Reviews
Time Out Eating & Drinking 2009
Pizzerias probably outnumber phone boxes in London these days. Furnace opened in 1999 and seems to have been busy every night since. The restaurant attracts local professionals who treat it as a pitstop en route to somewhere else. It’s an attractive place with high ceilings, lots of exposed brickwork, modern paintings and boxes of Barilla pasta arranged decoratively on shelves. Though daily pasta dishes are available, as well as meat and fish specials, customers come for the pizza. The open kitchen means your can watch your dough being flung around before it goes into the substantial wood-burning stone oven. The bases are thin and crisp and the toppings generous and inventive. The menu has changed little in the past decade, but why come up with novelties when you’ve got toppings such as suckling pig with sour cream, or gorgonzola with poached pears? We tried a margharita and another one topped with goat’s cheese, roasted peppers and rocket. The tomato sauce on both tasted beautifully fresh, and the goat’s cheese and peppers worked wonderfully together. Although there’s a varied Italian wine list, most customers stick with bottles of Moretti. After all, they’re not stopping.
Time Out Eating & Drinking 2007 * Highly Recommended
Tucked away off Hoxton Square, this neat, exposed brick restaurant serves the best pizza in the area. .We opted for asparagus salad with quails egg and asagio cheese sauce, a swanky combination that worked very well. The main menu lists only pizzas but there are also daily pasta specials such as spinach & ricotta tortellini. The monster sized pizzas, however, are what everyone comes for (including a constant stream of patient takeaway customers). You could opt for a gorgonzola with poached pears or a funghi feast of wild, porcini and large flat mushrooms on a truffle paste. Our porchetta topping was thinly cut and generously piled onto a base topped with sour cream and fennel. The crusts are artfully thin and slightly crunchy rather than stretchy. Tiramisu doesn’t go out of fashion in Italian restaurants – good job when it’s as gratifying as it is here. Babies and children admitted. Takeaway service. Separate room for parties seats 40.
Hardens 2007
Rustic style pizzas which put most others to shame win notably consistent reports for this always busy Hoxton Italian…... there is a nice range of starters..
Lonely Planet Out to Eat London 2001
"..a well chosen wine list…. a delectable carciofini con pancetta…..impressively delicate flavouring in the mozzarella di bufala….. an unmissable sponge cake full of rich contrasting textures and temptingly elusive scents of almonds and cream…."
Insight Guide 2004 Recommended Restaurant
BigCity2Day 2002
A great venue for sustenance before kick-starting an evening of clubbing and socialising in the Hoxton area.