Restaurant Review: Franco Manca

I've known about Franco Manca's for ages. Their first branch is down in Brixton Village and I tried to go a few times when I lived down that way. Of course, it being Brixton Village, it was almost always shut and when it wasn't, the queues were mega!

The great thing is that they're expanding, and they're expanding into units where they are more reliably open and at more convenient times, reducing the queues significantly. Also, interestingly they're generally not opening in town centre locations (except one on Tottenham Court Road) but instead keeping it local in places like Southfields, Balham, Chiswick and Clapham Junction. Hopefully this means that they'll be immune to the faddiness of the London restaurant scene. I don't think an amazing pizza restaurant 'around the corner' would ever go out of business. Our visit was in Chiswick.

So, the pizza. There's no messing about. No pasta, no salads. I'm not even sure they do starters, but Jesus they do pizza bloody well. Their selling point is that they do sour dough bases. They're really nice but to be honest I've had pizza in other places that pride themselves on their bases and I couldn't tell the difference. That's not a criticism though. Thin, great tasking, chewy bases, with simple but great toppings. They're also stupidly affordable, clocking in at under £7 a pizza.

I think that's kind of all there is to say. It's a simple concept, well done. GO! 9/10