A pizza the best
Giovanni Recchia, the pizza chef at Top Joe’s in Narberth, was recently recognised as one of the best in the world at the Pizza World Championships. Laura Clements does the tasting...
FOR some time now I’ve known that Top Joe’s turns out extraordinarily tasty pizzas from either its Tenby or Narberth restaurants in Pembrokeshire. But maybe I’d got complacent or taken for granted just how good they were because even I was surprised to hear that Giovanni Recchia, the pizza chef at Top Joe’s in Narberth, was recently recognised as one of the best in the world at the Pizza World Championships in Rimini, Italy – otherwise known as Campionato del Mondo di Pizza.
Full disclosure here: I live in Narberth and I am a regular at Top Joe’s because it has a rather decent wine list. Or rather, I enjoy the selection of reds on offer, particularly when I bag a comfy armchair in the window next to the log fire. It’s a fun place to sit and people watch as pizzas are brought out with a flourish from the kitchen at the back, a hint of garlic and charcoal in the air and people of all ages tuck in.
Offering relaxed and informal dining, it somehow manages to make you feel like you’re somewhere more posh than a pizzeria, perhaps in part because of the generously-proportioned restaurant and its dark colours and low-level lighting.
Chef Giovanni entered the category of ‘mystery box’ to win his recent accolade, where he whipped up a pizza in the style of a ‘classica’ or ‘napoletana’ using a dough of his choice and the mystery box of ingredients provided on competition day. I’m no pizza connoisseur, but I do know that not all pizzas are created equal. And I do know that no amount of tomato sauce or melted cheese can save a soggy, doughy or floppy base.
But I’ve jumped ahead of myself – before pizza there was wine. I started off my Friday evening savouring a medium glass of bold and fruity Crescendo merlot from Switzerland (£4.80), soaking up the convivial atmosphere from the aforementioned armchair. I had time to kill before my dining companion joined me and so I perused the menu at leisure. Hardly surprising that it’s almost entirely pizzas on the menu – three pasta options notwithstanding – all reasonably priced between £10 and £15.