Dreaming of Italy
With foreign holidays a distant daydream during lockdown, your Dish Detective has started to crave authentic food from sunnier climes. A hunger for proper Italian-style stonebaked pizza kept us from the temptations of high-street pizza retailers and pushed Dish Detective and their companion a bit further afield in the search for dinner. Opposite the water, at Clarence Marina in Gosport sits charming eatery Arty’s, which in normal times offers outdoor seating to take in the pleasant marine scenes. I spotted on Facebook that the establishment has been offering a popular takeaway service throughout the pandemic, alongside refurbishing and expanding into a second unit next door. We place our order over the phone an hour before we are hoping to collect, although from the conversation with the staff it appears we could have had the food sooner if we’d liked. Finding our way to the venue on a dark evening was somewhat of a challenge. We had only seen images of the restaurant on social media and never in real life however we were soon on our way to collect our food. After parking up and wandering round to the building, the trendy decor gave a hint of what the place’s charm is like in non-Covid times and pleasant staff took the food out of a sealed container which was keeping our meals piping hot. This restaurant is slightly out of the way for us. But the food is still pleasantly warm when we arrive home with rumbling stomachs and ready for the feast ahead. We both decide to opt for the classic 12-inch pizzas for which Arty’s is famous, as they seemed to have glowing reviews online. My choice is the ortaggio (£10.95), a creation laden with goat’s cheese, roasted vegetables and mozzarella. The pizza is cooked to perfection, with the dough nicely crisp and the toppings melting beautifully on top. The pizza is delicious but due to a personal preference, I would have liked a creamier style of goat’s cheese. But I tuck in regardless and am delighted with the taste. The vegetables are nicely charred and the two cheeses are gooey and salty. I swiftly demolish my selection and tuck into our choices of side dish. Between the pair of us, we choose to share a portion of pepperoni and mozzarella dough balls (£7.50), alongside some cheesy chips (£3.50). Overall, we probably ordered too much because the portion sizes were much bigger than we were expecting. The dough balls are a delight, coupled with a garlic sauce for dipping which is the perfect accompaniment to the deliciously cheesy dough balls. The restaurant offers various other flavours, and my eye is firmly on the jalapeno option for a return visit.
Arty’s certainly satisfied a craving and delivered authentic tastes
Unfortunately, our trip home means the mozzarella on the cheesy chips has cooled down enough to clump all the fries together. It is not unpleasant, but as our stomachs begin to fill it definitely feels like overkill. My meat-loving companion lets me try a slice of their quattro carne pizza, an offering of salami, chorizo, cured ham and pepperoni. This creation is definitely also impressive, although one of the meats is a bit salty for our tastes. My happy dining partner wolfs down their selection even before I’ve finished my own. Although it will be a while before we are able to set foot on a plane to taste worldly cuisines elsewhere, our foray into Italian food through Arty’s certainly satisfied a craving and delivered authentic tastes from closer to home.