Arcadia England

By Hayden Pigott

When your waiter steps out of the kitchen walks determinedly to your table with slices of pizza slightly larger than your head you might want to freak out. How can one person eat two of those slices? Why did you do this to yourself? But by the time the check comes around you will be wiping the pizza sauce off your face with a smile after demolishing every single bite.

Just slightly off Neil’s Yard, Home Slice is a hipster haven. Subway tiles coat the walls, waiters wear blue chambray aprons whilst dancing to Bollywood music under industrial lights and rough-hewn wooden communal tables are spread out around the small restaurant with old milk bottles housing cold tap water. The bulbous wood-fired pizza oven sits off to the side with someone constantly manning it and the smell of oregano fills the air.

Home Slice gives off a young feel and fills up by 12:30pm on your average weekday. The staff who are all in their 20s, are friendly and very eager to explain to first timers the menu, which is simple, featuring only ten pizza options. You can get up to three slices for four pounds each in margarita, salami or mushroom. The whole pizzas (£20) are 20 inches of rather unique flavors like aborigine, cauliflower, cheese spinach and harissa.

I opted for a slice of margarita and a slice of salami. The margarita is a shade of bright red, studded with basil leaves and features multiple bubbles along the crust. Its flavor is tangy and pleasant from the moment you take a mouthful. One bite into the crust and I was in love, it crunches perfectly and tastes a little like naan.

If you add the spicy, olive oil, pepper blend sauce to your plate and dip the crust you will sky rocket from enjoying the pizza to wanting to visit Home Slice multiple times a week. But be forewarned, it is better to fold the pizza in half longways in order to eat it than trying to hold it the old-fashioned way.

The salami slice is covered in arugula with cheese shavings sprinkled throughout and huge slices of salami covering it from top to bottom. The cheese shavings are sharp and pungent while the arugula adds a bold flavor to the entire pizza. The slice is chewy and extremely rich; I couldn’t finish the whole piece and had to drink copious amounts of water after, which the waiters provided soundlessly, but I did not mind one bit.

A friend had the Caprese pizza, which had slices of fresh, creamy mozzarella and juicy tomatoes that created a pleasant earthy flavor. She loved it and ate almost three entire slices by herself. When I asked around the table how everyone else’s tasted, I was either met with sounds of chewing or a chorus of approvals, even some admissions of love.

Your overall experience at Home Slice will be a good one, to the point you will probably be dancing along to the Bollywood music yourself as you shuffle out of the alley slightly overstuffed and a little thirsty, but in the best way possible.