Franco Manca

What we ordered
To Drink: 
• 2 glasses of house red

To Eat:
• Pizza with pancetta, mozzarella, Colton Bassett stilton, baby kale, and crispy onions
• Side Salad
• Nocellara green olives
• One affogato

Cost £30

It’s important to have a go to pizzeria in the neighborhood for nights when you just can’t be asked to make a decision about what to eat for dinner. Franco Manca has 51 locations throughout England and a shop in Salina, Italy. I’m not anti-chain, there’s a time and a place for Pizza Hut’s all you can eat lunch buffet. I only mention it because if you didn’t know it was a chain, you’d think this sourdough pizza joint was a secret one-off gem with its high-quality ingredients, attentive staff and fabulous pepper grinders. (More on those later.) 

The Bermondsey Franco Manca is decorated with a giant mosaic oven, chalkboards and white tiles. It’s understated, cozy and always packed. We put out name in, then wandered down to Woolpack for half a pint on their heated back patio while we waited for our table. 

I lived in Chicago for eight years and I’ll be the first one to tell you that I am not a fan of Chicago style pizza. Give me thin crust any day of the week. Franco Manca delivers a fabulous crust made from dough that’s hand made daily and brimming with interesting toppings. We got the special of the day which was a steal at 9 pounds, even if it was the most expensive pie on the menu. With a tomato base, this pizza had pancetta, mozzarella, Colton Bassett stilton, baby kale, and crispy onions (which we had on the second half of the pizza when our waiter apologetically brought a bowl of them to our table.) 

The mosaic oven pumps out pizzas super quickly, which is good because the place is always packed.

We had only just moved into our flat down the street on the night in question and Craig was lamenting that we didn’t have a pepper grinder. On each table in Franco Manca, a tall, black pepper grinder was taunting us with its presence. We caved. I’m sorry. Craig took it home in his backpack. I’m debating bring it back to the restaurant this week we move out. Do you think they miss it? 

And here you see the wall of pepper grinders.

A pizza, salad and delicious, huge green olives fed both of us no problem, although the pizza was so crispy and good I’m sure we could have polished off a second one with only a tiny bit of shame and regret.

The affogato came as a cup of ice cream and a sidecar of hot espresso to drizzle on top. It was delicious.

While Franco Manca is serving up a mean pie, it’s also ensuring an equitable slice for all employees. They publish their annual gender pay gap report on their website. Their mean pay gap is 3.76% and their median pay gap is only 0.88%, much lower than the UK national stats on 17.1% and 17.9% respectively. 

Only the freshest ingredients here! We totally forgot to take a picture of the pizza so here’s some deconstructed (pre-constructed?) ‘za for your perusal.

The original Franco Manca opened its doors in Brixton in 2008. From 1986 to 2008 a different pizzeria stood on the premises called Franco, which was run by a man (you guessed it, named Franco.) The name Franco Manca means Franco is missing and is an homage to the original owner who turned the restaurant over to Giuseppe Mascoli and Bridget Hugo. Certain locations host sour dough pizza making classes for guests who want a hands on experience with the slow rising dough.