Gazzo: How a Norwegian brought pizza to Neukölln

At Hobrechtstraße 57, a pink Gazzo sign has glowed above an orange façade since September 2018. Inside there is sourdough pizza, prosecco on tap and buffalo-milk soft serve. Three things that have little to do with each other on paper and fit together surprisingly well here.

The restaurant was founded by the Norwegian Mikael Andersen and Robert Szabo. Andersen is a trained chef who learned his trade in France, worked in international kitchens and Michelin-starred restaurants, later studied business and worked on restaurant concepts. Szabo brought eight years of experience from Grill Royal – and with it the art of holding a dining room together even on packed nights.

Andersen developed the kitchen, Szabo took care of hospitality, drinks and design. Their shared idea: a pizzeria that takes the quality of its ingredients as seriously as the pizza itself. When Gazzo opened, sourdough pizza was far from as common in Berlin as it is today.

A Norwegian and a question of dough

Together with an experienced baker, the founders developed their own sourdough recipe. The flour is organic, and the dough is given time to ferment. Yeasts and lactic acid bacteria loosen it and form acids that give it a flavour of its own.

How good a pizza turns out is therefore decided long before it is baked: by the amount of water, the temperature and above all the resting time. Gazzo relies on a long fermentation and a baking method that gives the crust a strong char while it stays airy inside. Add to that a subtle acidity that stands out especially with simple toppings.

The Margherita is the best test. Tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, basil and olive oil leave the dough enough room. The crust tastes of roasted notes, the centre stays soft, the tomatoes bring freshness. You quickly understand why the founders spent so long on flour and water.

That a Norwegian of all people is behind the recipe may initially have irritated Italian traditionalists. The pizza itself is a good argument for letting the matter rest.

Italian cooking from Brandenburg

Italian cooking lives on ingredients whose quality cannot hide behind elaborate preparation. At Gazzo, this principle is applied to regional producers. Mozzarella and burrata come from a buffalo dairy in Brandenburg. For cured meats, the restaurant works with selected artisan producers. Tomatoes, parmesan and olive oil still come from Italy where it makes sense for the flavour.

Besides the Margherita, the menu features pizza with roasted aubergine and parmesan, for example, or with salami, buffalo ricotta and pecorino. The combinations stay manageable. What matters is that the ingredients can hold their own on the robust sourdough base.

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Gazzo

One dish here made it onto our cards.

Buffalo milk plays a special role here. It is usually richer in fat and protein than cow’s milk and lends itself to creamy dairy products. Mozzarella and burrata get a lush texture from it that goes well with the acidity of the dough.

Gazzo calls its approach “Sin Win”: guests should eat well, while the producers the restaurant buys from benefit from the collaboration. A lofty ambition for an evening that usually begins with the question of which pizza to order.

The soft serve you save room for

Gazzo’s best-known dessert looks unspectacular at first: soft serve made from Brandenburg buffalo milk, served with olive oil and sea salt.

The milk makes the ice cream especially creamy. The olive oil sets a fruity, sometimes slightly bitter note against it. Salt heightens the flavours and catches the sweetness. A familiar childhood dessert turns into something adults talk about quite seriously after the first spoonful.

Precisely because so few ingredients are involved, each one counts. The idea follows the same logic as the Margherita: if the basis is right, not much more is needed. If you are eating at Gazzo for the first time, don’t plan all your available capacity for pizza.

A fixture of Neukölln

Since Gazzo opened, Berlin’s pizza scene has moved on. Long fermentation and carefully chosen products are now taken for granted at many new places. Gazzo was one of Berlin’s early representatives of this approach.

Then there is a room that, with art on the walls, a lively buzz and easy-going service, feels more like a long evening with friends than a demonstration of Italian baking. The prosecco comes from the tap, the pizza to the table, and at some point someone asks about the ice cream.

Gazzo shows how Italian food culture can be combined with regional ingredients and international biographies. The sourdough gives the pizzas their signature, the buffalo-milk products from Brandenburg another distinctive touch. And the soft serve with olive oil and sea salt is a pretty good reason to come back – even if you are actually already full.

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