Bulgaria’s ‘God of Pizza’ Opens S’pore Kiosk Serving Focaccia-Style Nutella Pizza

“The crackling, that’s what I like to hear,” declared Radostin Kiryazov as he chomped down on a piece of freshly-baked pizza crust that resembled crispy focaccia. The 49-year-old Bulgarian chef, who is based in his home country, was in Singapore for a week to set up L’Arte Pizza & Focaccia, his maiden F&B venture here.

The takeaway kiosk will open on May 9 at Tanjong Pagar’s Guoco Tower serving house-made pizza Romana (Roman-style pizza) and focaccia. The shop is also located next to Spanish grill restaurant Pura Brasa — Chef Rado has partnered the folks behind the restaurant to set up L’Arte (which means ‘art’ in Italian, his way of describing the craft of making pizza).

Pizza Romana

When 8days.sg dropped by, chef Rado had already prepared trays of dough, each the size of a small rock and adorably round like a plump cushion. Compared to the more well-known Neapolitan-style pizza, which hails from Naples in Italy, Roman-style pizza from Rome is not as common even in its native Italy.

The pizza-making process

According to chef Rado, the main reason is that pizza Romana is more time-consuming to make (which would explain the prices at L’Arte; each slice is priced from $6 to $9.50). While a whole Neapolitan pie can be made from scratch and baked within 30 minutes, Roman pizza dough requires at least 24 hours of fermentation and is twice-baked for three minutes each time; once to fluff up the plain crust, and another round with its toppings.

Rectangular pizza

Instead of the typical round shape, pizza Romana also comes in rectangular portions, which are cut into bite-sized pieces that are best eaten with your hands. The texture is also similar to focaccia bread, with large airy pockets and a solidly crisp crust that can hold up heavier toppings like eggplants, burrata and truffle cream, which L’Arte offers. There are 10 pizza flavours here, which you can get by the slice in a paper tray to eat on the go.

The ‘God of Pizza’

In his native Bulgaria, chef Rado (pictured above) is known as the “God of Pizza”, having popularised the Italian staple there with his four pizza-centric restaurants. “Two have closed, due to Covid-19,” said the chef, who was also a judge at the World Pizza Championship.

As for why a Bulgarian is making pizza his, er, bread and butter, chef Rado explained: “My sister moved to Sardinia when she got married, and I moved there later.” He stayed in Italy for 15 years, where he began specialising in pizza-making.

His proprietary recipe for pizza dough uses 800g of water to 1kg of flour, much more than the usual 500g of liquid. This results in a dough that’s very soft, pliant and fluffs up beautifully when baked. When chef Rado urged us to try making the crust with him, the delicate dough draped across our hands like lazy warabi mochi.

Focaccia menu still in the works

Similar to focaccia, the crust is made by using fingers to poke ‘dimples’ in the proofed dough. This bursts the air bubbles, and the craters cradle a generous drizzling of olive oil that gives the crust a golden finish.

But you’ll have to wait a while for the “focaccia” in L’Arte Pizza & Focaccia to materialise. Due to the pandemic, chef Rado’s team is still in the midst of doing R&D for their focaccia offerings. When chef Rado returns to Bulgaria, the shop will be permanently helmed by his Bulgarian right-hand man of six years, chef Ivaylo Dikov (pictured above).

Burrata Cheese, $9.50 a slice/ $34 whole (yields 4 slices)

The Burrata Cheese pizza here is like a fancier version of Neapolitan pizza margherita, topped with creamy burrata, tomato sauce, cherry tomato halves and a drizzle of pesto. We find this topping combination serviceable, but what impresses us is the focaccia base.

Unlike Neapolitan pizza with leopard-spotted puffy cornicione and a 3mm-thick base (an official measurement according to Italy’s pizza authorities — really), L’Arte’s pizza base is a life buoy-shaped piece of bread that looks like it could float on water.

But oh, how fabulous is the crackle when we sink our teeth into the pizza, fresh out of the oven. The yeasty, tangy bread yields a bouncy softness that makes us reach immediately for another slice. This is pizza you can easily polish at least three slices and not feel jelak – better than the pizza romana we have tried in Rome itself.

Tartufata, $9.50 a slice/ $34 whole (8 Days Pick!)

This pizza is heaped with mozzarella, parma ham, parmesan and rocket leaves on a tartufata (an Italian dressing made with truffles, mushrooms and olives) and ricotta blend that chef Rado pipes like cake frosting. Salty ham and cheese is tempered by the earthy truffle cream and rocket leaves, with the pillowy focaccia base giving each bite some heft. Good stuff.

Chevre, $8 a slice/ $28 whole

Chèvre means goat’s cheese in French, one of the toppings for this flavour along with mozzarella, baby spinach, walnuts and cherry tomatoes with lashings of tomato sauce and honey. The loose ingredients start falling off our focaccia float when we attempt to cram everything into our mouth. We wouldn’t order this for the sole reason that we don’t fancy strong-tasting goat’s cheese. But for folks who like it, this is a sophisticated and expertly-paired pick.

Nutella, $6 a slice/ $20 whole

One of the most interesting flavours in chef Rado’s repertoire is this Nutella dessert pizza, which got him first place in the World Pizza Championship’s dessert pizza category in 2005. It consists of his fab focaccia drizzled with Nutella, plus fresh bananas, strawberries and mint leaves.

We like this medley in a crepe, but unfortunately, not as much on pizza. The good chef’s focaccia is too gourmet for a well-loved but junky spread like Nutella, as popular as it is for every other bake on the planet. The hazelnut-cocoa spread alters the subtle refined flavour of the bread base, and we could only taste palm oil. We can foresee kids devouring this and clamouring for more, though. Discerning adults would probably prefer a dark chocolate drizzle.

Address and opening hours

L’Arte Pizza & Focaccia opens May 9, 2022. Pre-orders available via https://lartepizza.oddle.me (limited to two pizzas per customer)

Address: 5 Wallich St, #01-14, S078883

Opening hours: Open daily 11am - 8pm

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Photos: Kelvin Chia