On The Hill pizza in Ixworth: Food review and pictures

Because I'm always wanging on about food, I get asked the same questions a lot.

Where's the best place for this, that and the other? No problem, I love giving recommendations.

What's the best meal you've ever had? That's a long answer, friends.

And if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? Simple. Pizza.

Our margherita pizza at On the Hill (Image: Liz Heath)
The myriad of styles and toppings make pizza the ultimate food, for me. Get bored of savoury? Have a sweet slice. Tired of tomato? Go blonde. One of the best pizzas I've ever had featured shredded brussels sprouts and a lemon oil, for example. But that's a tasty tale for another day.

My point is, I'm a big pizza fan. So when I learned that pizzas made here in Suffolk had been crowned second-best in Britain, I was all in.

The pizza in question is crafted by On The Hill, a pizzeria which started life in Diss and was such a success that they opened a second location in Ixworth, on the High Street, in September.

Their bread and butter, it seems, is takeaways, but we fancied a proper sit down feed, so headed across to Ixworth last Saturday night.

On The Hill's unassuming frontage in Ixworth (Image: Mark Heath)
We were greeted by a fairly unassuming frontage, and a small seating area with a reclaimed furniture sort of vibe, quirky and cosy.

While we were the only ones eating in, there were a steady stream of folks collecting their pies while we were there, so clearly the message is spreading.

OTH is all about Neapolitan-style pizza - three of my favourite words - and offers a small but perfectly-formed menu of nine pizzas with a couple of sides and a dessert.

While we debated our order, I cracked open a can of Good Times lager (£4.30), from the Norfolk-based Duration Brewing Company, with Liz - being a classy girl - opting for a can of Low Intervention white wine (£7.50).

My Good Times lager at On The Hill (Image: Mark Heath)
My beer was fresh and light, with a whack of citrus, while Liz reported the wine to be one of those which improves the more you drink.

We decided to kick off with a garlic bread starter (£6), which arrived swiftly and boded well for our future pies. Well-made, good quality dough with a light garlic flavour and the right combination of chewy and crispy bits.

Liz's can of white wine at On The Hill (Image: Liz Heath)
It could probably have done with a slather more garlic, but as an intro to the meal it did the job nicely.

Next up, the main event. At this stage I feel it's important to point out that, though pizza is a wonderful food, it's dead easy to do badly. In fact, I reckon there's more bad pizza out there than good.

Our garlic bread starter at On The Hill (Image: Liz Heath)
You get dodgy dough, so thick that it's not cooked properly, or so thin that it cracks and burns. Toppings are always a challenge too - either too little or too much, with the latter bringing unwelcome oil and grease to your pizza party.

And don't get me started on tip sag, a subject which provoked guffaws from my colleagues in news conference while relaying my thoughts on the matter. It's a thing though, and too much tip sag has spoiled many a pizza.

We went for the classic margherita, at £11.50 the cheapest pizza on offer, and the meaty, OTH's most expensive pie, at £15.

When they arrived, looking all sexy on wooden serving boards, they made an excellent first impression. OTH's offerings are 12-inch pizzas, so two was plenty to share.

Our meaty pizza at On The Hill (Image: Liz Heath)
In we dove. Another joy of pizza, of course, is that it's a food you eat with your hands - I don't trust folks who use a knife and fork - and that tactile approach means you can get to grips, literally, with the quality of the dough.

And this was good dough. A lovely fluffy crust, darkened in places by the oven - I believe the pizza pros call that leoparding - with that cracking combination of chewy, bouncy, carby goodness and crispy, crunchy areas.

The toppings were done well too. Our margherita had a goodly amount of cheese and tomato - but not too much - and enough basil to add that extra flavour element you expect from this most iconic of pizzas.

The meaty, meanwhile, was topped generously with pepperoni, nduja and prosciutto, each bringing heat, salt and texture in the right amounts.

A slice of the meaty pizza at On The Hill (Image: Mark Heath)
I'm pleased to report, too, that tip sag was not an issue. There was an element of it with the meaty - as you'd expect - but certainly not enough to spoil the eating.  

Pizzas polished off, we decided to ask for our dessert - the Mississippi mud pie brownie (£4) from those excellent folks at Brownie and the Bean - to take away.

When we ate that later, it was a perfect cap to the meal - rich, indulgent and sweet, with a good ratio of topping to base. 

Overall, our meal came to £48.30, which was very reasonable for a slightly naughty Saturday night feed.

Final notes, then. Service was friendly and attentive - especially given our waitress was also looking after takeaway orders and answering the phone.

Our brownie from On The Hill - we took it home to eat! (Image: Liz Heath)
It's clear that takeaways are the name of the game for OTH, but we enjoyed our sit-down meal, in a relaxed, small, fun space.

Worth noting, too, that they've just started opening for lunch between 12 and 2pm from Thursday to Saturday. Pizzas aren't on the menu then, but you can get yourself some home-made focaccia sarnies, filled with whatever you fancy from their list.

Having not had all the pizza in the Britain - if only I had the time - I can't pass judgement on their ranking as the second best across these isles.

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But I can confirm that this is very good pizza, from a company going about things the right way.

Certainly among the best that we've had. And, as you may have deduced, we've had a lot.