food & drink

Neapolitans run Sports Bar Italian Food on Ample in Barri Gòtic since at least 2011. Pizzaiolo Lelo works the wood-fired oven, and football plays on screens in the brick-walled room. This is the original branch of a group that describes its cooking as “from the heart of Naples.” For a sports bar, this is damn good pizza.

The menu runs from traditional pizzas like Marinara, Margherita (with buffalo mozzarella) and spicy Diavola, to more creative pans like burrata and mortadella with pistachio or Salsiccia e Friarielli, which combines sausage, smoked provola and friarielli greens. The house Sports Bar pizza sees ricotta blended into the crust, with tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella on top. For something decadent, try the Pizza Fritta Completa a fried pizza with ricotta and cicoli pork cracklings.

The space also takes their excellent pizza dough and use it to make saltimbocca sandwiches. Beyond pizza, the kitchen turn out starters, pasta and meat and fish mains. The bruschetta is very good, as is the Zito al Ragù Napoletano pasta; for dessert have the Pan di Stelle followed by house limoncello. The group has since spread across Barcelona and out to Terrassa, Esplugues de Llobregat and Badalona, but Ample is where it began.