Category: pizza

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Pizza in Ilchester

So, we went for a walk in Ilchester and ended up eating pizza. I’ve never been there before and we hadn’t planned to stop in Ilchester, it was merely an act of convenient desperation.

We were travelling back from Bournemouth and my electric car was running low on charge, I had planned to stop at a charger in Yeovil but couldn’t find a charger using the in-built navigation in the car. My daughter got her phone out and on Google Maps found one in Ilchester ten miles further up the road. We drove there. I did expect that there would be more chargers in Yeovil, but was frustrated that there didn’t seem to be many. There was a single charger in the car park. We stopped there and put the car on charge. We went for a walk. We found the Nuova Italia restaurant, they have a outside patio and people seemed to be enjoying themselves. They also have a table out the front with food and drinks on show.

My daughter liked the sound of the menu, and they did a good range of gluten free stuff, all their pizzas could be made with a gluten free base, and gluten free pasta was also an option.

We walked in and were given a lovely warm welcome. We sat down and looked at the menu. My daughter went with a gluten free Pizza Boss, this was a gluten free base with San Marzano tomato sauce, Fior Di Latte mozzarella cheese, roasted chicken and pancetta from Valtellina.

I had the Pizza Napoli. This was a white base mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, Fior Di Latte mozzarella cheese, Tuscan Italian sausage and friarielli spicy vegetables from Naples.

They have a wood fired pizza oven and our pizza were cooked to order. It wasn’t long before our pizzas arrived. My daughter’s pizza looked wonderful. I have to say I didn’t think mine looked as nice.

My daughter said of her pizza, it was one of the best she ever tasted, the gluten free base was different to others she has had at other restaurants. 

Mine, despite the appearance was in fact rather tasty. I have a preference for the white base pizza, the sausage was delicious and the friarielli, a kind of broccoli added to the pizza.

Overall the meal was delicious, the service was excellent, it was good value for money and I think we would certainly visit again.

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Portobello at Rudy’s Pizza

I was up in Nottingham and myself and some colleagues went out for dinner. We went to Rudy’s Pizza. They have branches across the country, but despite this, I hadn’t come across them before.

They cook authentic Neapolitan Pizza and there were quite a few choices on the menu. I do like a white pizza so I had the Portobello pizza as a white pizza, which is portobello mushroom, oregano, sea salt, and garlic oil. 

It was cooked in a proper pizza oven and was delicious.

Looking over the menu I think I might have added some fresh mozzarella and truffle oil to my pizza as extras, but even so what I got I really liked.

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Fiorentina Pizza

I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel and was having dinner in their restaurant.

After a disappointing ravioli I was hoping that the pizza I had ordered would be better. 

I have had the Fiorentina Pizza from Drayton Court before.

This was an excellent generous pizza. A great base, cooked well, and delicious toppings. The dough was crisp with a soft centre, the toppings were full of flavour and there was just the right amount of tomato and cheese. The egg was a little overcooked for my preference, but this didn’t detract from the whole pizza eating experience.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. The Drayton Court Hotel however has a proper pizza oven and use proper fresh pizza bases. So, I was quietly looking forward to see what I would get.

The pizza toppings were spinach, mushrooms, olives, and an egg. It looked really nice.

pizza

I did not enjoy the pizza as much as I thought I would. I think they may have used vegan cheese on my pizza, as there was a slightly odd taste to the pizza and the cheese did not feel or taste like cheese.

Overall I wasn’t that impressed with the food that night, which is unusual, as I have had some great food from Drayton Court in the past.

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Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

One of the hotels I stay at in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. I was there in January staying just the one night. The last time I had been there was in May 2024. Since I was last there, they had done a load of refurbishment. There was a new larger reception area, and the rooms had been refreshed.

The food menu though was very similar. I went with a pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. I remember once having a pizza at the Doubletree Hilton and being very unimpressed with that pizza. 

What I like about the Drayton Court Hotel, it has a proper pizza oven and use proper pizza bases.

This was a delicious fresh pizza. The addition of the fresh tomatoes was something I wasn’t expecting. 

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Sticky Pig Rustica Pizza

I like the Rustica pizza from Zizzi. So when I saw the Zizzi Sticky Pig Rustica Pizza in the freezers at Waitrose I was intrigued and liked the sound of it. 

Sticky Pig Rustica Pizza

However the experience was rather disappointing. I know I had quite high expectations, but even so, I think it could have been better. It was frozen, but I didn’t think that should make too much of a difference, maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. The overall experience was of a stale pizza, I like my pizza base to be fresh, soft and doughy. This felt like it was cooked, and then I recooked it, drying it out.

I nearly bought two different kinds of the pizza, but glad I didn’t.

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Mediterranean pizza with mushrooms, artichoke & olives

Drayton Court Hotel

One of the regular places I stay when in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls in the bedrooms.

The staff are always welcoming and friendly, and the whole place has a real charm to it. The dinner menu is excellent and unlike other Fuller Brewery hotels they also have an extensive pizza menu.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. I remember once having a pizza at the Doubletree Hilton and being very unimpressed with that pizza.

I think they had used a pre-cooked base, rather than making it fresh. I wasn’t too surprised by that. I was a little surprised that the tomato base was tomato puree and not passata or other kind of tomato sauce. This I wasn’t too impressed with. The toppings were nice and fresh though.

The Drayton Court Hotel however has a proper pizza oven and use proper pizza bases. I had enjoyed the time I had pizza there back in March 2023. I had the Florentine Pizza, which included spinach, mushrooms, olives, and an egg. It is one of my favourite pizzas and I have quite often when visiting pizza places.

This time I ordered the Mediterranean pizza with mushrooms, artichoke & olives. This is in fact a vegan choice, so I asked to swap the vegan cheese for “normal” cheese. I am not really a fan of vegan cheese.

It wasn’t long before my pizza arrived, in a box. I wasn’t expecting that. As the weather was nice, I headed out into the beer garden and had my pizza al fresco with a beer.

There was a generous amount of mushrooms, artichoke and olives on top of the pizza. The base was freshly cooked, crisp on the outside and soft and doughy on the inside. I really enjoyed the pizza, it was very tasty.

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Wood Chop Pizza

It was a Thursday and I was looking for some lunch, so I headed to the Temple Quay market. I had planned on having one of the delicious fish dishes from King Fin, however they weren’t there. I was short on time, so no time to head anywhere else. I did think about having some Gurt Wings, but as I looked around the market and saw the  Wood Chop Pizza stall.

They had a choice of four pizza, and I liked the idea of the burrata pizza for £7.50. I thought this was good value, they did a salami or an nduja pizza for £9, or a margarita for £6.50. I went with the burrata pizza.

They made and cooked the pizza to order. It was cooked in their (huge) wood fired pizza oven. After it was cooked it was cut and placed in a box.

There is something about a freshly cooked pizza, the doughy base was delicious. The tomato and fresh mozzarella was excellent, and I liked the addition of fresh basil.

I do like pizza, but rarely have it for lunch. This made a nice change from other things I sometimes have.

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Time for a Soho ’65

Staying in Loughborough and having had an interesting meal at the Harvester previously in Loughborough close to the hotel, I decided I didn’t want to make a return visit there and headed to the centre of Loughborough to see what was around.

After walking around for a while I decided I would have pizza at Pizza Express. It had been a while since I had been to Pizza Express. They had a new addition to their menu, the Soho ’65.

A slice of our heritage – tomato with garlic, fresh buffalo mozzarella, olives, rocket and shaved Gran Milano cheesSe.

So I ordered the Soho ’65 and a side order of halloumi bites. It wasn’t too long before my food arrived.

This is a rather simple, but tasty pizza. It’s also a square pizza. 

I think they forgot to add the shaved Gran Milano cheese, this I didn’t notice at the time. However I did enjoy the pizza and did like the combination of fresh mozzarella, olives, and rocket. The base was baked well and was crisp on the outside, soft in the middle, and tasty.

Alongside (as I had a free side in the app) I had a portion of halloumi bites, this was crispy coated halloumi with Italian tomato dip and parsley.

Didn’t think much of these, the halloumi was okay, but I didn’t like the tomato dip. I think as it was (probably) from a jar and didn’t taste very fresh.

I did enjoy my meal and the service was excellent.

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Florentine Pizza

Whilst writing another blog post I realised I had not written about a meal I had eaten last year. Back in March 2023, I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls.

I was going to have the steak sandwich, but I misread the menu, they stopped serving sandwiches at 5pm. So instead, I had the fish tacos and then the Florentine pizza.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. I remember once having a pizza at the Doubletree Hilton and being very unimpressed with that pizza.

I think they had used a pre-cooked base, rather than making it fresh. I wasn’t too surprised by that. I was a little surprised that the tomato base was tomato puree and not passata or other kind of tomato sauce. This I wasn’t too impressed with. The toppings were nice and fresh though.

The Drayton Court Hotel however has a proper pizza oven and use proper pizza bases. So I was quietly looking forward to see what I would get.

I ordered the Florentine Pizza, which included spinach, mushrooms, olives, and an egg. It is one of my favourite pizzas and I have quite often when visiting pizza places.

I wasn’t to be disappointed. This was an excellent generous pizza. A great base, cooked well, and delicious toppings. The dough was crisp with a soft centre, the toppings were full of flavour and there was just the right amount of tomato and cheese. The egg was a little overcooked for my preference, but this didn’t detract from the whole pizza eating experience.

All in all a delicious pizza.

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Rustica Black Truffle Salami & Mushroom Pizza

Bristol has a fair number of restaurants and places to eat. Cabot Circus has a fair few high street chains. One of my regular places is Zizzi, usually as I have some kind of offer.

This time I decided to use a Zizzi 25% offer I had received, combined with an existing balance on my Zizzi eGift card, though I could get a cheaper lunch.

I was given a warm welcome and pretty much allowed to choose where to sit. I took a table and looked over the menu. I went with the Rustica Black Truffle Salami & Mushroom.

A white base with truffle salami, mushrooms, crispy prosciutto, Fior di Latte mozzarella, riserva cheese, truffle-infused oil and crispy sage.

Pizza

The Rustica was thin and crispy. I do like white bases and this was excellent. I thought it was a good amount of toppings, not scarce, but also not overdone.

In the end there was a problem with the Zizzi eGift card, so lunch was not as cheap as I hoped it would be. However it was a nice pizza.