Honest Italian

Balham has no shortage of good pizzerias, with the long-established  Ciullosteria winning for well-practised service and conviviality, and the branch of the Franco Manco chain winning plaudits for good pizza. There is also, of course, a Pizza Express, all within five minutes’ walk of each other. So what makes Honest Italian worth a punt? It has a wood-fired pizza oven, and creates thin bases which are crisp in places yet pliable in the mouth. The toppings are the standard choices,  and – bland olives apart – are of decent quality. The interior looks a bit more slick than the suburban norm, but that apart, there’s not much to set Honest Italian apart from the scores of other good pizzerias in south west London.