All the toppings to create a fantastic dining experience
My editor Kevin van der List and I heard a rumour that our local Pizza Del Forno, at the Farrarmere Shopping Centre, has been the number one restaurant among its franchises for the past two years and that its owner, Elder Lopes, was awarded as the best franchisee in the group.
Being the curious Benoni reporters that we are, we decided to investigate this for ourselves and make our own sound judgements.
In fact, Kev and I attended the establishment’s “soft opening” in May 2014 and even then we were impressed with the wide-selection of pizza, pasta, grills, desserts, salads and wines on offer.
Hit the fast-forward button to March 2016 and it became extremely clear to us that our opinions back then were certainly well justified as the restaurant has evolved into a popular dining destination for Benonians and visitors to Benoni.
This was apparent in the sheer number of patrons enjoying the warm atmosphere on the night of our visit.
So, what makes it worthy of the wonderful accolades that the restaurant has been awarded you may ask?
First and foremost it’s the food – naturally.
Whether you are rocking up for a breakfast in the morning or treating the family to dinner you can be assured of a wealth of tantalising options on offer on the Pizza Del Forno menu.
Everything is freshly prepared from scratch and that is evident in the barrage of flavours that hit your tongue when you put fork (or hands) to mouth.
We got our dinner underway with a starter Focaccia and starter chicken livers.
The two dishes actually complement each other so well and we were thrilled with our starters.
Our friend Dave, who accompanied us on the evening, stated that it is the small things that count such as the easy to spread butter on the Focaccia which a lot of restaurants sometimes tend to neglect.
Kevin commented that “he didn’t die for the livers – he ‘lived’ for them!”
For mains, our witty Benoni editor ordered a 500g medium T-bone steak with a side portion of chips and roast vegetables.
He was also given a wide selection of sides, but he thought against that as he is laughably trying to trim his ever-growing boep.
Dave almost fell off his chair when he was informed by our welcoming waitress, Maria Jiyane, that he could go for a half-half pizza option, meaning that he could enjoy two of his favourite oven-cooked pizzas all in one meal.
He opted for a half bacon pizza and a half Portuguese chicken pizza and was suitably satisfied.
I followed suit on the half-half decision with a half Del Forno pizza (it’s in the name so it has to be good, right?) and a half Alla Pappa pizza.
The Del Forno (which has steak, mushrooms, green peppers and Peppadew as toppings) and the Alla Pappa (topped with bacon, feta and avocado) ticked all the right boxes for this hungry journalist and the leftover slices made for an awesome morning snack.
The owner is as hospitable as they come and treats his staff like one big family.
This rubs off on the staff members who are constantly smiling and sharing jokes and just old-fashioned politeness and friendliness with their customers.
We even recorded a video of our lovely waitress dancing and having a good time with a patron on her birthday.
Check it out here:
I believe that this interpersonal relationship between the waitrons and the patrons gives this particular Benoni establishment a cutting edge.
After a few cold beverages and a solid chat with the owner we left Pizza Del Forno having confirmed the facts that it is indeed a worthy and deserving recipient of their recent honours.
Try it out sometime, I know I will be returning soon to try out the Trinchado!
LG
