Born into a family of traditional pizza makers in Capodrise in Campania, Salvatore Fiata set up an award-winning pizzeria in Hong Kong in 2021.
I helped with this press release on Fiata and have been several times. The dough is handsdown 100% true to Napolitana-style. We had our fill of pizzas in Napoli at the former world’s best pizza Franco pepe.
Salvatore Fiata of the eponymous Fiata Pizzeria in Soho Central started working in restaurants when he was about 16 years old. A summer job waiting at tables and a chance shift helping in the pizza kitchen led him to find his raison d’etre, continuing the family’s tradition of becoming a pizzaiolo—a pizza maker.
Fiata was awarded #3 on this year’s 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific list 2025 – the highest position held by a Hong Kong-based venue. Fiata has held the position of 4th on the 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific list and 22nd on the 50 Top Pizza global list since 2024.
“I went for formal training and a certificate at the Naples Pizza Academy, but they told me to leave after 2 months because I had already learnt on the job working in a professional kitchen. I got the certificate and then spent 6 years working in a gastro pub group in London, doing pizzas and English food for 600-800 covers a day. In my last year, I was head chef of the pizza kitchen and sous-chef in the kitchen, a management role, but I was itching to get back behind the oven and make pizzas.”
In 2017, renowned pizzaiolo Franco Pepe sent him to Hong Kong as a consultant on a project for a week, he eventually accepted a job in Hong Kong. The protest and pandemic followed, and Chef Fiata returned to Europe. He returned in 2021 and opened his own pizzeria Fiata in Soho.
Success came with dedication and perseverance, along with skills, traditional techniques and great Italian produce, “In the first year we opened, as the world was still coming out of the pandemic, we were awarded 8th in the coveted list of Top 50 pizzas Asia Pacific. It was a quiet period, but our pizzeria was full of Italians in the initial few months of opening, which led me to believe that I was doing something right. The Italian community was coming for authentic pizzas, a taste of home and it was spreading through word of mouth. We have since grown from two in the kitchen, including myself to nine!”
The best kind of publicity is through the grapevine and recommendations from fellow countrymen and Chef Fiata is committed to building his Hong Kong community, and very supportive of fellow Italians running independent bars and restaurants.
“I don’t see this as a competition but more a community to share about Italian culture, cuisine and of course pizza.”
Why Fiata’s Pizza Stands Out
A Fiata pizza is all about the dough and its ingredients–all imported from Italy. Chef Fiata is an early riser and prepares the dough before dawn.
“I like to start early to prepare my dough, fermenting it the proper way and letting it rest. If you mess up one step, you mess up for the entire batch, I have a lot of steps in the day for the dough preparation. I have only messed up a few times in my life. So, I’d say the secret ingredient is waking up early. Ha ha! And after it’s the quality of the produce.” Shares Chef Fiata on what happens on a typical day.
The pizzeria has made a record number of 320 pizzas in a day for the xx seater restaurant. The dough is prepared a day before and he makes up to 290 pizzas a day at capacity. Working with live yeast and preparing the dough in the traditional autolyse way, Chef Fiata can adapt to the different humidity to keep quality consistent. “When the weather gets too hot, I work with a little ice to make adjustments and I have plenty of measuring instruments to keep track of the humidity in my kitchen.”
There are no more than 3 or 4 ingredients in Fiata’s pizzas. “I want you to feel light and make sure the ingredients are well distributed over the dough that we usually cut into 4, and each slice should have the same distribution of ingredients.”
Bestsellers and Mortedella
“I like changing and updating the menu every couple of months, keeping things fresh and seasonal. Our speciality pizza is a classic in Napoli the Provola Pepe, which is like a Margherita but smoked.” Chef Fiata on the award-winning best seller at his restaurant.
The key ingredient that features on the menu is Mortedella, a personal childhood favourite of chef, and it has seen different iterations paired with different ingredients. Every 6 months, Chef Fiata updates the toppings that pair well with Mortedella and he’s done five versions so far: ricotta/mortadella, pistachio/pesto/mortadella, burrata/mortadella and the current one on the menu is another bestseller that’s always sold out: Bronte 5.0 consists of pistachio, lemon, ricotta, semi-dried tomatoes and mortedella.
As the busy foot traffic of Soho, Central brings in new diners vying for seats with the regulars, the bustling pizzeria continues to refine and bring new pizzas to the menu inspired by Italian produce.
