There are a few chain restaurants that stuff their crusts with cheese and hot-dogs, but independent pizzeria Matto does something a little more fancy with their bases.
They have one that’s infused with truffles and another with pumpkin, and soon you’ll be able to try them at their newest restaurant.
It’s opening in mid December in the former premises of Maison Bleue Le Bistrot at 370-372 Morningside Road. This will be the second restaurant for this business, whose name translates as ‘crazy’ in Italian. Their first branch sprung up in September 2020, on Cadzow Place in Abbeyhill.
“We are really excited to be opening a restaurant in Morningside”, says co-owner, Nel, who will be joining other new food businesses, Detour and Twelve Triangles in this neighborhood. “When we launched Matto, our vision was to create authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas that were a little different but with absolutely no compromise on the quality of the ingredients. It has been a labour of love from day one and to expand so quickly, we feel incredibly lucky. It would not have been possible without the support of our loyal customers”.
While the original branch is pretty tiny, the newest venue, which will feature bright prints and bold colours, is in a prime corner spot that seats 42 diners.
To make their Neapolitan-style pizzas, which are created with the prerequisite 00 Italian flour, San Marzano tomatoes and fior di latte mozzarella, they’ve installed a wood-fired oven that cooks them in 60 seconds.
The menu will feature many of the tried-and-tested creations from the original restaurant and take-away. There’s the burrata salad, fried spaghetti balls, pizza fritta (a deep fried pizza), arancini in various varieties including the spicy diavolo, puddings including a tiramisu or baba cake soaked in rum syrup, and pizzas including one with a truffle base that’s topped by smoked cheese, mushrooms and rocket or the pumpkin base with nduja, gorgonzola, pumpkin seeds and basil. Especially for Morningside, they’ve also created a pea puree base that comes with smoked speck, gorgonzola, mozzarella, figs, rocket and balsamic glaze.
