Nicli Antica Pizzeria

February 20, Sunday – clear

My friend found out about this new Pizzeria in Gastown and invited me, D and G to try it out together. Never say no to good pizza and the report from Scout Magazine sounded very promising. So we met there at 5:30 p.m. to make sure that we got a table. The restaurant was busy but not yet full. The decor was clean lined, modern and tasteful.

Their cocktails looked interesting on the menu with many of them infused with herbs. I had the Mighty Poosh and F had the Great Thyming.  D ordered a Bohemian Lager from R&B brewery.

We both agree that the cocktails were on the light side (both alcohol level and flavour-wise). They didn’t taste as interesting as they seem on the menu. But the beer was great. I will probably go with a glass of wine on my next visit.

Mighty Poosh – bombay sapphire gin, honey syrup, fresh lemon juice, fresh mint, fresh basil, soda

Great Thyming – alexander grappa, bombay sapphire gin, cointreau, thyme syrup, fresh lemon juice

R&B’s Bohemian Lager –  medium body with a nice golden orange colour.  Balance malty taste and a spicy aroma.

We decided to share a misto antipasti and 3 pizzas – Margherita, prosciutto e Rucola and Capricciosa.

The misto antipasti ($15) looked beautiful and tasted even better! There were cured meats (prosciutto, pepperoni and bresaola), roasted garlic, two kinds of cheese, artichoke heart, pepperoncini, olives with olive oil and herbs, roasted sweet tomato, honey poached fig. It’s served with parmesan cheese flat bread. I loved the olives. They were not overly salty or sour but instead tasted fresh and grassy. G loved the sweet spreadable roasted garlic. The flat bread was very tasty too! Everything was so good with our starter and our expectation of the pizza went HIGH!

The 3 pizzas came at the same time and we were busy cutting them into quarters so we can each had a piece to try out.

The Margherita pizza looked and tasted so so good! While G was still busy cutting the prosciutto e Rucola, we just started eating it. F was nice to took over the cutting job and let G joined in the feast of the Margherita pizza.

It’s simple yet lovely! The thin-crust pizza  is crunchy on the edge but soft on the centre and chewy all over like good bread. Fresh fresh tasting tomato sauce was just like crushed tomato you get in Italy. The gooey mozzarella and basil completed this traditional Neapolitan pizza. Just happened that F, G and me traveled to Italy together back in 2006 and we all agreed that it was better than some that we had in Venice (a neighbour takeout pizza place) and in Rome (the cut and weight casual pizzeria). We didn’t visited Naples for the real pizza though.

Next we tried the prosciutto e Rucola. This was a great combination of slightly baked prosciutto and top with fresh arugula . The prosciutto after being grilled gave out more “bacon like” aroma compared to raw slice in the antipasto. The arugula balanced out this and added crispy texture to the rest of the soft ingredients.

The Capricciosa was actually my least favorite of the three. It did cool down a bit and I think it just had too much ingredients on it to make the crust “shine”. We gave it a nickname, the Deluxe pizza. It had tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, artichoke, prosciutto, mushroom, black olive and basil. Well, pizzas really tasted better when they were right out of the oven. So on our next visit, we may try to see if they can serve these pizzas one after the other instead of all the same time.

We also got two bottles of infused olive oil to try out with the pizza – chili and rosemary. They looked so pretty. I think I should make some infused olive oil at home for cooking/dipping as well!

We had been eye-ing desserts that went to other tables. I was pretty full but D could still eat! So we ordered the tiramisu to share. F and I ordered espresso macchiato (macchiati?) and D an espresso. G ordered the Affogato.

The espresso were good! They were strong, smooth and had slight acidity. The acidity went lighter when sugar was added. I think they used beans from JJ Beans. (not 100% sure though)

Tiramisu was amazing. We each scooped a spoonful of it and “cheered” with the dessert! The lady finger layers were soft but not drown in espresso. The mascarpone layers were smooth and sweet but not overly sweet. It’s definitely NOT the modified fresh cream version which I hated. They used shaved chocolate instead of the coco powder. Great if you liked to eat and talk at the same time which I did. So you won’t choke from the powder getting in your throat. 😛 It’s a great dessert with balance of alcohol, sweetness and creaminess.

I didn’t taste G’s Affogato but it did look good.

It’s again a great meal with friends and we all think that’s the best Neapolitan pizza you can get in Vancouver. I can come back for the Margherita pizza anytime someone asked me to. Actually, we already planned to come back this weekend so that two friends who couldn’t join us last weekend can try it this time.

Service was very attentive and all the male servers were very ah amm… presentable. LOL. I was too shy to walk out to the busy serving area to take a picture of the wood-fire pizza oven. So you will have to go there and check it out yourself. ^_^