‘O ver – Italian Restaurant
44-46 Southwark St, London SE1 1UN
Book here
The perfect atmosphere
It had been a very sad day. The saddest of them all. Saying I was at my lowest wouldn’t even do it justice.
But there are sometimes when you HAVE to:
- Get your shit together
- Have a long hot bath
- Get ready
- Try and look introducible (no? decent at least)
- Then head out to a nice restaurant in good company and some good wine, and have some quality time that hopefully will help heal your lil broken heart.
I just wanted to go somewhere not… in the sticks, but not in the middle of the hustle and bustle of central London either. A restaurant not noisy, but with a smooth vibrant atmosphere. Somewhere not fake but with soul, and caring staff please. And somewhere where the food is good. You know when you get picky and nothing will do?, ‘O ver turned out to be the perfect place.
Outstanding service
Located a few steps from Borough Market there is this lovely authentic Italian restaurant, ran by proper terroni staff from the north of Naples. O ver means truth in the Neapolitan dialect, and it’s just their philosophy to stay loyal to the Neapolitan traditions. And it seems like they do, all their products come from small Italian producers, every pizza is finished with organic olive oil from Sicily.
To top it all off, the dough is made only with Pure Sea Water from the Mediterranean sea – even one waiter proudly showed us the containers in where they bring the Sea Water – extra points for that.
Also, their menu is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans, and special variations and dairy free options are available upon request.
A super nice waiter walks us to our table and gives us some advice on the wine list, which we take gladly. He even gives us a glass of a different wine to taste till we are sure of our choice. He explains to us how they bring the products and how they cook their fantastic pizzas.
Top-three-London pizza
And here they come the starters: croquettes of mash potatoes and pecorino cheese, deep fried Gragnano maccaroni filled with mozzarella, smoked cooked ham, sweet peas and Parmesan cheese, small deep fried pizza stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, black pepper and basil. They do sound mouthwatering but that is as far as it goes as the truth is they all lack a bit of taste.
But no issue there, it will all be made it up by the outstanding pizza they make. Soft, elastic, tender, ultra tasty… These guys just nail it. We go with the njuda and black olives pizza, it is truly out of this world.
A strange phenomenon happened in London!
We finish our dinner and they bring us the bill. Then, something unexpected happened… Something that had NEVER happened to us in a restaurant in London… They treated us to a shot of Limoncello! Shots for F-R-E-E!
Yes… it happened. a¡As though we were in Italy. Yes, as though they cared about theirs customers coming back. We could not believe our eyes. But it wasn’t a dream. We were there, it was for free, in London. Woozers. This always takes me to think about what a shot costs a restaurant, and what it generates. We’ve already told 10 people about ‘O ver, and more to come. So I will never understand this London culture of not looking after their costumers – big big extra points for ‘O ver.
All in all it’s been a lovely night, with a charming atmosphere, great staff and really nice food. It might be a bit pricey though, but won’t take me long till I come back to taste this banging pizza again. So damn good I can’t decide if it’s the best I’ve had in London, right now it’s a toss up between this one, Pizza Pilgrims and Da Michelle.
