Katherine MacAlister discovers her latest favourite spot for coffee, plus some unusual and delicious pizzas, at a new Italian eatery

Imagine if Gloucester Green was transformed into a foodie heaven, framed by little delis and cafes, restaurants and trattorias, sandwich shops and grocers, with tables spilling out and delicious offerings being cooked at all times of the day and night.

Well, we are getting there, thanks to Buongiorna E Buonasera (easy for you to say!), which opened this month on the corner opposite the Red Lion, where the printers used to be.

And it’s an absolute breath of fresh air. Manned by a small army of enthusiastic Italians all raring to go, the light, fresh, thin cafe boasts a long counter off-set by a deli and tables.

It’s perfect for a quick bite to eat, a coffee and pastry, a slice of Italian cake, a bottle of good olive oil, an Italian bacon sandwich or some particularly fine mozzarella.

But I defy you to walk past the pizzas first. Laid out like offerings to the gods on the counter, the rectangular, home-made and enormously varied pizzas are ready and waiting for the enormous wood-fired oven to crisp them up within minutes, meaning dining here can be as hurried or lengthy as you require.

We failed at the first hurdle, rushing in, gasping at the pizzas on display, spending far too long deciding which one to go for, as a queue of impatient and eager punters built up behind us.

We chose drinks from the refrigerator – a pear juice for me (hard to find in this country) and an Italian version of dandelion and burdock for him – plus a side salad, then nabbed a small table. There are some outside, but, charmed by the decor and the experience, we stayed inside.

It was market day so the place was heaving, punters pouring in with bags of fresh fruit and veg, and tourists keen to get out of the crowds. The staff rushed up and down making coffee, serving, chatting and shouting – it was all a very atmospheric and entertaining.

Then our pizza arrived, a saporita (pizza topped with mozzarella, artichoke cream, artichokes, ham, gorgonzola drops and parsley) which was quite steep at £9.50 – one with and one without the ham.

In England, all pizzas have a tomato base, but on the Buongiorna E Buonasera menu (it means “good morning, good evening” by the way), many of them come without, so be careful when choosing or the traditionalists among you might be disappointed. Ours, for example, had a artichoke cream sauce which was rather exotic. It arrived quite yellow in colour, vibrant, crispy, enough for one, although not overly generous in size, with really juicy fresh, quality-led ingredients – the perfect lunch. The accompanying salad was rather odd though, in that it came sprinkled with salt, making it rather inedible.

To finish, we ordered two coffees, a latte and an espresso, and both were out of this world, strong, fragrant, deep, delicious. This is certainly my favourite coffee in Oxford and only came to £3.50.

Our host then came scurrying out bearing two tiny slices of blackcurrant tart to accompany our coffees, finishing off our enchanting meal to perfection.

So thank you to my lovely Italian friend who tipped me off, hugely over-excited to have found a little slice of Italy right here in the centre of Oxford. You will be grateful too when you’ve been there.

Buongiorno e Buonasera
102 Gloucester Green
Oxford