Aromi pizze
St Michael’s Street is glorious in the summer, the tables outside the multiple cafes, pubs and coffee shops brimming with tourists and locals enjoying the sun.
Another new draw is the newly opened Aromi, a Sicilian bakery and pizzeria which is similarly packed to the rafters.
AROMI
Luckily is has a fast turnaround, so even though all the tables were full when we arrived, by the time we’d chosen and ordered our lunch, we managed to sit down by the window and enjoy the hustle and bustle of Oxford’s new eatery.
The long glass fronted bakery counter is laden with Sicilian goodies, countless varieties of sourdough pizza, Focacce e panini sandwiches, huge arancini, pastries, cakes and cannoli.
Aromi
They heat the pizzas and sandwiches before bringing them to your table on silver trays, and as we’d over ordered very soon it was full of some delicious looking food.
First the salame spianata (£7.90), huge, square, crispy focaccia filled with a generous combination of mozzarella cheese, spicy salami, sun blush tomatoes and parsley, the filling sweet, juicy and textured with a hit of heat.
Aromi focaccia sandwiches
The pizze are displayed in huge rectangles – the zucchini; tomato sauce, marinated courgettes, balsamic glaze, garlic and parsley (£7.60) and the Margherita – tomato sauce, mozzarella, Sicilian oregano and basil (£6.80), the fermented sourdough thick crust light and airy and the perfect base for the rich toppings. But the portions are huge – you could easily share one, let alone manage one each.
Pizze at Aromi
And yet the spinaci arancini (£4.90) beckoned. The size of a large tomato with its golden crispy shell bursting with risotto rice, mozzarella, spinach and béchamel sauce, and while arancini can often be mean, dry and powdery with little inside, here, once broken open, the cheesey, gooey, spinachy innards was a meal in itself.
spinach arancini
Unable to resist the cannoli -which came in, the crunchy wound baked pastry shell encasing the sweet ricotta with orange (£4.30), a slice of the torta pistachio (£4.90) made using almond flour so gluten free, soft, smooth and delicious and the tortino cioccolato – tiny, rich, crumbly heavenly biscuits filled with chocolate custard. (£3.90)
dessert at Aromi
Needless to say we needed goodie bags to take our leftovers home to be enjoyed once again at home, and we were in and out within an hour, our table being immediately snatched by waiting customers as soon as we vacated it.
So yes Aromi has already made its mark, its Sicilian offering the perfect pit stop. And while Aromi has branches in Cambridge and has a new gelateria planned for Oxford as well, it still has way more heart than all the international chains gracing central Oxford, alongside it’s proud heritage.
Aromi
So whether you pop in for a takeaway slice of pizze and a focaccia sandwich or take a seat and enjoy a more leisurely stop, it’s well worth a visit. Just remember, it’s not Italian, it’s Sicilian!
Aromi is at 1-3 St Michael’s Street, Oxford https://www.aromi.co.uk/st-michaels-street
