Goodbye Raj Tandoori, Hello Piazza delle Cuccina

It seems that the Raj (which I have to admit I’d never been to) - is no more, and we are to get an Italian restaurant on Perry Vale

With the recent arrival of high quality, but specialist, pizza restaurants locally, I hope they don’t try to compete on that offering. Anyone know anything about it or who is running it?

I have to say that the name is rather odd. I have to assume they meant “cucina” - i.e kitchen (“Square of the Kitchen”?). However, it could be intentional (“Cuccina’s Square” whoever she is) but it doesn’t sound natively Italian, but maybe there’s a story to it?! We shall find out

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Good spot. I shall be interested to see how it copes with the jammed pavements and crowds from the hall.

Doesn’t look terribly innovative or contemporary, especially being so close to The Perry Vale. A clutch of really good restaurants there (no necessarily expensive) could do well together as a mini destination. The Perry Vale stuck their necks out opening on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ and it’s paid off.

Yes, the misspelling doesn’t bode well. Perhaps it’s a spin off of Ferfect Chicken?

Was that an actual thing?!

In the heart of Forest Hill!

Check out how the F has been placed over the P!

Randomly, I met the fellow who opened that pizza shop. He sat next to me on the train, and wanting to capture all the business he can, he told me how he was on the way to his new business. He’s definitely Italian. Could the spelling be a regional thing (asks an American who refuses to add all those Us)? Or maybe he is a good pizza maker, but not so much for spelling.

Oh dear: looks like someone has tried to translate “pizza from our kitchen” literally into Italian and then has screwed up the spelling on two of the three words.

I’d make a small wager that there aren’t many Italians working in that establishment!

Do you mean the ‘Piazza’ place? I don’t believe it is a regional issue on the spelling, but it might be (it is certainly not the Collins Italian / English dictionary - so fairly certain)

EDIT: of course, to be fair, one can be a good chef and still not be great at spelling

So it IS going to be another pizza restaurant? that is rather depressing in a way. I just hope it offers something more in addition to that.

I get a sense that many businesses open without doing proper research first - like the number of mini-markets, barbers etc. that have gone in/out of business in the last few years. What a waste of their time, money and talents.

Very interesting piece of information. Could it be we are all getting a bit carried away. I look forwards to giving it a go either way.

Maybe I’m just old. But I miss the days of the French House. . . .

As a native Italian, I have to say that cuccina doesn’t exist in Italian. They probably meant Piazza della cucina and got it very wrong. That would translate into Kitchen’s square, but it doesn’t quite work in Italian… Let’s put it this way, I’m not going to try it once it opens… Mamma dough on the other hand does fab pizza! Possibly the deal clencher for me when I decided to move to the area . Long may it last!!

Well, I will take a look and try to give it a chance as spelling and cooking are separate skills … but as you say, it is a ‘bad sign’

I will try to seek out a chance to speak to the owners - you never know

Mind you, Ferfect Chicken serves superb ribs and their Zinger Burger is very nice. Dont knock the sign before you try the food.

This is a public service message brought to you by Londondrz, bonvivir extraordinaire

Piazza delle Cuccina opened last night. Looks like a rather nice menu.

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Looks rather nice on the inside too, nicer than the initial signage suggested. https://www.facebook.com/Piazza-della-cucina-280754788941157/

I always welcome new restaurants in FH, including this one. However, as a native Italian speaker, I can say that the menu is full of spelling mistakes “Ruccoletta”, “Picante”, “Formagio” and as others have commented “Cuccina”. This place may well serve decent pizzas (I have not been there yet), but the owner is certainly not Italian (and seemingly could not even be bothered to check an Italian dictionary). I think I will stick with Bona Sourdough for now which, in my humble opinion, serves the best Neapolitan pizzas in London.

They had the sign firm remove the extra c last week so it now reads cucina.

@anon5422159 I’m not thrilled that my post was moved and merged with this one.

After a great meal, I wanted to give a nice shout out to a new Forest Hill business which is in its first week of operation. My praise is now stuck at the end of a bitchy conversation from Italian grammar police who question the heritage of the owners and the need for a pizza place. The owners by the way, definitely have Italian accents and were really very nice and gracious.

My comments AFTER they’ve opened have nothing to do with this sour speculation BEFORE they opened. I’d very much appreciate it if you could split my comment off again. This seems like a bit of over moderation.

I’ve moved it back, @starman.

On a broader note I think things could get a bit chaotic if everyone with differing views of a venue choose to create their own individual threads. But I think it’s fair in this case to create a fresh new thread for this restaurant. If anyone else wants their positive replies from this thread moved to the new one please PM me.

I think Chris was very fair in doing this

I echo starman’s comments. I had a take away yesterday (only collection is currently available) and the pizzas were great with friendly staff.

Bona is also great but perhaps they missed a trick by not having more space and hopefully there will be enough trade to support them both.

I always thought that we were missing a large chain pizza restaurant perhaps in the Capital with a combined play area that would work with the large open hall that cannot be changed due to the listed status. A bit off topic, but I now hope that doesn’t happen as it would no doubt push out these great independent offerings that we should do our best to support.

Glad to see someone giving Bona the love they deserve, I do not understand the obsession locals have with Mamma Dough! I think Bona’s pizzas are way better. Mamma Dough’s are always slightly burnt yet somehow sloppy.

Hmmm… Provato una volta quando era Sodo e … … But You may have persuaded me to try it again, even though when they opened as Sodo around the corner from me I have to say I was soooo disappointed that I decided to build my own pizza oven, which will of course soon produce the best pizzas and Ligurian focaccia in SE23 :

Oh my! Your focaccia sounds awesome!

…Now you have the opportunity to speak with me …, I’m the owner of Piazza Della Cucina ,how can I help you?

…we had some problems with the company that made the sign …, even now we are not happy with it.We are going to change the sign soon .Thanks ( Piazza )