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Pizza Perfect What was once a busy dungeon of a nightclub on a smoky corner of Shoreditch High Street is now a far cleaner, more eloquent affair in the form of East London's latest must-eat; a fine-dining pizza restaurant. The familiar stone stairway that bouncers and fried-to-the-eye-balls Tea Rooms ravers once staggered up and down remains, though the bar and club space downstairs is far more sophisticated and the upstairs industrial-style eating quarters smell less of brain cells rotting and more of high-quality food. Forget the lobby squeeze of not booking at, say, Jamie's Italian. Here it's a simple case of getting your name scribbled down in exchange for a pager that can accompany you downstairs where great music, furniture and starter menus await. Before you've had a chance to look up from your appetisers and around to realise this is less a waiting room and more a bar in its own right, your pocket will buzz you up to a busy but spacious table. Whilst the service of the waiting staff at large isn't incredible, don't let the very friendly welcome of the chief waiter skew your verdict. Instead, focus on the strong range of dishes on offer that will likely have the biggest of pizza experts pleased, from toppings of potato, fontina and rosmary, to the spicy sausage special that tends to go down a storm with those of a more meaty inclination. Whether seating on the long, communal bench, the kitchen bar bordering large stone ovens or the more intimate and conventional round tables, it's hard not to be in high spirits at this establishment, especially when sampling their solid range of wines and beers. Open for less than a year, getting inclusions in London pizza guides and providing a breath of non-curry spice air to the East End, you're likely to have a good 'un. www.pizzaeast.com / Images: Pizza East 
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