Best Pizza in London

After years of putting up with unappetising ham and pine­apple toppings and greasy stuffed crusts, Londoners can at last enjoy real Italian pizza thanks to new ­pizzerias such as Franco Manca, which have gone back to Neapolitan traditions to find the best recipes, toppings, ovens and cooks. So if you're craving a thin 'n' crispy slice of authentic pizza pie, here's where to find the best in town...

Franco Manca
This pizzeria has opening hours dictated by its Brixton Market location, so either go for lunch or miss out on London's most celebrated pizzas. No stone has gone unturned in creating the ultimate pizza.

The dough is naturally leavened sourdough which is baked in a wood-burning brick oven. The resulting crusts are soft and moreish, with toppings of organic Ligurian tomatoes, cured meats and mozzarella.

The biggest surprise? They're cheap — £4.80 for tomato, mozzarella and basil, topping out at £5.90 for the cured organic chorizo. Be prepared to queue.
4 Market Row, Electric Lane, SW9 (020 7738 3021)

Malletti
The original branch in Noel Street is a Soho insider's fave, if little more than a hole in the wall. The rules are simple: join the queue, select a slice of pizza, they heat it up, you go. That's it. The formula is based on modest Roman pizza bars and is so successful a second branch is now open in Clerkenwell Road.

Like its Soho sibling, it operates at lunchtimes only and closes at the weekend. The pizza is served in rectangular slices topped with delicious fresh toppings such as spinach and egg, fontina cheese and potato, or artichoke, all about £4 a slice. Once it's gone, it's gone, so don't even try for a late lunch.
174-176 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 (020 7713 8665)

Donna Margherita
It's all in the dough, reckon the Neapolitans, who know a thing or two about pizza. On that count, Donna Margherita is one of London's best, its pizza being light and thin yet crisp from the wood-fired oven.

The test of a good pizza is the ­margherita, with its tomatoes, basil and mozzarella in the colours of the Italian flag — and this one passes with flying colours. For those with a less conservative approach, there's always the pizza gay or lesbica, half-and-half toppings so you don't have to commit either way.
183 Lavender Hill, SW11 (020 7228 2660)

Rossopomodoro
English speakers are often drowned out by the enthusiastic chatter of homesick Italians tucking into proper Italian pizza here. At its branches in Chelsea, Notting Hill and Covent Garden, the restaurant serves pizzas with all the pride it does at home in Naples.

The range includes "bianche" pizzas without tomato sauce and the "pizze fritte" (fried pizzas), which sound slightly horrifying but work wonders on a hangover. Rossopomodoro's ban on cutlery invites you to dig in and get your hands dirty.
rossopomodoro.co.uk

Spacca Napoli
It's not easy to find authentic Italian pizza in Soho. So head for Spacca Napoli next time you're in need of a West End Neapolitan fix — the pizza here is something else. Served in metre lengths, one metre allows you to try four varieties from a menu of classic marinaras and napoletanas. Just don't come here for ham and pineapple. Prices start at £14.70 for half a metre or £7.35 for a regular margherita.
101 Dean Street, W1 (020 7437 9440)