AUTHENTIC Naples pizza meets craft beer at Stockton Heath's newest restaurant.

Morley Cheek's has opened in London Road, sharing a space with the barbecue joint Stockyard.

The two businesses are separate but share a building and an entrance and the team at the contemporary Italian have completely transformed the ground floor.

Morley Cheek's is a must for pizza fans as head chef Alessandro Aversano, from Naples, is said to be 'obsessed' with creating the perfect dough and choosing the best ingredients before the pizzas go in his wood-fired oven.

Pete Elder, restaurant manager, said: "Pizza is going through a surge at the moment and the key for us has been to keep it traditional.

"Our head chef Alessandro is from Naples and what he doesn’t know about pizza isn’t worth knowing.

"He carefully rotates dough from his mother dough and will not use it until its ready. Alessandro only uses the best ingredients, from fior di latte mozzarella to san marzano.

"He continuously has a battle with himself to choose the best flour to use. At the moment he is using caputo, a fine grade double zero flour but he is obsessed with making the lightest, fluffiest dough. This can be seen by the quality of pizza."

Morley Cheek's – named after the owner's bulldog – originally launched in Chorlton in 2012 and it was the area's food and drink scene that shaped the business's offering.

Pete added: "Chorlton is a very busy suburb with a demographic of customers who know what they want. This is reflected in our drinks selection.

"We carefully source the best craft beer around, from our hugely popular Tiny Rebel can range, to our locally sourced Modern Day Monks – this beer is brewed by one of our own, Jon, and luckily you can make your way through your drinks while been educated on every level of how to make the beer.

"All our bartenders are also trained to serve cocktails from our bespoke menu and our Morleys G&T isn’t to be missed – gin fermented with seasonal fruit, left in a dark room for two weeks and served with a tonic of your choice."

Among Alessandro's popular dishes are tronchetto which is dough stretched long, wrapped with fior di latte and ham inside, served with tomato and oil and a full range of desserts include the pistachio and chocolate chip cannoli.