All it had was superb Roman-style pizza al taglio baked from scratch with tremendous ingredients and pride to match. And that, sadly, wasn’t enough to make it London.

My favourite of his many varieties: the classic combo of salsiccia (here chunks of mildly spicy sausage resistant yet irresistible to the chew) set against a desirably bitter backdrop of broccoletti (aka broccoli raab, broccoli rabe, rapini, friarelli).

I hint that Herbie’s salsiccia and broccoletti  pizza slice may no longer be the best only because the Roman native now has stiff competition from Nicola and Daniele, two pizzaioli who now work with him. Their pizza al taglio crust is thinner and crisper and has compelled Herbie to up his game.

The only thing separating Datte Foco from true greatness are its deficits in supply and demand: supply of customers with a demand for £2-£2.25 slices. Al taglio is ready-to-go pizza and therefore relies on steady trade to keep the trays turning and allow the pizzeria to offer more combinations. A queue outside a shop in Rome may not be a sure indication of quality but it does suggest the trays of pizza loaded into its window displays won’t sit for very long.

So why are there rarely long queues at Datte Foco? Is it the location in N16, north of Central London with no nearby tube station? Are passersby discouraged by unclear pricing determined by weight? Are they put off by what looks to them like unappetising cold pizza sitting in the window? Do they dislike the vibe, the rear dining area, the counter service? Are they opposed on principle to pizza that isn’t round?

For me none of that matters if Herbie, Nicola and Daniele keep baking salsiccia broccoletti pizza and, see below, aubergine (eggplant) ricotta basil tomato pizza like theirs. Until – fingers crossed – London catches on I am tempted to form my own queue, ordering one small square and then doubling back behind me to order another. And another. And another. Care to join me?

Datte Foco, 10 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0PE (map)

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The benefit of the marathoners’ collective resolve became clearer with the passing of each pizza lap. The Chianti-fueled runners breezed through the outstanding 4th and 5th pizzas – a crostino salsiccia e broccoletti (white pizza with spicy sausage and broccoli rabe) and crostino salsiccia e porcini (white pizza with sweet sausage and fresh porcini mushrooms) without the slightest hint of shortness of breath. All but one made it to the finish line, heartily digging into the 8th and last pizza and praising it with great gusto, much to Leonelli’s satisfaction. He’d prepared the crostino bresaola e rucola (white pizza with air-dried beef and rocket) as a PizzaTuesday exclusive with an assist from his mamma back in Rome. She’d sent him the bresaola in an unmarked parcel.

In designing a marathon menu featuring various toppings and combinations I confess to an ulterior motive: I wished to demonstrate to participants the pure pleasure of a red pizza accessorized only with tomatoes – pizza rossa – or tomato and anchovies – pizza marinara. The base of a pizza al taglio, as the rectangular “by-the-cut” pizza is known in Rome and practised in London at Datte Foco,  is an ideal platform for a generous layer of plum tomatoes: It’s thicker and crispier than Neapolitan-style pizza and therefore doesn’t turn soggy or mushy under the weight of a red sauce.

The rossa and marinara together constituted the evening’s true taste breakthrough. Although the group loved the more elaborate toppings, a good third picked the elemental red pizzas as their favorite. Even those who preferred one of the other 7 pizzas regarded the rossa as something of a revelation. Most couldn’t recall ever trying or, for that matter, contemplating a pizza with tomatoes as its only topping. Yet it was just such a pizza, laid bare without the usual cover of mozzarella and sampled amongst a marathon of classic combinations, that proved to be the biggest and best surprise of all. The fullness of the sweet, zesty, unvarnished tomatoes in the mouth can be one of the great sensations in the pizza eating experience.

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A second double take is elicited by what lies just inside the window: pizza al taglia and pizza bianca romana so good they could be mistaken for treasures stolen from the Eternal City. Sure I am getting a bit overexcited: This is hardly the first place in Londinium to do either pizza al taglio – “cut” pizza usually sold by weight (see Maletti and Princi), nor is it the sole practitioner of authentic pizza bianca romana (see Spianata). Moreover, the dough is still evolving and the finished product, like all pizza rustica (as the by-the-slice format is known outside Rome) invariably suffers in the reheating. You’ll nonetheless forgive my giddiness once you’ve sunken your teeth into one of these crisp yet puffy rafts and explored its exceptional topography.

The pizzeria was opened by Stokey native Neil Belgrave (above left) and Herbie Leonelli (above right with slab of bianca), two friends who said “datte foco” to their City jobs in finance. Leonelli’s tale is especially poignant: His Anglophile parents travelled from Rome to London so he could be born here and then shipped him off to English boarding school at 13. (You can see him wince even now from the retelling). 20 years later he returned to Rome to apprentice as a pizzaiolo at Pizzeria Russo in the Prati district. His journey home is what’s known, in Rome and elsewhere, as la forza del destino – “the force of destiny.”

Pizza bianca romana ought not be confused with the tomato-less white pizzas seen on pizzeria menus all over. Brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and rosemary, the Roman version is more like focaccia than pizza. My colleague David Downie, author of the definitive Cooking the Roman Way and the indispensable Food Wine Rome guide, observes that it’s crispier and more porous than focaccia and likens it instead to “a leavened flatbread with a rough, uneven texture varying in thickness from 1/4 to 3/4 inches.” The thicker half of that description matches Leonelli’s pizza bianca londinese.

Datte Foco outfits its pizza al taglio in a wide assortment of good-quality toppings. Some combinations are baked nearly every day; others are specials. A couple of the former, like the pizza topped with potatoes cut to the size of frites, were meant to be one-offs but proved too popular. The Margherita is blanketed with decent fior di latte (cow’s milk mozzarella), yet it’s not as pleasing as the pizza rossa with only roma tomato sauce or anything with mushrooms and sausage. It’s a mouth feel thing. Melted mozza doesn’t always reheat all that well.

A great plus of pizza al taglio is that it allows you to sample several varieties at one. You are encouraged to do just that, to go light yourself on fire. Alternatively this might be more fun to do as a group: youngandfoodish.com will be launching a series of pizza Tuesdays, the first of which will take place on the 2nd of February at Datte Foco at 7:30pm. To learn more or book a place at the table,  click here.

Datte Foco: A Pizza & Love Joint – 10 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 (see map). Tel: 020 7254 6055