I’d heard great things about Bistro Bianconi, but always put off ordering. Hmmm, it does look and sound lovely, but I’m always loath to pay for takeaway pizza. Dominos, with their horrible stodgy dough and sinister, shiny toppings, charges around 16 for a 12 inch pizza. Four Star, which jostles with Domino’s for the title of world’s shoddiest pizza, charges between €17-19 for 12 inches.
No such rip off at Bistro Bianconi. This restaurant/ takeaway has consistently won Ireland’s best pizza at the Pizza World Championships, and I finally see why. Last weekend, we were having a few beers at home before heading into town when hunger struck. We argued over Chinese, Indian, and the chipper, but pizza won out.
We ordered from the Ranelagh branch and it arrived in half an hour, 15 minutes before the ETA. I went for the Gourmet veggie sans mushrooms, and it really was the best pizza I remember eating in Ireland. The base was thin and crispy and the toppings were fresh and high quality: chargrilled artichoke, spinach, sliced Spanish onions, slow roasted tomatoes, sweet roasted peppers, and whole roasted garlic cloves for €15.30. Eyes bigger than my belly, I only got through half of it, so one pizza would easily feed two. Of course some people – usually but not always greedy boys – can get through a whole pizza and more in minutes.
Bistro Bianconi has branches in Sligo, Galway, and Dublin.