We tried last year's Best Vegan Restaurant winners at Food Awards Scotland and were charmed.
Walking into the Howe Street food haunt, we were hit with a wave of comforting warmth from the kitchen of the cosy restaurant. The scents of a working Italian kitchen were immediately apparent, particularly the smoky scent of the pizza oven.
Sitting in the rustic hole-in-the-wall restaurant and enjoying the homely decor, we could see the labour of love that is NovaPizza. Sitting on a sloped cobblestone street, the restaurant is cosy and romantic.
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Starting with a dark coffee, we were excited to sample the selection of vegan-italian dishes that put NovaPizza on the map. Curiously, everything on their menu is plant-based, but many meats such as bacon and even salmon are listed on the menu. We were assured that these were in fact vegan alternatives to meats, which was not made completely clear in their descriptions.
For starters, we went traditional with a caprese and a bruschetta pomodoro. The caprese’s fresh cherry tomatoes were complemented by the tang of balsamic and a creamy ricotta alternative. Their home-made vegan basil pesto was spread generously throughout the salad, adding a fatty richness. The ricotta alternative had an amazing texture, but was unfortunately lacking in a distinct cheese flavour.
Meanwhile the bruschetta was a more robust dish - a thick hunk of crusty bread, drizzled with garlic-infused olive oil and smothered in more cherry tomatoes than you could wave an Italian flag at.
Next came the mains, and we had to try one of their famous pizzas. The pizza seitan seitan e funghi is stonebaked, yet still retains some softness in the top layer thanks to an ample base of tomato passata. Littered with black olives, the pizza was a perfect balance of salty tang and cheesy base, topped with pepper and parsley.
The seitan is thinly sliced, similar in texture to a donner kebab, and paper-thin mushrooms slip in and out of complex mouthfuls. However I must wonder if the name is slightly misleading, with olives seeming to outnumber the mushroom significantly.
And it wouldn’t be an Italian meal without pasta. The tagliatelli ai funghi, piselli speck e tartufo was a rich, creamy and surprisingly meaty dish. NovaPizza serves pasta in a large frying pan, an oddity considering all other dishes are served on simple plates. Presentation aside, the tagliatelle was complex and hearty. The mixture of salt and fats present lend a rich, umami flavour that when combined with meaty mushrooms and speck, we could hardly believe that the dish was vegan. Liberally coated with NovaPizza’s specialty walnut parmesan, garlic and truffle, the al dente pasta was a definite highlight of our visit.
Of course, meat and cheese alternatives are great, but a vegan lives off their vegetables. We had to order their grilled veggies, verdure grigliate, as a side for our gluttony. The plate was loaded with an ample portion of caramelised buttery courgettes, sliced red peppers bursting with sweetness and hefty slices of aubergine that dissolved into garlic. They could have been the most flavoursome vegetables that have ever graced my mouth. My partner called the aubergine magical, and I couldn’t disagree.
Full to the brim, we almost didn’t order dessert. But the idea of a vegan creme brulee was too intriguing. And at an Italian restaurant, we had to have a tiramisu.
The creme brulee, presented in a copper bowl, had a very hard crust of demerara sugar, which when broken revealed silken cream that lacked the dish's signature yellow tinge. The flavour and creamy texture of the plant-based creme wasn’t as sweet as expected, but balanced well with the bittersweet burnt sugary top layer.
The tiramisu was equally as well presented, and served with a shot of espresso. There must have been at least another shot worth of coffee in the desert itself, created in two layers of a cocoa-dusted soya-cream and a soft sponge suspended in a dark coffee syrup. I would only recommend it to coffee-lovers, as expected of a traditional tiramisu the coffee flavour was very prominent and left an overpowering aftertaste.
After our three-course extravaganza, we rolled out the homely hole-in-the-wall and attempted to make our way home. I would be very excited to bring vegan friends to NovaPizza, and I’m certain that even meat-eaters would enjoy the extensive and sumptuous menu. We will definitely be back.
