Ambiance: | (4 / 5) |
Service: | (3.5 / 5) |
Value for money: | (4 / 5) |
Pizza: | (3 / 5) |
Toilets: | (2 / 5) |
My first solo outing took me to La Davina in Angel. I wanted to check out the area as it’d been mentioned to me at the Entrepeneur Event on Monday as a potential for MYO so, searching ‘Italians’, I found La Davina. It was a pretty easy walk from Angel Underground station, straight up the main road for 10 minutes which allowed me to check out what else was on offer on the way. And wow, Angel really has everything: Moroccan, Persian, Istanbul, Greek – who needs Soho?!
La Davina looked pretty non-descript from the outside, but the inside definitely didn’t disappoint. There was a very lively hustle and bustle, filled to the brim full of people which initially took me by surprise as there were so many other more externally impressive restaurants to choose from in such close vicinity. So, either the food must have a great reputation, or it may have been helped out by the cheap lunch-time offer of 2 courses for £8.95. I was shown to my small rickety table for 2 towards the back of La Davina and was presented with the menu. The cheap plasticky material of the menu left much to be desired, but the colossal spread of delicious sounding Italian classics more than made up for it. From researching regional Italian food, I picked out so many Neopolitan influences within La Davina’s menu, but this was the pizza taste test, so I tried to ignore other temptations. I liked the fact that all the pizzas, with the exception of the margherita, were the same price, and at a modest £8.95. I eventually settled on the Capriociosa (ham, mushrooms, olive and egg) and twenty minutes later, the pizza arrived with chilli oil, salt and pepper.
The pizza did look pretty good. They’d been generous with the toppings, and the yolk of the egg was a beautiful bright orange. On closer inspection, the egg was actually undercooked, with the white of the egg still being clear, implying it was still semi-raw. Although, I’d rather under-done than over, as long as it came without the salmonella! The ham was also disappointing, it was more like fatty, cheap lardons then decent quality ham. Anyway, the important part – the dough! I was very excited about trying this, given how authentically Neopolitan the menu, staff and restaurant seemed. It looked good, well rolled, thin and honey brown in colour. However, when biting into it, it had quite a crunch and didn’t taste brilliantly seasoned. I’d compare it slightly to eating breadsticks, which I love by the way, but maybe not in a pizza dough. Overall, the toppings made the pizza taste a lot more appetising, and I can safely say I made the right option of not choosing the margherita as I think I would have left disappointed.
Overall, I liked a lot of things about La Davina – the cool interior décor, the authenticity of the menu and the simplicity of the surroundings. Even though my pizza was disappointing, I’d still go back to try out more of the menu. And, it allowed me to discover Angel, which I hope to investigate more of sometime soon.
Recommendation (3.5 / 5)
If you want an authentic Neapolitan restaurant in the heart of London, I’d recommend La Davina as the menu definitely has something for everything and you can be guaranteed a lively, buzzy atmosphere while you dine. But, if you’re fussy with your dough, maybe don’t order a pizza!
Extra Information:
Address: 134 Upper St, London N1 1QP
Phone: 020 8616 4149
Website: http://www.ladivina.co.uk/
NTK: La Davina offers salad bread bowls which sounded and looked super yummy. You can effectively eat pizza guilt free as it’s a ‘salad’, right?!