Restaurant SURT

“If the others were heaven, this is the resurrection,” the waiter smiles confidently, setting down the final steaming hot and perfectly charred pizza of the evening.You smile, breathe in one last time the aromas of the sourdough crust, take a bite. And flavors explode like a culinary punch in the mouth, sending trembles through your body. 

He is right, you realize. If the Pizza Margherita at SURT tastes like going to heaven, well… Then the traditional, Sicilian Pizza Rianata dressed with anchovies, red onion, pecorino and oregano must be what going to Heaven only to be resurrected days later feels like. Perfectly crunchy and chewy with a mild tang of sourdough and toppings bursting with deep intense tomato and umami flavors with a zing of pecorino and spicy oregano notes. It is perhaps the closest an agnostic reviewer has come to a religious experience in years - and the perfect end to a perfect evening audience with Giuseppe, the new sourdough pizza king of Copenhagen.

Slightly imposingly, but perhaps only fittingly, access to this borderline religious pizza experience is granted by walking through the gates of the old Carlsberg Brewery. A massive, ancient gate at the heart of the old brewery building, flanked by two equally massive elephants carved in stone. Behind this ancient gate, massive structures of stone, concrete and glass suddenly appear. This is Carlsberg Byen. Copenhagen’s newest borough. And this is where you will find Copenhagen’s most progressive pizza restaurant: SURT.

Read also: Giuseppe Oliva - Sourdough Wizard, Rule Breaker and Innovator

At SURT, owner Giusepppe Oliva and his Italian crew of pizza experts have created something truly special. They have created homeliness and warmth from a large, open, modern space. And they have created some of the best pizza Copenhagen, if not the world, has ever seen and tasted. As for the name? Well, it is Danish for “sour” and refers not only to the charismatic owner’s love for acidity and punch, but also to the sourdough that, rather untraditionally, forms the base of the world-class pizzas served here. 

The use of sourdough in pizza making is something that is quite frowned upon in parts of his native Italy. It is actually downright banned in Naples which is considered by many as the home of the modern pizza. But to Giuseppe , who hails from a long line of bakers, it is second nature. It makes for a better texture and more flavor, he argues, and because no two sourdough starters are ever alike, it also adds individuality. So to hell with rules, he says. At SURT, all pizzas are all crafted from a sourdough base using ancient grains, and it shows in the final product.

The sourdough pizzas at SURT are incredibly thin and flexible at their base, yet still crispy at the edges with the large, irregular air bubbles that are so wonderfully stereotypical of sourdough. Served straight from the piping hot 500 degree custom-built wood-fired oven, they all have that aromatic punch and flavorful twang that only sourdough offers. The one final touch that you would only really miss if it was not really there. 

Where nothing is ever done by the books

Traditional or not, the method provides a world-class base which comes dressed with a perfectly dosed scattering of carefully sourced luxury ingredients from near and far. These include incredible and sustainable blue oyster mushrooms from local Funga Farm (link), greens from Nabo farm as well as other local produce. But they also include heirloom Siccagno tomatoes from his friend’s fields in his childhood town in Sicily and buffalo mozzarella from small-scale producers in Campana. The ingredient list is neither completely local, nor completely foreign. And it is a new unique spin on sustainability that involves not only supporting locally, but also paying tribute to your rules and supporting small local initiatives in your old home town.

To wash down the unique pizzas, drinkers will enjoy a mercifully short cocktail list and a slightly longer selection of beers - of which the unique house brew made by Carlsberg using sourdough starter from SURT is highly recommended. Wine lovers, on the other hand, will be blessed with a downright impressive array of Italian wines available by the bottle.

Actually, impressive may be a bit of an understatement here. When compared to the relatively short list of pizzas and a small selection of snacks and a la carte options offered, the wine card seems massive and completely out of proportion. But that is just another part of the charm about SURT. Nothing here is ever done by the books - or quite like anywhere else.

Where most contemporary pizzerias are either very modern and very local in style or very traditional and very Italian, SURT falls comfortably somewhere in the middle. Take the interior of the restaurant as a perfect example: It is large, open and a bit of a perfect toss-up between raw concrete walls, gritty industrial ventilation pipes, modern glass and steel, various homey decorations, and a giant hand-built stone oven at the center, complete with terracotta tiles and all. It sounds a bit hap-hazardly thrown together, but taken as a whole and adding in the warmth and friendliness of the staff. It just works in creating a perfectly homey feel.

The same, very obviously, can be said for the pizzas that are somewhere between modern and traditional in nature. Drawing on hundreds of years worth of experience in sourdough and pizza making, they mix ancient traditions in new ways, using both classic Italian ingredients and modern, local ingredients. All to create something truly unique: a modern, sustainable take on pizza that pays tribute to both the ancient arts and the old country - but certainly also to Giuseppe and his friend’s new home in Copenhagen. All whilst raising a proverbial middle finger in the air to dogmatic rules and stipulations. It is at one time a very old-school yet wonderfully rebellious stance on pizza-making, and it is perhaps not too surprising when you look at the man in charge of the show.

Pizza quite unlike anything else

To chefs and pizza aficionados, Giuseppe is not just any old pizza baker. He is someone who is a product of a mix between what is old and traditional and what is modern. He is a grandson of a miller, a baker by trait and the very same Giuseppe who was headhunted by Christian Puglisi to help open and run world famous BÆST Pizza on Nørrebro. 

He did so quite successfully for almost five years before branching out and creating his own. He searched high and low for locations and ideas until finally SURT was born. And the place he has now created with help of his brother from Sicily, the former sous-chef at BÆST and other great talents from the business, has now come together like a perfect symbiosis not unlike that found in his famous sourdough.

The pizza at SURT may well be one of best and most memorable pizza experiences you will ever have. It is a borderline religious modern pizza experience full of heart and soul. And it should not be missed.

SURT

Price range: Varies from 95,- to 175,-

Cuisine: Pizza and smaller Italian dishes

Where to go: Bag Elefanterne 2, 1799 København

What to expect: Out of this world largely plant-based depth of flavor and a fascinatingly dogmatic yet inspiring and non-preaching approach to sustainability and food waste.

What the vibe is like: Industrial and modern, yet warm and homey.

What to order: The Margherita, Shrooms or Rianata.