I tried Chillingham Road restaurant Flint and had the best pizza I've tried outside of Italy

Chillingham Road and Heaton Road mark one of the most vibrant, up and coming areas in the city thanks to the huge number of students preferring to stay in the area than other areas of the city.

Wherever students are, exciting small businesses tend to follow across much of the UK, including Newcastle, and this is why there are some of the best eateries across the city now popping up along the two streets to the north east of the city centre.

One of these sites is Flint, a small pizza restaurant on Chillingham Road offering some of the most amazing Italian food across Tyneside.

Opening in 2020, Flint is within the strip of eateries including street food favourites Redheads Mac n Cheese, the Michelin Guide reccommended Nest and popular plant based site Veganatomy, although its layout suggests it is more of a restaurant than a spot for a quick takeaway bite.

The restaurant is set up with an intimate tight-knit feel, boasting just one table for big groups while other seating options are two seated or against the site’s bar, allowing customers to watch as their pizza is made.

My partner and I kept things simple and ordered a Margherita each to test the site’s claims of true neapolitan style pizza, based on how the food is made in the birthplace of Pizza, Naples where we had visited - and enjoyed plenty of the delicacy - last year.

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And to be fair to Flint, the team aren’t lying. The dough was perfectly cooked while bubbled up enough on the crust to - if it wasn’t for the Greggs over the road, feel like we were back in Southern Italy - while the cheese and tomato sauce was balanced perfectly to create the best pizza I have had since returning from Naples in May last year.

Less traditional were the sauces on offer which, while maybe horrifying the average Italian, were a perfect way to add something to the traditional pizzas. We decided on a house made fermented hot sauce and garlic and rosemary aioli dip. While the first was nice, the latter was perfect with the mix of flavours ideal for someone like myself who isn’t a fan of an overly strong garlic dip.

The site was fairly quiet while we were there, having made the most of the earlier opening times on Saturdays but food and drink service was quick, efficiant and exactly what you want when dining out - not feeling smothered by the waiter, but rather knowing they are there if anything was required.

The ambiance was assisted by what I can only assume was a perfectly curated playlist which added to the laid back, relaxed almost Mediterranean vibe and drinks - one cocktail and one gin and lemonade which both hit the spot perfectly and made for an ideal way to both enjoy a lunch out and kickstart an afternoon in the city.

Flint on Chillingham Road is open between 5pm and 9pm between Wednesday and Friday and 12 noon until 9pm on Saturdays. Group bookings for the site’s only large table are available through the restaurant’s website.