What’s the new Franco Manca in Belsize Park like?

Well, it sure won’t break the bank, this one. After seemingly months in the making, one of the capital’s best pizza chains finally flung open its doors a few days ago. And so we had to stop by today for lunch.

It takes over the site of the first ever UK outlet of Ask Pizza – in that slightly weird Edwardian house opposite the Premier Inn – which most recently (and far less successfully) was occupied by Mexican chain Chimichanga.

Never been to Franco? It all started down in Brixton Market, whose wood-fired ovens were first lit back in 2008 by founder Giuseppe Mascoli, originally from Naples.

We’ve eaten there many times: while there are no bookings, the queue moves swiftly as the very good value pizzas are baked in a wood-burning ‘tufae’ brick oven at 500 degrees – for just 55 seconds.

Pizza aficionados will know that the restaurant uses organic flour, made especially for the purpose in Italy, and a slow-rising sourdough whose recipe dates back – so they tell us – to the late 18th century. The buffalo mozzarella, meanwhile, comes from Somerset; and the dry cured ham and sausage is made with Gloucestershire Old Spot pork.

But on our impromptu lunchtime visit to the new branch today, what impressed most was just how damn cheap it is. Especially for flavours – not to mention its simple, effective interior – that are a world away from the yawnsome chains that slope back down towards the tube: Giraffe, Gourmet Burger, Starbucks et al.

So it was no surprise that it was almost full, unlike many other eateries on the stretch – even, despite a fairly robust wind, the spacious terrace, with its ‘upcycled’ furniture, and vast sun-shielding parasol.

So how cheap actually is it? Well, pizzas start at an easy-on-the-wallet £4.50 for a tomato, garlic and oregano: we chose that, and pimped it up with a couple of chalked-up special toppings. Arriving just a few minutes later, it was radiant with reds and greens, the wild garlic pesto vivid against the fresh tomato sauce, the salty ham piled across a stretchy, light, doughy base.

We also ordered the most expensive pizza, a ‘meat special’ from the blackboard. This cost £7.75, compared to an average on the main menu of £5-6.70: its blend of house mozzarella, a soft, delicate stracchino and pancetta was unctuously naughty for a lunchtime nosh.

Although the short drinks list was tempting – house vino is £3.50 a glass, bottled ‘no label’ beer £3.30 – we drank tap water on this occasion, which arrives in standard wine bottles. With service, friendly, and efficient, not included on the bill, the total came to a tasty £15.70.

Which compares very favourably, for example, with a recent lunch at similarly upmarket chain Le Pain Quotidian in South End Green, nearly £25 for two far inferior feta and avocado sourdough tartines. With painfully slow service to boot.

We know where we’ll be returning.

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