Review: East Pizzas, Leith, Edinburgh

I DISCOVERED EAST Pizzas on Instagram a few months ago and was instantly tempted by their tantalising pizza snaps.  Having opened in The Shore area of Leith in October 2017, their ethos of using quality, locally sourced ingredients sounded like it would be right up my alley. 

The restaurant is small yet spacious with a few booths along the right-hand wall (as you enter) and a banquette at the opposite side sharing more intimate tables.  Up the back, there’s a small bar area in front of a compact kitchen, where a couple of bodies beaver away amongst clouds of flour. There was a board with an impressive list of suppliers, which I hoped was a statement of intent for what was to come.

The menu offers eight 10-inch sourdough pizzas (gluten free also available).  There's nothing worse than pizza joints that have 172 different options that take you two weeks to sift through. There is a range of reasonably priced starters-cum-side dishes (probably more the latter) with the option to add extras to your pizza. It’s pleasing to see organic options on the wine list and a beer selection that is all produced locally.  It made me think … why don’t all restaurants have at least a couple of organic wine, if not food, options?

There were quite a few lone diners in this evening and delivery trade seemed steady as our rather affable waiter served our starters.  Mine was a caprese-style dish of mozzarella, oak smoked tomatoes and basil (£4.50).  This dish only works with ingredients of supreme quality, otherwise, it’s just a boring plate of 'meh'. But wow, that mozzarella from Kedar Cheese was truly outstanding (it’s also used on the pizzas): lusciously creamy, fresh and almost grassy, the acidity from the sundried tomatoes tamed the richness and added a warm smokiness.  The basil just harmonised the dish to perfection. Impressive.

Sarah rather bizarrely began with garlic and rosemary bread (£4). I found it a strange choice given the next course would be more dough, but each to their own. Besides, it gave a strong indication of what would follow.  It was crisp and light with a drizzle of decent olive oil; the distinct flavours of garlic and rosemary continued through to a slight hint of bitterness from those wonderfully charred bits that everybody loves. Fast-forwarding slightly, but we had the three dips with our main course.  They were garlic aioli, kimchi hot sauce, and BBQ (£2). That would have made an ideal sharing plate for a few people.  The garlic aioli is particularly worth mentioning, as the team infuse milk with garlic then emulsify it to complete this exquisite sauce.

I ordered the pancetta, tomato, chorizo, red onion, mozzarella, and red wine salami pizza, which was the most expensive at £11. My fellow food blogger Victoria's (Victoriaspongepeasepudding.com) comment, “Offt, I could sleep on that crust #pillow,” is simply the best way to describe the dough. The charcuterie elements are sourced from East Coast Cured – another brilliant Leith-based supplier and the excellent Peelham Farm – true leaders in Scottish charcuterie. This was a pretty rich affair and I was grateful for those dips to help see me through to the end.

Sarah went for the tomato, mozzarella and oregano (£6.75) option and added Nduja sausage (£2.50), olives (£1), and a scattering of fresh chilli for an additional 50p.  The moreish meat made this pretty fiery when combined with the chilli kick, whilst the olives were so good they reminded her of her childhood living in Spain.  Like me, she was very impressed with the goods.

I was grateful for my palette cleansing blackcurrant sorbet (£4).  Made in-house, it was bursting with fruity flavour and wasn’t too sweet – the ideal way to end a big meal. You don’t find many pizza joints making sorbets and ice creams the way they do here. Respect.

The ice cream sundae today was popcorn and hazelnut with whey caramel (£6.50). What was interesting was that they used the whey from the mozzarella to make the caramel – a superb way to minimise waste.  I couldn’t try it due to my nut allergy, but Sarah loved it. There was a sharp raspberry coulis to ease the creaminess, a well-balanced toasted nutty element, and the crunch of the popcorn to add texture. Expertly balanced flavours, indeed.

The prices represent superb value for money given the quality of the end product.  That, combined with their passion for cooking with top local ingredients, will certainly see East Pizzas sit well with the Edinburgh masses. 

Web: Eastpizzas.com

Twitter: @Eastpizzas

Instagram: @Eastpizzas

Phone: (0131) 629 2430

Address: 7 Commercial Street, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6JA