A 7/10 in Italy is no trifling matter.

If they dished out awards for the cheeriest employees ever, Brandi would grab trophies. Entering this famous establishment and asking to photograph the woodfire oven was met with immediate smiling gestures and commands to not forget the staff in my picture-taking.

You get the best food advice from your bartender, especially in Italy.

Spoken about almost always in the same breath as Di Matteo a couple shops down, Dal Presidente also churns out solid Neopolitan Pizza on the Highway to Hell.

Italians can do wonders with simple ingredients, but let's call a spade a spade: They can't make a damn salad.

Napoli is a playground for food enthusiasts. You can pretty much enter any random restaurant and have a meal that rivals, if not trumps, anything you've eaten before. The plethora of options can seem dizzying at first until you get your bearings and listen to the urgent whispers of local food-ivores. 

This is what licking the back of a person who's just had an oil massage feels like. 

"I think they put honey in the dough" - Turned out she was right.

I paused outside for a brief moment to allow a lungful of unfiltered air to reach my lungs. I am all for protocols to protect people, but honestly, wearing a mask whilst walking the whole day is awful. Especially for an asthma sufferer. 

"So you ate at Petrucci?". "No, not yet". The waiter at Spazio Nea looked disapprovingly at me. He had instructed me to try their pizza a week ago and I still hadn't been. Being my second last night in Napoli, I figured I better honour his wishes and headed down the slippery stones of a rain aftermath.

Never one to turn down a noodle-rendezvous, I forced myself out of bed and walked to Chiaia to sample the goods of this establishment.

I'd be lying if I said my hopes were not sky high upon entering this local canteen. The sight of the old nonna in the kitchen struggling to stir gargantuan pots, the children playing front of house and the father walking around nodding at guests. It bled authenticity. I read the menu trembling: would this tiny restaurant tucked away from the main thoroughfares become my favourite place in Naples?

Always on the hunt for vegan food that will surprise me, I was keen to try Un Sorriso Integrale, a place I had walked past numerous times but not noticed since it's at the end of a dark alleyway.

The locals may love it, but bitterman doesn't. Sorry

 I almost fainted when I saw a google review mentioning "Authentic Masala Dosa" in Naples. I dropped what I was doing, ran down to Museo and jumped on the metro line to Municipo and walked the couple blocks to Ghi Rice. 

Ramen is my religion, and giving low marks to a Ramen restaurant is tantamount to backsliding. However, in this case a renounciation of my faith was a much needed act of purging.

"Should I go to Tandem Ragu?" - I asked the waitress at Spazio Neo.
"Oh...... eating there is like getting a warm hug from your Grandmother"

Cheap Eats? You can probably find them near a university in most cities, and Naples is no exception to the rule. 

Rione Sanita is teeming with life in all it's glorious diversity. Pizzeria's of the highest quality, street markets, churches replete with catacombs, botanical gardens, legendary pastry shops and the hard to find Il Giardino di Babuk. On a sunny weekday I walked past Toto noticing the huge amount of pizza's being flung out the door in take-away boxes. Curiosity got the better of me and I ordered a Margherita to go.

Let's all blow the arse trumpet of mediocrity. These exact kind of restaurants are a disservice to the entire subcontinent. They are showcasing the very laziest, blandest branches of the Indian glorified banyan tree of cuisine to dull the senses and stifle the tongue.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of the pizza-guru Antonio Fucito: "Tanzen Pizza" who basically travels Italy eating pizza and posting about it on social media. I reached out to him a month ago asking for some tips in Naples, and he was kind enough to reply.

​This places was one of his recommendations.

Rating: 6 / 10

A city born with mozzarella in their mouth and ragu on the stove has little to offer the vegan community. There are a couple of small places scattered around the city, but not many considering the size of Naples.

Two blocks from home I noticed pizza being delivered to my local butcher shop. If there's one thing I've learn't is that people who work in quality establishments usually have good taste, so I decided to follow the delivery man and find out where it came from. The answer was Taverna Luciana.

Old may very well be Gold, but in the case of Pizzeria Port Alba, I am left wondering how they stayed open so long serving such mediocre pizza.