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Backstory Nan, who works at WN04, was off last Thursday and wanted to go out. When asked where did she fancy she replied: burgers, KFC or pizza! There is no pretence about Nan! I'm not a fan of fast food and so pizza seemed like the best option. Ordering pizza in BKK is like the proverbial 'game of two halves'. There is the mass market version, much beloved by the locals, which IMHO is a gooey mess of dough, stodge, oil and cheap cheese, all topped off with Ketchup! However, BKK also does boast some very good pizzerias and one of my favourites is Vesuvio. Vesuvio This Italian owned pizzeria serves authentic wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza. There are no stodgy thick crusts to be found here! It is a small place, which maybe seats 15 inside and another 15 outside, so you need to be mindful of this when you visit. We were there just after 20.30 on a Thursday night, so the evening rush was over and there were free tables inside. It is quite easy to find. When walking into Soi 8 from Sukhumvit Road, it is located down the first side alley on the right hand side of Soi 8. About 30 metres in on the left hand side and there it is, bang opposite a very gaudy looking bar. The menu is to be expected and has all of the usual antipasti and salads etc. The choice of pizzas is extensive and there is one for every taste, even Hawaiian! The Italian mixed platter as a starter looked very appetising and the Roman tourist sitting next to us rated it highly. A good sign for an 'ethnic' restaurant is if they attract visitors from their own country and it is very commonplace to find diners from the 'old country' eating at Vesuvio. Nan went with the seafood pizza and I chose the ham and mushroom, because I am boring. Both pizzas came out within about 15-20 minutes and they are large! This is why I skipped the starter. The look on Nan's face was priceless as she was more used to the smaller sized circles of dough served up by Pizza Hut etc. To be fair to Nan, who normally has a sparrow-like appetite, she managed to finish off half of hers and had the waitress wrap up the other half to take back to WN04. She claimed she was going to give it to Tew, who had a bad month, but who knows? I then persuaded her to try the tiramisu, which I knew she would enjoy. That was demolished and so was a great suggestion! Summary A great place for authentic pizza. Most of the pizzas started at THB 370, although they have a lunch time special that runs until 15.00 where you can get 2 for THB 650. I try to visit there once a quarter and it has always been consistent. It was Nan's first ever visit and she enjoyed it very much. The quality of ingredients is very good and you can tell that the owner runs a tight ship in terms of standards. Service was very efficient and friendly, with 3 waitresses. The atmosphere is not what you would describe as romantic, like some trattoria-style restaurants, as it is too small for that. We were there for about an hour. All of the customers were farangs, including Italians, Brits and some Scandis. I would certainly recommend Vesuvio if you want that pizza fix and it is open for lunch and closes at 22.30. Nan's Pizza - Plenty of Seafood Toppings Nans Pizza again, but also a view of my ham and mushroom pizza The Bottom Line - I thought it was very reasonable for quality food Special Bonus Photo - Nan's Mai Tai at the bar we went to afterwards (the first of many cocktails!) Ciao SAG