Giardino del Botanico: The World’s Best Pizza, Self-Certified

Place

Pizzeria Giardino del Botanico

Dish

Vegetariana — vegetable pizza

Visiting information ↓

Food Story Serbia Food

Visited: January 6, 2024
Published: October 10, 2026

A round vegetable pizza in an open cardboard box on a glass-topped table, covered with courgette slices, red onion, red pepper and rocket, its rim spotted with char — At last, a Vegetariana from Giardino del Botanico.

On the evening of 6 January 2024, Christmas Eve in the Serbian Orthodox calendar, I was walking around Belgrade looking for something to eat. Every place I tried was closed. The day before, at a market in Novi Sad, I had seen bundles of oak branches on sale for the occasion. Most of the city, it seemed, had somewhere to be.

For several days before that, my stomach had been badly upset, and I had hardly eaten.

At about half past ten, on Svetogorska Street, I followed a passage into a building and found a pizzeria at the end of it. It was open. It was called Giardino del Botanico.

A narrow passage with teal-painted lower walls and a black-and-white patterned floor, leading to a wall hung with painted plates, coloured bulbs and a blue door-shaped noticeboard — The passage on the way in, with painted plates and coloured bulbs on the wall.

Fifteen years in Italy

The man behind the counter, Nikola, was in a very good mood. He had spent fifteen years in Italy learning his trade, he told me in English. Then he made my pizza in front of me, smiling, and showed me each stage as he went.

As he worked, he kept coming back to one point: this was the number one pizza in the world.

I was the only customer.

The jury, that evening, was me.

Neapolitan pizza makers, it turns out, are expected to put on a show. When UNESCO added the art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo, the pizza maker, to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2017, it noted that the craft “assumes a character of the spectacular”, with the pizzaiuolo at the centre of the workshop, sharing the art. Where in Italy Nikola had trained, I do not know.

Increase the piece

The wall was worth a look too. It was covered in snapshots of earlier customers, most of them holding pizzas or sitting in front of them. In the middle hung a green painted board. “INCREASE THE PIECE”, it said, and below, make a Peace!

Around the letters, someone had written fractions, each with an arrow pointing to a larger one. 1/10 became 9/10. 60/100 became 99/100. Nobody’s share went down.

The two pink circles on the board were pizzas, each cut along the three lines of a peace sign.

All it takes to make peace is a pizza and three cuts.

To go

I took the pizza back to where I was staying. For the box of a world champion, it was modest. There was no name on it and no medal, only a slice of pizza on wheels and a phone number.

A closed white pizza box on a glass table, printed in red with a slice of pizza on wheels and the phone number 062 222 164 — The box. The slice on wheels suggests they also deliver.

Inside was a Vegetariana. On the menu, it comes with tomato, red onion, peppers, mushrooms, courgette, parsley, olives, rocket and olive oil. Giardino del Botanico is Italian for “the botanist’s garden”, and Belgrade’s botanical garden, Jevremovac, is not far from Svetogorska Street. Whatever the reason for the name, the pizza lived up to it.

Close-up of the pizza: courgette, red onion, red pepper strips and rocket, with dark charred spots along the rim — Courgette, red onion, peppers and rocket, with dark spots of char along the rim.

Mostly vegetables, it was gentle on my stomach, and so good that I could not stop. The courgette, in particular, was excellent. By the end of the night, my piece had increased to the whole pizza.

I have not eaten every pizza in the world. That week, I had barely eaten at all.

But who could say this was not the best one?

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Location

Restaurant

Pizzeria Giardino del Botanico

On Svetogorska Street in Stari Grad, central Belgrade. The pizzeria is reached through a passage inside the building.

Svetogorska 46, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

View this place on the map Open in Google Maps

Practical Information

Dish: Vegetariana — vegetable pizza (ordered on 6 January 2024; menu listing: tomato, red onion, peppers, mushrooms, courgette, parsley, olives, rocket and olive oil)
Opening hours: Published opening hours differ between listings. Call to confirm before visiting, especially in the evening or on holidays.
Takeaway: I took mine away in January 2024.
Phone: +381 62 222 164
Instagram: Pizzeria Giardino del Botanico

Information last checked: October 10, 2026 (Address and phone checked against restaurant listings. Published opening hours differ and were not confirmed with the restaurant. Current takeaway options, menu and prices not confirmed.)

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