Fatto a Mano restaurant is located in the North Laines of Brighton and specialises in soft and pillowy pizza, baked in a wood-fired oven at +450 degrees. They also have two other locations: one in Hove and one in Brighton’s London Road, but this one in the North Laines is the most central of them all.
Fatto a Mano is definitely one of the most well-renowned pizza restaurants in Brighton – it’s the one that kept coming up when I asked for suggestions or googled Brighton pizzerias, so it was about time that I tried it out for myself!
The Fatto a Mano restaurant in the North Laines has a lovely little outside area for sunny days, and Jim and I were lucky enough to grab the last available table during our visit. This branch is reserved only for walk-ins, and even in the other branches you can only book a table for 6 people or more, so I suggest going early if you want to nab a table – it was very busy when we visited during lunchtime on Saturday.
The decor and branding throughout the restaurant is very simple and streamlined: the biggest colours are blue and white, which to me felt very nautical, though I’m not sure if this was on purpose. Whatever the colours symbolise, I love the feel they create – the whole space feels very fresh and made me feel like I was on a Mediterranean holiday, which is never a bad thing!
We were trying to be good and opted for sparkling water with lemon instead of Italian wine – next time, though!
The pizza menu is divided into four sections: red (with a tomato sauce base), white (without tomato sauce), vegan and saltimbocca (folded filled pizza).
I went for the Marinara from the vegan menu which consisted of tomato sauce, garlic, oregano and basil, and no cheese. The Marinara pizza costs £6 as it is, but I added a few extra toppings (sundried tomatoes and fresh chilli) for a few extra pounds. I really loved the flavours: they definitely weren’t being stingy when it came to the toppings, which meant you could really taste all the different ingredients very distinctively.
Personally, I’m a thin and crispy base kind of girl myself, so a soft and fluffy base was never going to be completely to my tastes, but if that’s your jam, you will definitely love the dough here as the base was very well baked and so pillowy.
Overall I really liked Fatto a Mano – the atmosphere was lovely and the people watching opportunities endless. The pizza was really good, too, even if the base wasn’t quite to my tastes.
Another good thing is the variety of the menu: you can take pretty much anyone here as the restaurant caters for most diets – there are three vegan pizzas and you can also get a gluten-free base for a £2 surcharge. Personally, I really want to try out those folded and filled pizzas next!
You can find the North Laines branch of Fatto a Mano restaurant at 25 Gloucester Road – enjoy!