Whiteladies Road in Bristol has turned into one of the city's best food streets in recent years. Bosco Pizzeria is one of the more recent restaurants to join the fun, but it brings something that was sorely lacking in and around Clifton Downs and Redland - a proper Neapolitan pizza house, complete with rip-roaring pizza oven, as well as some classic pasta dishes, salads, cured meats and typical Italian secondi plates.
This being an authentic pizzeria, expect classic Neapolitan pizza toppings, with both red and white pizzas available. If you insist on your pizza having a tomato base, try the Bosco (a margherita with fior di latte cheese on top), the Calabrian (with 'nduja and datterini tomatoes) or the Fresca (with Parma ham, rocket, tomato, mozzarella and basil). White pizza fans will be enamoured by toppings like courgette pesto, rosemary potatoes and fior di latte, cremini and porcini mushrooms, or porchetta, salami, mascarpone and caramelised onions. Naturally, these are pizzas with chewy crusts, and they emerge steamed out of the oven with angry blackened spots, just as they should.
If you aren't feeling a pizza, no problem - there's plenty more on the menu. For the most part the menu sticks to tried and tested classics - pasta dishes include a carbonara and a lasagna, and large plates range from an authentic Tuscan ribollita stew to a bread pork Milanese cutlet. There are Italian charcuterie platters to share too, and plenty of small bites, from arancini and polpette to bruschetta and focaccia. There is also a kids menu, and a very reasonable set lunch menu too.
On the drinks front, Bosco makes a mean aperitivo - negronis, Aperol spritz and bellinis, for example - as well as beers on draught and a curated wine list of mostly Italian wines. Finish your meal off with a digestivo list that includes fernet branca, amaro and a range of grappas.