Chiswick has the best pizza chef in Europe (barring Italy) It’s official!

Image above: Michele Pascarella (R) with fellow chef Francesco

Michele Pascarella, owner of Napoli on the Road

Chiswick has the best pizza chef in the whole of Europe, barring Italy. It’s official. Michele Pascarella, owner of Napoli on the Road, on Devonshire Rd, has just been awarded the title Pizza Maker of the Year 2023 by 50 Top Pizza, and the restaurant has been awarded 8th best pizza restaurant.

A delighted Michele told The Chiswick Calendar “it’s like the Michelin guide for pizza.”

Michele opened Napoli on the Road in September 2019, and despite the timing, the restaurant has done so well he is about to open his second, in Richmond, in June.

He started making pizza in Caserta, near Naples, at the age of 11. No, not as I lazily assumed, at his grandmother’s apron, but in a pizza restaurant where he was working to earn money. No one in his family worked in the hospitality industry.

He found he liked it and was good at it and came over here at the age of 19 with a group from central Italy setting up restaurants in Plymouth, Truro and Newquay. From there he went to Sartori, the famous Italian restaurant in Soho, then set up his own business with a van selling pizzas at street food markets, which he still does at food markets in Kensington.

Image above: Alexia, second right, with Deb (L), Jamie (R) and Jasper

Customers delighted for him

He is in his element at Napoli on the Road. His customers are mainly regulars. As we spoke, several came in and congratulated him. Alexia was having lunch with her mother Jamie, grandmother Deb and little brother Jasper. They come in about once a month on weekends as a treat. I asked Alexia what she thought of the pizza.

“It’s really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, GOOD!” she told me. You can’t say fairer than that.

The menu changes seasonally and is about to change next week for summer. There will be dishes with peppers, aubergines and artichokes added. Jamie’s tip is that the Aubergine parmigiana is really (really, really etc) good too.

Michele was justifiably cagey about what goes into his pizzas that makes them so good. He would only say that the dough is a modern dough rather than a traditional one, made with long fermentation and the toppings come from farmers markets.

Did I mention Napoli on the Road is a member of our Club Card scheme? Michele offers Club Card holders a 10% discount after 5pm on Tuesday to Thursday, and Friday lunchtime between 12 and 4pm. It also offers a 15% discount on takeaways at any time if you click and collect (mention you are a Club Card holder on the phone and show your card when you pick up your food). No discount on deliveries.

Image above: Napoli on the Raod, Devonshire Rd

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