Restaurant review: Educazione Napoletana
Rue du Mail 1
What’s good? Educazione Napoletana does what it says on the tin: It is a compendium of all things Naples, the gritty and picturesque city that gave the world pizza and “O sole mio.”
Its sophisticated menu includes five different pizza categories — Gourmet, comfort food-ish Fried, Traditional, Special pizzas, and name-dropping VIP pizzas — plus a vast selection of antipasti, and stuffed pizzas known as panuozzi.
None of the novelty pizzas strays into the outrageous — pineapple on pizza is “violence,” reads a poster in the dining room, and ordering a pineapple pizza costs a punitive €100. Yours truly had a Matteo Mevio (VIP), a pesto-soaked take on the O.G. Margherita, and wolfed it down in three minutes flat.
The tiramisù, served in a disassembled coffee machine, is also a highlight.
What’s not? The conscious eater (such as yours truly’s dining mate, who got a Vegetariana) may balk at the restaurant’s unabashedly indulgent cuisine. Expect frying galore and ungodly amounts of oil.
Vibe: As if in a lively Neapolitan tavern, you’ll be rubbing elbows with patrons at neighboring tables.
Who’s picking up the check? A Margherita comes for €10.50, just slightly above what it would set you back in a high-end pizzeria in Italy. Fancier pizzas can cost twice as much — with the edge case of the ideologically extortionate pineapple-topped Hawaii. Gluten-free pizzas carry a €5 surcharge and one needs to notify the chef 24 hours in advance!
Spotted: A Madonna-shaped plastic holy-water dispenser, peering from a shelf. A neighboring duo of Milanese Brussels-bubblers were also overheard pontificating on geopolitics, notably on how Ursula von der Leyen is making a dog’s dinner of the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.
Insider tip: Chef Bernardo D’Annolfo’s favorite pizza is the Wè Mamma, a star-shaped pizza he dedicated to — of course — his mom.
Fun fact: The restaurant’s name nods to “Educazione siberiana” (Siberian Education), an Italian-language book by Russian-Moldovan writer Nicolai Lilin, which made a splash in Italy in 2009.
How to get there: As always when it comes to Châtelain, you’ll have a hard time getting there by metro. Trams (81) and buses (60, 54, 38) on the other hand will easily do the job — as will bikes and trottinettes.
— Review published on November 16, 2023. Illustration by Dato Parulava for POLITICO.
