Travel Tuesdays #1 - Pizza Napoletana, from Napoli

Pizza Napoletana, from Sorbillo - check out the lovely thick cornicione (crust) omg!

I've decided to abandon the Wordless Wednesdays endeavour - yup it was really short-lived BUT I've decided to start my very own Travel Tuesdays! I was very privileged to spend a year traveling around Europe a while back, and it was a year well spent, even though my bank account is quite bare now. Because I've been wanting to chronicle my adventures and scrapbook them ever since - I still have more than 10,000 unsieved and unedited photos lying about somewhere =X - plus I do want to share little nuggets of information about each place, so Travel Tuesdays it is! I love planning trips, and many of my friends have approached me to ask about their itineraries or to help them plan one, and it's a task I absolutely love! In fact, my childhood dream was to become a tour guide, but that dream quickly got deflated when I realized that I'd only be able to visit probably one or two places repeatedly. Although air stewardesses get to fly to different places, I never did aspire to become one, because I don't have the figure to be one =X Anyway, I love the fact that when I'm helping someone plan a trip, I'm helping them save money by giving them tips, tailoring a trip to their needs, and most importantly, living vicariously through them :] So if any of you need help planning a trip to continental Europe, feel free to approach me!

Alright, onto the photo. This is a rather badly taken photo, in more ways than one. And my excuse is that this was when I first got my DSLR in order to take photos of my travels in Europe, and I was still mostly using the Auto function (a lot) and venturing into the aperture and shutter speed dials just a little. Most of my photos are quite horribly taken, in fact, I cringe when I see them now. Everything that can go wrong in a picture has and have gone wrong in my pictures. On top of that, this was an indoor shot, so lighting was a pain. As always, food is extremely important to me - so much so that it's more important to eat it first before taking any photographs. My excuse is that I waited close to an hour to get served at Pizzeria Sorbillo, so I was super duper hungry by the time we got seats. This pizzeria was one of the pizzerias which we went to in the old quarter of Naples. There are a number of more popular establishments, such as Da Michele (the very same one which Julia Roberts went to in Eat, Pray, Love) but that's a little outside the centre, so we settled on Sorbillo since I'd gotten recommendations from a Napoli native :]

As with most pizzerias in Italy, you are forced to order a pizza each. Yes - each person HAS to order one pizza, even though one pizza, as you can see is freaking huge! It's about 10-11 inches wide (which is the standard size) For the life of me, I can't remember what the other pizza was, but the one in the foreground is the authentic Pizza Napoletana. Made with only the most basic of ingredients, fresh basil, bufala fresh mozzarella (or Flor di Latte), with San Marzano plum tomatoes, they very aptly represent the colors of Italy and are matches made in heaven! You also have to order a drink each, and I highly recommend ordering beer because it goes so well with pizza. And sorry Italians, you gotta stick to the pizza and pasta making because making beer just isn't your forte =/

I'll probably share a little more about Naples in my next few posts, but I just wanted to say that Naples, right now, isn't too popular with Asian tourists yet, as compared to Rome or Milan or Florence or Venice, but you should make an effort to visit Naples if you've the luxury of time. Naples is what many call the underbelly of Italy, and I do think that it's a good representation of what the South of Italy is like. If you like history, it's only 1h away from Pompeii and so many other wonderful historical sites. Most of the artifacts from Pompeii are exhibited in the Naples National Archeological Museum. Besides, you get to eat truly authentic Napoletana pizza! This is the very birthplace of modern-day pizza! And trust me, you cannot get a similar quality pizza anywhere else in Italy because pizza making differs across regions in Italy (Rome has thin crust pizzas for example). The fresh buffalo mozzarella and tomato sauce are revelations in themselves - nowhere else will you get such creamy mozzarella and tomato sauce which is a perfect balance of sweet and sour.

I've been to a few places in Singapore ever since Naples, and most of these places sell the Roman style pizza - La Nonna in Holland Village has pretty good pizza, and I love the fact that they have a lunch promotion (not sure if it's still valid) which means that you get pizza for half the price (<$12 after discount!)! I don't remember the name of the pizza, but they have a goat cheese topped pizza which is super yummyyyy :] I also tried Bella Pizza, which also has a thin crust pizza, and although delicious as well, it's nowhere similar to the ones from Naples, I'm afraid. You can check out ladyironchef's review here. I've read Dr Leslie Tay's review on Sole Pomodoro Pizzeria in Singapore, and this appears to be the closest replica of pizza napoletana, together with l'operetta (who has VPN accreditation!), and I've been wanting to go there ever since!

Anyways, for those interested to have a pizza eating fest in Naples, do check out these websites (here and here) which give a list of the best pizzas to eat in Naples. I can attest to the quality of the pizzas from Sorbillo, Da Michele and Di Matteo - absolutely the best pizzas you'll eat anywhere!