D'alessandro's — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

I should state that a combination or my Campanian origins and the opening hours of this local eatery have until now deterred me from eating here. The pizzeria has an authentic oven but its limited opening hours cater to the weekend drinking crowd. And I had misgivings about any pizzeria which is geared around soaking up excess alcohol.

But a couple of friends said that the pizzas are actually quite good. So I bit the bullet, or the crust.

First the base. Clearly artisinal and the crusts were pleasantly fluffy with a good chew. So far so good.

I know the bread is meant to be the star event, but despite my genes I generally judge a pizza on its ability to convey toppings into my mouth as cleanly and crisply as possible, while I leave the crusts on the side of the plate. And sadly that was this pizza's downfall.

Ordinarily there is only one pizza choice for me, the napoli, with anchovies and capers. But as this choice wasn't available, I had to select from the repertoire of experimental toppings. And possibly I chose badly.

I chose the veggie special with mushrooms, asparagus and sorrel. It looked spectacular but the combination of the mushrooms and the asparagus seemed to leak a lot of water, resulting in a soft, soggy base which had to be rolled up like a spring roll to prevent disintegration. And the seasoning was a little light, forcing me to crack open a can of anchovies (not good with the mushrooms) and try loading it up with gran padano, before eventually accepting defeat.

Maybe another topping would have been a...

Maybe it was an off day. I love that places like this exist and try to combat the Dominoes of the UK, but I think they are trying to be authentic and pull off the traditional Neapolitan pizza - rather than actually achieving it. We drove 30 minutes to Matlock, spent £60 on 4 pizza & 4 drinks, the guys were friendly but the pizzas were bad. The overwhelming burnt bitterness on all our pizzas was hard to ignore, I tried to tell myself a few times that ‘it’s traditional’ - ‘it’s the style’ but it was just bad. The toppings lacked flavour, and our hearts sank as all just stopped eating and got a takeaway box. I hope this just motivates the chef to regulate the oven temperatures properly and get it right. I think a bit more salt is needed in the dough and the tomatoes on the toppings didn’t taste premium enough to be called a Neapolitan pizza. The crust was thick and tasted a bit uncooked in places. Clearly, your pizza experience here might be different to ours, if it was cooked different to ours we might have just said ‘bit bland’ but ok. Clearly the oven stone was too hot.

I might return, but not for a while. I’ll give them the chance to up their...

This is a really atmospheric and cool little pizzeria with an incredible view over the valley. If you are walking up the hill from Matlock town it’s a hike but it’s worth it. Maybe 12 pizza options including a special. Most expensive pizza was £12. They make it from scratch in front of you from ingredients they grow in their allotment. Very groovy local vibe. Wine selection is very well-informed if you want a good natural wine at about £20 a bottle. Two little tables inside or you can sit outside and get craft ale from the Farmacy pub next door and enjoy the beautiful view. Highly...