Snack crawl
The Pastry Crawl: Naples
Start hungry and start early; the best stalls in Naples sell out long before the guidebooks say they open.
- Stops
- 9
- Walking
- 5 km
- Budget
- Moderate
Before you set off
Carry cash, tissues and a bottle of water. Thank us later. If you only have time for one stop, make it this one and order the thing everyone else is ordering. We recreated this one at home — see the recipe section — but it never tastes quite like it does on a kerb at midnight.
Look for the place with the handwritten menu and the a fish slice that has clearly been in service for decades. Order one portion between two at every stop. A crawl is a marathon made of sprints. Stop 10 is a hole in the wall with four stools and a queue. Join the queue. The queue knows. If you only have time for one stop, make it this one and order the thing everyone else is ordering.
Here the garlic is piled on with abandon and the chilli is not a suggestion. The owner, Clara, has been folding these by hand for longer than we have been alive and has opinions about dukkah. We recreated this one at home — see the recipe section — but it never tastes quite like it does on a kerb at midnight. Carry cash, tissues and a bottle of water. Thank us later.
Stop 1: The basement counter near the bus depot
The owner, Mateo, has been folding these by hand for longer than we have been alive and has opinions about curry leaves. We tested this 4 times in the Snack Crawl kitchen, and the version with cultured butter won every single round. We first ate something like this at a street stall in Naples, balanced on a plastic stool, and spent the flight home reverse-engineering it. Walk between stops. It is the only reason any of this is physically possible.
Do not skip the dill; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy. Dev, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”. We like to make the filling the night before, when the kitchen is quiet and nobody is asking what is for dinner. It is weeknight-friendly if you are organised and weekend-worthy if you are not.
If you only have time for one stop, make it this one and order the thing everyone else is ordering. Finish somewhere sweet. There is always room; it is a separate stomach. Priya, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”. There are snacks you eat standing at the counter, and then there are pastry — the kind you clear your evening for.
Stop 2: The basement counter near the fish market
Order one portion between two at every stop. A crawl is a marathon made of sprints. Carry cash, tissues and a bottle of water. Thank us later. Do not skip the spring onions; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy. A spoonful of za'atar does the heavy lifting here, giving the filling a depth that tastes like you cooked all day.
The crisp edge is what people remember, so be brave with the heat and generous with the seasoning. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink. Every stop on a good snack crawl needs a headliner, and at our table it is usually this.
Do not skip the avocado; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy. The owner, Salma, has been folding these by hand for longer than we have been alive and has opinions about mustard seeds. Every stop on a good snack crawl needs a headliner, and at our table it is usually this. There are snacks you eat standing at the counter, and then there are pastry — the kind you clear your evening for.
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