Last Updated on August 6, 2026
Modern Italian Menu with Neapolitan Pizza
3.5 out of 5.0 starsOn arriving at ALFI, I had a sense of déjà vu: it’s in a unit that once housed a spacious Leon popular with my mum-and-baby friends. Returning 19 years later, my son and I were sampling ALFI’s authentic Neapolitan pizza rather than boxes of meatballs.
I read that ALFI’s cold-fermented pizza dough rests for 36 hours to slowly develop flavour and create a lighter, airier pizza before it is baked. The resulting base should be easier to digest with the characteristic crust expected with a Neapolitan pizza. I live in Walthamstow where the streets are virtually paved with sourdough pizza so ALFI needed to at least match what I might get locally from Yardsale or Sodo.
Liverpool Street is handy for us as East Londoners, but I hadn’t realised just how lively Spitalfields had become lately. On a sunny midweek lunchtime, the area was packed with people who look like they’re visiting rather than cramming in a City lunch break.
Although we are currently basking in temperatures worthy of the Amalfi coast, most restaurants at Spitalfields are under cover so you get the benefit of shelter from beating sun or rainstorms alike. The restaurant wasn’t especially busy when we arrived at 1pm but the market brings additional atmosphere.
I liked the orange decor accented by Aperol-branded umbrellas, although on the day I opted for a Sarti spritz and my son stuck to his trusty San Pellegrino. We asked for lemon, but in fact orange arrived and Ted went with the flow.
To start, we had some excellent fat, juicy pitted olives and shared a tomato salad with burrata. Compared to the somewhat disappointing burrata at Brasserie of Light the previous week, ALFI’s burrata was a gooey delight of fresh milky cheese curds. I thought the tomato slices underneath were cut skimpily thin, which was a pity, although the dish looked pretty and well presented.
We had plenty of activity to people watch; folk browsing market stalls in Spitalfields, a pizzaiolo arranging toppings in front of a domed pizza oven (similar to the one I’d recently seen visiting Unlock in Hackney Wick with fellow LU writer Urvashi), food arriving for adjacent diners.
Our burrata and olives had come very promptly; we weren’t in a hurry, but our pizzas took at least thirty minutes, possibly nearly forty, which seemed a long time. Although if you were here in a group enjoying drinks, this might not bother you. The pizza counter also serves takeaway customers, and I saw a table opposite receive theirs quicker than we did – but maybe they’d not ordered a starter.
When it did arrive, Ted’s sourdough pizza had an airy crust, plenty of ham and olive topping (he likes his classic flavours) and was enthusiastically gobbled up as you’d expect from a hollow-legged student.
My pizza was more of a surprise: I’d got a more creative pear, gorgonzola, and Italian sausage topping, but hadn’t anticipated that it would be a white-sauced, bianca-style pizza. I’m fine with this, although not every diner would be and it might be more clearly flagged on the menu. The Italian sausage had good texture but the gorgonzola all bit disappeared.
I’d also opted for a gluten-free pizza base, out of taste and curiosity rather than dietary need. You can get excellent gluten-free bases – those served at Walthamstow’s Dodici are much missed – but I found this one more identikit than the sourdough. I realise the two types of base are very different beasts, but this was more biscuit than pizza.
You don’t have to have pizza either; ALFI serves a roast chicken main, and the one I saw at an adjacent table was a huge portion with skin as bronzed as a Positano sunbather.
Happily, dessert redeemed things. Tiramisu was theatrically scooped into a bowl at the table; the savoiardi biscuits were soaked with enough coffee to have intense caffeine flavour but not so wet they lost their texture. The mascarpone was generous and whipped fluffy but not so much of it that it became sickly. As someone who only started drinking coffee a few years ago, tiramisu wasn’t always my go-to pud, but this version really raised the bar. I liked that it was served from a gigantic tray, as if someone’s Nonna had made it.
Ted had strawberry panna cotta. I tried a spoonful and the cream was firmly set with good wibble wobble; it was lightly tinted pink from the strawberry and had full fruit flavour. So two enthusiastic ticks for puddings.
To finish, I had a digestivo nip of Amaro Montenegro. The mildly spicy glug of orange and vanilla went down nicely with the tiramisu, finishing off our lunch.
In brief, ALFI delivered great starters and desserts; they’ve got a lengthy drinks menu and would be a good option for a gathering with friends for cocktails and food.
As regards pizza, I am, as I mentioned above, somewhat spoiled locally. Would I make a special journey to eat pizza at Spitalfields? Probably not. The ALFI sourdough was perfectly fine, although nothing out of the ordinary, and the gluten-free bianca one a bit unorthodox. Maybe going bianca and gluten-free in one pizza was a push too far. But if you want somewhere to sit down and enjoy a drink with some food – and a game of pool to boot, ALFI would be a good option. And it would keep you busy whilst the pizza is on its way.
ALFI
3 Crispin Place
Spitalfields Market
London
E1 6DW
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