There was no way I was going to leave my lovely work colleagues out of my birthday month celebrations back in March. With this in mind, I decided to organise a lovely lunch out, so I hit Google to try and find somewhere near our Soho-based office that we hadn’t yet tried but would be suitably swanky as befitted birthday month.
I settled on Obica, an Italian restaurant and mozzarella bar situated on Poland Street, near Oxford Circus tube station. It was all sleek modernism, with glossy black floors and ceilings, a wall of windows along one side and statement orange glass ceiling lights dangling at regular intervals for a splash of colour. White walls and pale wooden tables finished off the look and helped to enhance the open and airy feel of the restaurant; although it was quiet when we visited, there was still a lot of floor space, so I don’t imagine you would feel too crowded even at busier times.
There was no doubt in my mind that I would be ordering a pizza; I adore Italian style pizzas. I chose a pizza that didn’t have a tomato base; it had plenty of mozzarella, but was topped with mushrooms, black truffle oil and slivers of black truffle itself too. As those who love me know, I absolutely love black truffle, so this was like finding a 
goldmine! However, I made it even more truffly. I spotted on the specialist mozzarella menu that Obica offers a black truffle mozzarella; I asked whether I could have this on my pizza too for even more truffle goodness. The bemused waitress explained that the cheese was a stracciatella, so it was a softer cheese. I gave the thumbs up, said to put it on the pizza, and to finish off being totally Italian, ordered an aperol spritz to boot.
No word of a lie but this is quite possibly one of the best pizzas, if not the best pizza I have eaten. The dough was spot on, lovely and thin on the bottom, yet wonderfully puffy in the crusts and soft throughout; there is nothing worse than a burnt and over crisp Italian pizza base and crust. The truffle flavour was dreamy and permeated throughout every bite of my pizza. The oil sunk deep into the cheesy base, while the slices of black truffle themselves were delightfully large and flavourful. The extra cheese I put on top though was definitely a winning choice. It also had that fabulous black truffle tone, but was also a great, almost spreadable texture, so it worked really well with my crusts. Every element of the pizza was just spot on for me and it was brilliant to revel in one of my favourite flavours so absolutely.
My aperol spritz was served in a fancy tumbler, which I found unusual, however it was still a vibrant orange in colour 
and mixed well to produce a lovely lunchtime cocktail, with that tangy orange tone and a bit of fizz too.
However, stuffing myself with black truffle is not an inexpensive feat. My pizza alone was around £20, and it was an extra £3 to £4 to add the extra cheese on top. Add in the price of a London cocktail plus tip, and my one course lunch with one drink cost me £35 ish. It was worth every penny, however I’m sure you could bring the price down if you went for black truffle-less options!
A good Italian pizza executed well is the stuff dreams are made of, and I’ll be dreaming of this pizza for quite a while yet.
The Discount Deal Menu 