Review: Slice Newcastle

I do yearn to the simpler times when pizza had just two or three toppings at best. People have definitely gone mad with their toppings, from pineapples to ketchup to dessert pizzas with Nutella and strawberries. As you can tell, I am a conservative when it comes to Italian cuisine and especially pizza toppings. Nothing beats a thin, crispy, warm, stretchy margherita cooked with the finest ingredients of flour, tomatoes, cheese and olive oil (yeah and basil, I’ll give you that). 

Let’s face it, Newcastle isn’t famed for its Italian food culture scene – not yet at least. However many Italian establishments have been growing in the city, a good number of these are run by actual Italian immigrants who are putting their heart and soul into the trade. Some even serving unique regional cuisine such as Pani’s, an authentic Italian restaurant specializing in Sardinian cooking. But to us students, we do love our pizzas – yes, we are on a budget here.

Slice Newcastle, a small shop in the city’s Grainger market offers the best pizza I’ve eaten in the city so far. The slice is £2, however the size of that slice is so big, you’d get full just by looking at it. Nevertheless, I went for the bite and then the next bite and the next and the next until there was no pizza on my plate, it was at this moment I wished I had more cash to buy another slice! In case I didn’t mention they only accept cash payments and not card, which is a bit of a bummer cause who carries cash these days. But in all honesty, I wouldn’t mind getting cash especially for that meal  and so should you!

Since I’ve already set the scene to the kind of person I am, I obviously got the margherita. The slice wasn’t too thin nor too thick, it was exactly the right thickness. The tomato sauce beautifully seasoned with a sweet aftertaste that made your pallet rejoice.  Then the might cheese, it was soft, stringy and stretchy as it should be. Now what surprised me was the use of dried oregano rather than basil, which is not religiously Italian but I loved it. Of course they do have other toppings to choose from ragging from spicy salamino (pepperoni), veggies, ham and mushroom and sausage and onion. They also have calzone for those of you who enjoy that… Now if you fancy a whole pizza, you can get an 18’’ pie starting from £11 for a margherita; which is nothing considering the size of slices and the quality of  that pizza. Pizza has always been a hot topic for many, especially when it comes to toppings. But believe me when I tell you there is nothing better than simplicity and humbleness. Slice pizza is the to find high quality and authenticity of pizza making in a place that reflects high quality ingredients and humble shopping, that is the Grainger market. So next time you find yourself shopping and hungry at the same time, I highly recommend stopping at slice to have a slice.