At Bronx Pizza on Darby Street, though, it’s all about the Big Apple. This is pizza, New York style. Thin base, crust with a crunch, toppings galore and big, big slices. The kind of slices you can fold in half and scoff as you walk down the street.

Ethan Ortlipp, Ryan Hawthorne and Sean Gaddes, the guys behind Coal & Cedar, own a seriously cool little pizza joint. Arcade machines out front, high tables and a bar out back, graffiti and posters of rock stars and actors adorning the walls.  The space is inspired by New York borough the Bronx.

“The interior reeks of the 1980s and early ’90s. Basketball court fencing, leather booths, neon signs, arcade machines and graffiti,” Ortlipp explained.

“The takeaway section at the front is an experience in itself. You are waited on with refreshments and can play everything from Street Fighter to Space Invaders while you wait. 

“We wanted to take this venue a little less seriously. Darby Street needed somewhere you could just wander in without having to dress up.” 

Ortlipp told Food & Wine he had never met a pizza he didn’t like.

“Whenever I am in the US I spend a vast amount of my time eating pizza. It’s an American staple and they do it uniquely to the rest of the world,” he said.

“The Italians typically use wood-fired ovens and have two or three toppings. Pizza in the Bronx is the best in the world, I feel. Really cheesy, tonnes of cool toppings, fun names and cooked in a stone-plated oven.

“Pizza may look easy to make but there is a big gap between good pizza and amazing pizza and this is amazing pizza.”

Newcastle’s Bronx offers gluten-free options and even vegan cheese. There is even a Sweet Kale pizza – kale, sweet potato, onion, honey and smoked mozzarella. 

Anyone remember Bowery Boys’ delicious ricotta gnocchi? Well, it’s made a comeback at Bronx. 

“Everything chef and part-owner Steven Zielke creates is made with forethought and care – it took almost a month of trials before we opened so he could get his handmade bases perfect. And his perfect is next level.”