Tag: margherita

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The Pizza Rocket

It was a Thursday, I was working in Bristol, the Temple Quay street food market was on, they had a bundle of traders booked. I knew where I was going for my lunch.

Now, the question was, would I go for She Sells Streetfood, which to be honest I have been doing a lot lately, or would I go for something else, and would I go for something new.

There were a lot of choices, some old favourites were there, some I hadn’t had in a while, but there were some new faces as well.

One stall was intriguing, which was Get Dipped, who sell French dip sandwiches, with every sandwich you get a pot of gravy. Whilst writing this, I saw that they are also in St Nick’s market, so I might try them there. 

In the end I thought I would try a pizza from The Pizza Rocket. They sell wood fired Napoli style pizza. As I wondered what to have, and watched, they got one of their cooked pizzas out of the oven for a customer. It did look good.

Now my only reservation was that one of the specials was ham and pineapple. Yes it was Italian prosciutto crudo, and an interesting sounding chilli pickled pineapple, but even so, ham and pineapple, authentically Italian, I didn’t think so. Other choices included a Mariana, a pizza with no cheese, and a spicy salami option.

I did order, and I ordered a Margherita, which was £11. I had to wait a couple of minutes, but my pizza was ready. I was asked if I wanted some fresh rocket on top, so I said yes.

This was a lovely freshly cooked pizza. A Margherita pizza is a good test of a pizza place. The crust was excellent, the sauce was nice and there was a generous amount go cheese. I really enjoyed it.

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CitizenM Margherita Pizza

CitizenM Margarita Pizza

I am never really a fan of hotel pizza, either it’s a ready made base, or a ready made pizza. However there are exceptions. The Drayton Court Hotel for example has a proper pizza oven and use proper fresh pizza bases. 

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2022 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. Having spent a few days in Delft at a conference, and meetings in Utrecht I took the train back to Schiphol Airport where I had booked a hotel, the CitizenM, which is literally next door to the airport.

I did wonder about out the pizza, but once I saw what they looked like (as another guest had ordered pizza) I decided to have one for my dinner. You would think that if I was in the Netherlands that really I should be eating Dutch food. However there wasn’t anything typically Dutch on the menu.

I ordered the margherita pizza, this was a hand-stretched pizza topped with tomato sauce and rich buffalo mozzarella, with fresh basil. 

It wasn’t long before it arrived, and I have to say I was quite impressed. The base looked good, and I liked the addition of the fresh mozzarella and basil.

It was a really nice pizza and I enjoyed it. The base was nice and doughy, with an element of crispness. The tomato sauce was tasty and there was enough cheese on the pizza as well. They do a range of pizza, so there were other choices as well.

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Margherita at Pizza Express

We were visiting Bath and were looking for somewhere to eat. I hadn’t done any real planning, so didn’t really have a chance to find anywhere special or different. 

It was a weekend so Bath was quite busy with shoppers, tourists, and visitors.

In the end, we winded up in Pizza Express.

Despite having lots of choice, I went with a Margherita pizza. A simple combination of dough, tomato, and cheese.

It was a simple pizza that was made well and I did enjoy it.

The service was excellent; efficient and friendly.

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Pizza DiSH

Harwell Science Campus

I occasionally find myself at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, where we have an office, and on a recent visit was looking for lunch. Pre-pandemic I would usually find lunch at the RAL Restaurant, which was pretty good.

Back in August 2022 I decided to try out the DiSH pop-up dining experience. This had opened in September 2021, but that was my first visit, and I had enjoyed a burger.

I was back on the campus and needing some lunch, so I headed out in the sun to DiSH.

A social dining destination located in the heart of Oxfordshire,  with a choice of authentic and vibrant cuisines. Whether you’re enjoying music performances from one of our live artists, or simply relaxing after work with a cold drink – DiSH is a place to congregate, to spark new ideas and enjoy the ambiance.

There was quite a bit of choice at DiSH, I decided that I didn’t want a burger, so that left a Greek wrap, pizza, or burrito. I went with the pizza lunch deal, a margarita pizza with a drink.

I placed my order and within five minutes my freshly cooked pizza was ready. 

pizza

This was not a huge pizza, about 10” across, but a perfect size for lunch I think. I liked the crust but did feel that the dough was slightly undercooked. The tomato sauce was good and I enjoyed the helping of (proper) mozzarella.

The choice of drinks though was limited, which was a pity. I had a can of sparkling rhubarb from Cawston Press, whereas in reality I wanted a diet Coke. The other choice was a Capri-sun. I am not six.

Overall good service and a nice pizza.

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We went out to eat

Our initial idea was to go to the cinema, though there was nothing at the cinema we could watch, so made the decision we would go out to eat at Bella Italia at the Mall. Virtually all the major chains in Weston have closed now, so wanting to ensure that the menu had gluten free options, we decided to head to the Mall. 

Well as we hit the M5 northbound it was chocked full and slow moving, we thought we made a mistake. But eventually it thinned out and we could go faster. We got to Bella Italia just in time.

We had a lovely warm welcome from the staff and they showed us to our table.

We had a good look over the menu. It looked like there was a lot more on there than when I last looked (which was probably last summer).

Though I like starters I usually don’t have a starter, but as others in the family were going for garlic bread, I looked over the possible choices. The calamari would have been an obvious choice for me. So I decided on the Calzonetti ‘Nduj, as I was thinking about pasta for my main course. However a last minute change of thought resulted in me actually ordering the Arancini al Granchio

There are crispy rice balls filled with crab, prawns and fennel with a side of lemon & cracked pepper mayonnaise.

They were very nice, not outstanding, but they were nice. You could taste the crab and the mayonnaise with the crunchy exterior.

For my main course I went with a pasta dish, Salsiccia Mezzaluna.

Fresh mezzaluna pasta filled with Luganica sausage & radiccio, cooked in a sage butter and finished with toasted hazelnuts and a beef dripping pangrattato crumb. 

This just sounded divine and to be honest it was totally delicious. The pasta was al dente, the filling had a nice flavour, I think it could have been stronger, but I loved the sage butter and the toasted hazelnuts and pangrattato crumb added real silkiness and crunch to the dish.

I loved it.

I wasn’t full, so went for a dessert, the raspberry and pistachio semifreddo with white chocolate and marshmallow sauce.

This was nice, but I felt it could do with more pistachio and more sauce. Having said that I really enjoyed it.

As for the rest of the family, my better half went with the  Funghi Crema made with chestnut mushrooms in a porcini, mascarpone & pecorino cheese sauce with fresh mafalde pasta ribbons.

She really enjoyed the dish and it looked great.

My youngest had a gluten free Marghaerita, whilst my son had the gluten free Pepperoni with tomato, mozzarella, salami piccante, red onion, garlic and rocket.

They both enjoyed their pizza.

My son also had the warm gluten free chocolate brownie with white chocolate chunks served with vegan vanilla gelato and a sprinkling of honeycomb.

He finished off the plate of food

This was probably one of the best meals I have ever had at Bella Italia, really enjoyed the experience, the food and the service.