Walking down Sala Daeng Road, the air is filled with the familiar steamy smells of any Bangkok street. But take a turn into the car park of MK Gold restaurant and you'll find an oasis of appetising aromas lurking. This is where to find the newest attraction to Bangkok's burgeoning food truck industry, Pizza Massilia, the first gourmet mobile pizzeria in Thailand which opened earlier this week.
The relaxing ambience of Pizza Massilia.
The truck sits underneath the shade of a 100-year-old tree which provides a green canopy for the dining experience. It is a pocket of nature and a welcome spot for chilling in the city. As the Sun set, lights hanging from the trees began to spark on and the tables were adorned with a soft yellow glow. Tables were filled with people chatting happily, relaxed by this little retreat from the rumble of the city.
Pizza Massilia has a range of drinks, whiskeys, wines and Italian beers along with a range of non-alcoholic sparkling drinks. With a cold one in hand and a breeze blowing through the leaves above it was easy to feel relaxed and content.
The margherita pizza.
Then, of course, the pizza. Pizza Massilia imports the finest artisan products from Italy and France. The base is made from organic Italian flour and is cooked in their traditional wood fire oven by Italian chef Luca Apino, which results in a high-quality culinary experience. The result is pizza that can only be believed once tasted.
The margherita was an explosion of tomato (250 and 400 baht, depending on size). The sparse ingredients allowed the palette to focus on the taste of the tomatoes and the occasional bite of basil or buffalo mozzarella added a fresh smack of flavour to keep it interesting.
The burrata and culatello (490 baht) kept the beautiful tomato base but had burrata cheese and culatello, a type of prosciutto. The meat was cut so fine that it was hard to tell it was there but for its subtle taste. The cheese was buttery and soft, almost milky, and came as a surprising treat.
For spice lovers there is the nduja & garlic pizza (380 baht) — nduja being Calabrian sausage made from pork trimmings. It had a great balance of flavours between scamorza cheese, the tomato base, the garlic and the spicy spreadable nduja sausage. None of these ingredients dominated the palate. What's more, these are just three of the eight pizza's on the menu — other enticing gourmet toppings include baby squid Provencal, truffle Mortadella and la ratatouille.
Pizza Massilia was started by Luca Apino (Bottega di Luca) and Frederic Meyer (Issaya Siamese Club, Namsaah Bottling Trust). The location on Sala Daeng Road will be its home base, and once a month the truck will travel to different locations in Thailand including Chiang Mai, Phuket, Khao Yai and Hua Hin.
The gorgeous setting combined with mouthwatering pizza results in a culinary experience that has to be tried. And it all comes from the back of a truck.
Co-owner Frederic Meyer hard at work.
