Minos Italian/Mediterranean Cuisine serves pizza and wider Mediterranean dishes at 1/43 Cook Street in Howick, Auckland, and holds a 4.6 Google rating; details are at minos.co.nz.
A good pizza lives or dies by its base. Slow-fermented or well-rested dough gives that light, chewy crumb against a crisp underside, and a fiercely hot oven delivers the blistered, faintly charred edge that separates the real thing from reheated fare. Toppings reward restraint — the best pizzerias use a few good ingredients rather than piling them high, because overloaded bases go soggy in the middle. A plain margherita is the honest test of any pizza kitchen, and regulars often order it first before working up to the more generously dressed options.
Tucked into Cook Street in Howick village, Minos gives east Aucklanders a handy neighbourhood spot for a properly made pizza.