Obicà Mozzarella Bar is a new casual Italian restaurant concept based on the best Mozzarellas di Bufala Campana, together with traditional Italian recipes and high-quality Italian handmade products, prepared “in sight” and served by drawing inspiration from traditional sushi bars.

What is Obicà?

Obicà means ‘here it is!’ in the Neapoletan dialect. The first OBICÀ Mozzarella Bar in the world was opened in Rome in May 2004 from an idea of Silvio Ursini and in March 2016, Obicà launched its new London flagship in St Paul’s. The light-filled space is a vibrant and convivial environment perfect for any occasion, from the restaurant to the private dining room and the beautiful terrace. Obicà is also ideal to pick up a coffee and croissant on the way to work or just sit at the bar with an aperitivo and absorb the easy-going, warm atmosphere.

The Restaurant

The warm, bright and contemporary design of every Obicà restaurant strips out unnecessary ornamentation and makes the food the star, providing the perfect contrast to the fresh and colourful hand-made ingredients and relaxed ambience.

Every Obicà restaurant around the world is designed using a palette of natural materials such as wood blocks, textile panels, glass and iron and giving Obicà a consistent visual identity which can be adapted to suit a wide variety of unique locations.

The Mozzarella

The mozzarella served at Obicà is from dairies and farms certified by the Consortium of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP.  Made only from the creamy and nutritious milk of the water buffalo, this famous fresh Italian cheese is hand made by artisan producers in the DOP – Denominazione di Origine Protetta – of Campania in Southern Italy. Originally made popular in the 18th century by the elegant Bourbon Royal Farmhouse of Carditello near Naples, where water buffalo were bred for their milk, today Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is made only by selected certified dairies located between the Greco Roman city of Paestum, South East of Naples, and Agro Pontino, an area of former marshland in the Lazio region.

Pizza Masterclass

During the evening we had the opportunity to attend a super fun and instructive pizza masterclass. Guided by two experts pizzaioli we learnt how the pizza is made and we even tried how to cook it by ourselves! The pizzaioli explained that flour is the first and most important ingredient of a pizza dough. They told us they use only Petra flour, made with the best stone-ground soft grains, supplied by Molino Quaglia, a family-run mill in the province of Padua.

Allowing pizza dough to mature and rise nice and slowly makes all the difference to its flavour and texture. The pizza dough is usually left to rise for at least 48 hours. They then cook it on a refractory stone, designed to ensure even distribution of heat, so that every pizza is especially crispy, light and digestible. All of this requires some patience, but the result is worth the wait!

The Dinner

In the evening creative cocktails inspired by Italian aperitivo are prepared at the lively bar by the Obicà mixologists.

After these lovely drinks, we sat at our table and the managers gave us some interesting insights about how Obicà chooses its ingredients. We started with some Bufala Classica Delicate, Bufala Affumicata Naturally Smoked Ricottina di Bufala Creamy and Slightly Sweet. They told us that the difference between the various types lies in their taste: sweet and gentle for the “Delicate”; firm and flavourful for the “Intense” and stronger and more robust for the “Smoked” mozzarella that is smoked naturally over straw embers. Each of the three varieties of mozzarella has an unmistakable flavour and is really worth trying.