Izza Pizza, Birmingham - food review

Selfridges, Bullring,

Birmingham, B5 4BP

It’s the latest venture from the guys behind Lasan – authentic Italian grub in the heart of the Bullring. Emily Bridgewater gets a pizza the action

My expectation for Izza Pizza were high.

Extortionately high; like the expectation you’d have for seeing the Rolling Stones live, standing in front of the Mona Lisa, or admiring the view from Machu Picchu.

I imagined that a trip to Izza Pizza would result in pizza perfection, second only to a trip to L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Naples.

You see, Izza Pizza has pedigree; like a fine racehorse it comes from good stock. It’s the latest venture from the folks behind Lasan, Raja Monkey, Fiesta del Asado and Nosh & Quaff. At the helm is chef Aktar Islam, who impressed the judges on Great British Menu and is occasionally seen on Saturday Kitchen.

They do the best Indian food in Brum. Simple. Lasan’s all about fine dining from the sub-continent, mixing traditional cooking techniques with adventurous flavour combinations and impressive presentation. Meanwhile, Raja Monkey is, I think, one of the best purveyors of Indian street food in the country, its curries, dosas and biryanis tantalisingly good. You won’t find me anywhere else these days.

The company’s other ventures are a bit more hit and miss: Fiesta del Asado, an Argentinian steakhouse serves up the city’s best beef however, Nosh & Quaff with its lobster, beer and burgers, failed to ignite my fire.

So how would they fare with a foray into Italian food?

Izza Pizza has taken up residence in Selfridges Food Hall, replacing Mughli Market, an operation selling Indian street food similar – but not as good as – Raja Monkey. Previously it was home to Rossopomodoro which really did serve the best pizzas outside of Naples.

And there in lies the problem; my expectations were further raised knowing Izza Pizza has taken on Rossopomodoro’s wood-fired, gold-mirror covered oven. It always looked a bit out of place in the kitchen on Mughli Market, although it was probably used to cook naan bread, or as a tandoor, however I was happy to see it had returned to its rightful purpose.

We arrived on a Saturday lunch with a little one in tow. We were offered a table with room for the pushchair although when we asked for a highchair the waiter waltzed off to greet some other new arrivals, prompting me to have to ask again. However, the service picked up from there and we had our drinks and food orders taken promptly.

The menu reads very well with lots of appealing-sounding pizzas and salads. Starters include olives, cured meat, bruschetta and flatbreads, while desserts comprise the usual suspects such as classic tiramasu and chocolate and hazelnut calzone. There’s humour evident too: a chargrilled vegetable salad is called an Ace Verdura and a Hot Clucker pizza topped in chicken, mozzarella, red onion, red bell peppers and spicy roquito chilli.

The prices are less of a laughing matter, said vegetable salad described as a ‘tasty selection of wood-roasted vegetables, Italian leaves and toasted pine nut, sunflower and pumpkin seeds’ is £10.95, while some of the pizzas are almost £13 – cash I’m willing to shell out if the ingredients and cooking are top notch.

We choose a garlic flatbread to start, ordered to keep our little girl’s hunger at bay, but was more of a hit with mum and dad. It was crisp, buttery and garlicky – a pleasant, light way to start our meal.

Space was made for our pizzas, for him a Proscuitto Crudo, topped with dry-cured Italian ham, mozzarella balls, shaved parmesan and rocket, for me a Margherita.

I rarely order anything other than a Margherita after all, it’s the queen of pizzas – the benchmark against which all pizzas should be judged.

“At least you’re consistent,” quipped my other half.

We also ordered the Ace Verdura, which arrived despite me misreading the menu and requesting an ‘Ace Ventura’. I was relieved the salad turned up as I’ve never been a fan of Jim Carrey.

The food looked appetising, although my heart sank a bit on the sight of the Margherita. Rather than pools of white, creamy mozzerella the pizza was covered in a sea of grated cheese, and it was slightly overcooked. Scattered with basil leaves and slightly charred cherry tomatoes it tasted fine. The tomato sauce was rich with oregano.

The bases – sourdough – were fairly good. I’m not convinced by the trend for sourdough pizza bases despite being borderline obsessed by a loaves of the stuff. While the use of sourdough certainly made it have a pleasantly chewy texture I’m not quite sure it ever rolls quite thinly enough. I think a great pizza base should be almost transparent in the middle, leading to a thicker ring of dough at the periphery. I found my base a bit dry and ended up leaving some of it however, our daughter was less fussy and enjoyed her mouthfuls of pizza.

The other half was happier with his lot. His pizza looked more appetising; it did have the little pools of pearly white mozzarella and plenty of proscuitto, rocket and parmesan. Our little girl enjoyed the shavings of hard cheese, although my partner felt it could have been better quality.

The salad certainly looked pretty but on closer inspection didn’t have any of the promised pine nuts or sunflower and pumpkin seeds. What was there – a selection of nicely roasted vegetables and leaves – was flavoursome, although we had to ask for some extra balsamic vinegar dressing. The peeled cherry tomatoes were an explosion of summer sunshine, and the mixed peppers were juicy. However, at almost £11 it seemed rather pricey particularly seeing as it was missing a few ingredients.

After we’d munched through two pizzas, a flatbread and a salad, we were suitably stuffed so skipped dessert and headed for the neighbouring Krispy Kreme doughnut concession. Just kidding. There was no room, even for a ring doughnut.

The £44 bill included a large bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water and a tip. I left slightly disappointed but perhaps my expectations were just too high. They had a mountain to climb – they got half way there.