Grater Love hath no man*
Pro A smart, friendly location, with the thinnest pizza we've found.
Con Menu could use tweaking for summer.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €30 Shared starter, mains, desserts, jug of limonadá. El tenedor discount (on food) may be available. Booking recommended. Gratis: nada.
Find
Website Here.
Access Steps to eating area.
In Short
Hopes? Something new in the pizza dept.
* Reality? Grater love hath no man than the chef at Pizza Massa does for cheese
First Impressions? Excellent interior design.
A USP? Idiosyncratic interpretations on pizza.
The food in three words? Please say cheese.
Can they get the staff? Two very amiable guys.
Service with a smile? Interested, chatty.
Friend friendly? Pretty much.
Rating for dating? Would be a goer.
Tip? 5%
Change one thing? One tomato pizza would have been wise.
Going back? It's got potential, certainly.
Compare & Contrast
A very different experience at Il Cono.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Massa Pizza has an original, interesting take on pizza, with pleasing attention to detail.
Summer Saturday in Chueca. Sunrays split the paving stones. Tourists peer at maps on street corners. Shoe shops in Calle Augusto Figueroa are sandal heavy and air-con lite. A heady combination.
There's been a restaurant in the space that's now Pizza Massa since who knows when. Strolling in, the aircon's fresh, the kitchen's right in front of you and there's a friendly chap at the bar who knows your booking without checking his screen.
Seating is up some stairs behind the kitchen in AN excellently designed space. Making a smallish backroom facing an internal patio feel comfortable and airy is no mean feat. Stripped wood and reflected light. And they knew we were coming, as it's the best of the 80s on the sound system, starting off with the mortgage advisor's theme song.
The menu's not the longest. A pizza restaurant, yes, but it's not an Italian one. Starters come from all over. Guacamole. Hummus. Chicken tails (really? that's a rare bird) with chipotle sauce.
It's good, in a bespoke burger bar kind of way. Chipotle is of course le ingredient de riguer. Nice flavour and pleasing temperature contrast too, chilled mayonnaise and still-hot fresh fried (if slightly fibrous) chicken.
And so to pizzas. Failure to understand the menu was the main reason we both ordered tomato-free pizzas. Yep - every topping is listed. Indeed, it's a very tomato light, cheese and mushroom heavy card. It doesn't shout July in Madrid, more October in Ottawa. Pizzas they are, but Italian flavours they often aren't. Stand by for original interpretations.
On the left, Sobrasada. It's entirely logical this is tomato-free, when you think about it. Honey? And tomato? If that was a plot, it wouldn't end well. As pizza balearica, this does make for a good story though, and someone's crafted it with care. Fresh thyme and honey? That works. There's a hint of the spicy sweetness ancient Roman food was apparently known for. A genuinely intriguing flavour combination, not least on a pizza base.
Top right is Massa - a blizzard of four cheeses, with pepperoni for contrast. This one could have benefited from tomato, offsetting all the cheeses. When it's 30C outside, there's only so much you can manage.
So we didn't make it to the end of either. No complaints about the excellent thin base. We liked both sets of toppings, but the weather being what it is, it's just too much of a lunch time. Our server cheerfully boxed them up for us, and reheated the Sobrasada was nearly as good in the evening. The crust was the only element that didn't come through the process successfully.
We like the dessert menu at Pizza Massa. It's a physical one. Like when the teacher would bring in things for you examine in science class at primary school, a basket of seven or eight recycled glass pots comes out, with a different dessert in each. It's an excellent idea, so much more fun than a menu and we like it so much we're putting this idea on the recommended list. There's tiramisu, cheesecakes, banoffee and tarta de abuela.
Pro A smart, friendly location, with the thinnest pizza we've found.
Con Menu could use tweaking for summer.
|
| Read about Massa's desserts. |
€€€
Per Person €30 Shared starter, mains, desserts, jug of limonadá. El tenedor discount (on food) may be available. Booking recommended. Gratis: nada.
Find
Website Here.
Access Steps to eating area.
In Short
Hopes? Something new in the pizza dept.
* Reality? Grater love hath no man than the chef at Pizza Massa does for cheese
First Impressions? Excellent interior design.
A USP? Idiosyncratic interpretations on pizza.
The food in three words? Please say cheese.
Can they get the staff? Two very amiable guys.
Service with a smile? Interested, chatty.
Friend friendly? Pretty much.
Rating for dating? Would be a goer.
Tip? 5%
Change one thing? One tomato pizza would have been wise.
Going back? It's got potential, certainly.
Compare & Contrast
A very different experience at Il Cono.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Massa Pizza has an original, interesting take on pizza, with pleasing attention to detail.
Summer Saturday in Chueca. Sunrays split the paving stones. Tourists peer at maps on street corners. Shoe shops in Calle Augusto Figueroa are sandal heavy and air-con lite. A heady combination.
There's been a restaurant in the space that's now Pizza Massa since who knows when. Strolling in, the aircon's fresh, the kitchen's right in front of you and there's a friendly chap at the bar who knows your booking without checking his screen.
Seating is up some stairs behind the kitchen in AN excellently designed space. Making a smallish backroom facing an internal patio feel comfortable and airy is no mean feat. Stripped wood and reflected light. And they knew we were coming, as it's the best of the 80s on the sound system, starting off with the mortgage advisor's theme song.
The menu's not the longest. A pizza restaurant, yes, but it's not an Italian one. Starters come from all over. Guacamole. Hummus. Chicken tails (really? that's a rare bird) with chipotle sauce.
And so to pizzas. Failure to understand the menu was the main reason we both ordered tomato-free pizzas. Yep - every topping is listed. Indeed, it's a very tomato light, cheese and mushroom heavy card. It doesn't shout July in Madrid, more October in Ottawa. Pizzas they are, but Italian flavours they often aren't. Stand by for original interpretations.
On the left, Sobrasada. It's entirely logical this is tomato-free, when you think about it. Honey? And tomato? If that was a plot, it wouldn't end well. As pizza balearica, this does make for a good story though, and someone's crafted it with care. Fresh thyme and honey? That works. There's a hint of the spicy sweetness ancient Roman food was apparently known for. A genuinely intriguing flavour combination, not least on a pizza base.
Top right is Massa - a blizzard of four cheeses, with pepperoni for contrast. This one could have benefited from tomato, offsetting all the cheeses. When it's 30C outside, there's only so much you can manage.
So we didn't make it to the end of either. No complaints about the excellent thin base. We liked both sets of toppings, but the weather being what it is, it's just too much of a lunch time. Our server cheerfully boxed them up for us, and reheated the Sobrasada was nearly as good in the evening. The crust was the only element that didn't come through the process successfully.
We like the dessert menu at Pizza Massa. It's a physical one. Like when the teacher would bring in things for you examine in science class at primary school, a basket of seven or eight recycled glass pots comes out, with a different dessert in each. It's an excellent idea, so much more fun than a menu and we like it so much we're putting this idea on the recommended list. There's tiramisu, cheesecakes, banoffee and tarta de abuela.
So we opted for a banoffee and a granny - or should that be grannee? Banoffee was as you'd expect. Gloopy in a good way, with a crumbly rather than buttery biscuit base, and no risk of a soggy bottom. Which none of us want if we can help it. The other was just too truffly for me. I'd rather something lighter and more custardy. Even between two of us we couldn't make it to the end.
Limonadá madrileña was today's drink of choice and should be mere minutes away from being The Next Big Thing amongst the beard and tattoo set. Take sangria, sub white and green ingredients for the red and orange ones, and a lot of lemon juice. The jug of it here is superb. Lighter and more refreshing than white wine or sangria, but with latent Goodnight Vienna potential. A real discovery for me this, it demands trying more often. Scoffing the steeped chunks of fresh apple is a great way to finish things off. And almost like a bonus dessert. Recommended.
Service is excellent and there's some pleasing banter. For a Saturday, it's a mixed clientele of couples and families. It's not a budget option though, which is unsurprising given the location, but investigate El Tenedor for the possibility of a decent discount to bring the price down.
Dish of the day: Pizza Sobrasada.