London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Kotch!
My friend Richard had come to London for the evening to escape Norfolk, so we decided after visiting Wetherspoons for their 99p pints of real ale (well, I had that, he had decadent and expensive gins) to go for a restaurant meal. Incidentally, the evening had started off well as I discovered Richard’s hastily booked room wasn’t as large as the one I had at the Holiday Inn Express at Stratford, so that was some positive news for everyone.
Being a millennial (well, I’m not, but I pretend to myself that I am) I try to avoid using the phone, so Richard phoned up the restaurant to check if there was space. The restaurant is small and got busier as the evening progressed, so having the reservation was quite useful. The service was attentive, polite and friendly, so all positive there. The restaurant was clean and it had quite a homely feel to it. There’s a toilet at the rear of the restaurant and I’m grateful that the staff members noticed there was a problem, which was that it had locked itself, as otherwise I’d have been standing outside the door for some time waiting for a non-existent person to leave.
Richard’s pizza, which looked horrible but was apparently delicious, is at the rear, whereas the much nicer Ndjua sausage pizza of mine takes pride of place in the photo. It was cooked in a woodfire pizza oven that’s visible from the seating area, giving the food that nice blackening to the sides. The base was thin and had a decent crunch to it, with the sausage having a pleasant slightly spicy taste. I liked that there wasn’t too much cheese (unlike Richard’s cheese ridden affair) and was more tomatoey, which is all more authentic Italian in my view. Since the dough wasn’t too thick, it also meant that the meal was light and not too stodgy.
There are difficult times ahead over the next month for restaurants, although at least this Italian should be able to do plenty of takeaways and deliveries. The reviews for the restaurant are positive (which is why we went there), it was relaxed and the staff were friendly. All very lovely.
