 200 degrees first. Then, top your pizza with around 1-2 tbsp of the pre-made pizza sauce. Smooth this onto the base with the back of a spoon before popping into the oven for 3 minutes before pulling it back out.

Cooking your base with just a little sauce BEFORE topping completely allows more flavour into the base and stops the pizza from going overly gooey.

Next, it's time to go crazy with the toppings. We tend to do a small layer of cheese, a layer of meat and repeat. There is a pizza underneath all that cheese somewhere!

Ad likes his with chillis whereas I like to keep things simple. For a little extra crunch I add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese but I appreciate this won't be to everyone's tastes.

Once your pizzas are topped, they will only need another 10 minutes or until they're golden on top.

Munch away!

Spelt flour is so underused, I'd really recommend giving it a go. Hope you enjoy!