Rudy's Pizza Napoletana Queensway: Great food and Aperol

It’s the perfect place for a summer date night, dinner or catch up with friends, in a buzzy and spacious environment with an open kitchen and pizza oven.

Having only opened on April 27, the restaurant is already growing in popularity – and was packed full on a summery Tuesday evening when I went for dinner which is always nice to see.

The new location, in a former bank, adds to Rudy’s pizzerias in Soho, Shoreditch, Fitzrovia and Spitalfields.

There are two floors and an intimate basement with original exposed brickwork arches to showcase the history and architectural beauty of the area.

I went for a catch up with a friend who I haven’t seen in a while, and we fancied good food and good drinks and that’s exactly what we got.

Aperol Spritz was exactly what we needed, and we shared the Caprese Famiglia to start which was a huge array of beef vine tomatoes, plum vine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bufala mozzarella, basil and house-baked bread.

Don’t get me wrong, we probably could have left it at that, but there was no way we could resist the infamous pizzas.

My friend went back to basics with a margherita, and I did a little make-my-own with mushrooms, tuna and sweetcorn.

Don’t knock it until you try it – because even the waiter when he served me said that was his kind of pizza.

It’s really great that there are so many classics on offer, along with Rudy’s specials, and there’s the opportunity to pretty much make your own.

They were absolutely DIVINE – soft, crusty, doughy, tasty, not too thin and not too thick, and perfectly stone baked.

I’d like to say we had some left to take home for the next day’s lunch… But we didn’t… and neither of us had any regrets.

We put the world to rights over some really good food, sitting back and relaxing in the open restaurant with friendly faces, staff, waiters and waitresses.

Rudy’s dough is made fresh daily by their in-house pizzaioli, using Caputo ‘00’ flour which takes over 24 hours to be made, before being topped with ingredients from Naples, the birthplace of pizza.

This includes San Marzano tomatoes grown on fields at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, and traditional Fior di Latte mozzarella.

Staying true to the traditions of Naples, each pizza is cooked to order, for around 60 seconds – resulting in a soft and light pizza with an airy and raised ‘cornicione’ crust.

Take me back for more pizza, please.