Mansfield College, Oxford - 25/4/14

The college I go to in Oxford is pretty well known within the university for having dope food. It really is pretty great. We have theme nights every Saturday and roast dins every Sunday and there is always lots of delicious veggie options, and sometimes even vegan stuff too. Best of all though, occasionally, we have pizzas. 

Friday was one of those occasions. This fine hunk of hot dough you see before you was billed as a "black olive, feta and piquillo pepper pizza" and it was indeed all of those things. It also only cost THREE POUNDS AND TWENTY FIVE ENGLISH PENCE. I wanna holla particularly at the toppings here, because they were all v good quality for the price (mad love for the feta), and in general this was a very pleasing meal (coulda gone for more crispiness/coulda gone for a slightly hardier base/coulda gone for less salt in the sauce but how am I really going to complain about a pizza that cost me three pounds). Big up Mansfield College Hall and Dining. 

Pizza rating: 7/10

(plus points for the LOW LOW PRICE and the feta)

'homemade' pt. 2: revenge of the pizza - 22/4/14

this is the second pizza I have assembled at home in about a week (partly because the first one was great and I wanted another; partly because the bases come in packs of two and I had one left over) and it was probably better than its predecessor. This pizza is the Gary Barlow of pizzas, defying the odds and the critics in order to return bigger and better second time around. If this pizza was the head judge on X Factor, it would be really good at it. 

I'm not gonna go into stuff about the sauce/base because I talked about them quite extensively like two posts ago so if you really care about what I have to say (literally why would you) then you can take a look over there. Both sauce and base were still tasty though, and fyi the second base kept well in the cupboard for like a week so that is definitely good news. Pretty much the only things I changed were the toppings - sweetcorn and green olives remained as topping OGs (both still v good), and I stayed cheeseless (actually enjoying it more and more every time I have it/also I have £5 left in the world until my student loan reappears so I can't afford luxuries such as cheese lol), but this time I added jalapeños which spiced proceedings up a lil bit (not a lot baby girl just a lil bit - 50 Cent knows) aaaand the undoubted star of the show, basil tofu which I cubed and pan fried in garlic before lovingly chucking it on the pizza along with everything else. Again, would recommend these pizza bases/would also recommend that you eat basil tofu fried in garlic for every meal.

Pizza rating: 8.5/10

Il Principe, Oxford - 19/4/14

This sultry, spinach-y temptress came courtesy of Il Principe pizza, an unassuming lil Italian deli joint on Cowley Road in Oxford (or, as I often fondly refer to the city of dreaming spires, 'prison'.) I can say with almost certainty that Il Principe is one of the three best pizza places in Oxford (matched and potentially topped only by the Pizza Artisan van but I'll almost definitely discuss that with u another day so don't you even worry pizza fans I got yr backs), mainly because, as a deli, their ingredients are pretty out of this world. 

Allow me to elaborate: I want to bathe in the Il Principe sauce. I'm not even a tiny bit ashamed of that fact. It's got a completely amazing fresh tomato tang that sets off their mild but huge globs of fresh mozzarella in a match more heaven-sent than David and Victoria Beckham (their love is so pure, man). This particular pizza was number 16 on the takeaway menu, and it's called a Venezia. It features "tomato, mozzarella, spinach, garlic olive oil and parmesan", which is a pretty simple topping combination but obviously, as you can probably tell, it tasted great. I was also pleasantly surprised by the garlic olive oil, which I could actually taste. Usually when places include shit like that it's pretty bland so I was impressed.   

The base is also dope. I appreciate the fact that they clearly lube the crusts up with oil before the pizza gets to you, 'cause they retain their crispiness whilst simultaneously achieving a slight moistness which keeps the enjoyable notion that this foodstuff is fundamentally bad for you at the back of your mind.

If you're in Oxford and you're not eating Il Principe, you're probably a FUCKEN NERD (lol let's face it u probably are though) and you should change that sharpish. This is rly good pizza that almost reminds me of a New York slice (but tinier) and maybe you should treat urself to it one time, bae.

Pizza rating: 8/10 

(loses a point because it's pretty expensive sorry guys)

Il Principe, 82 Cowley Road, OX4 1JB

http://ilprincipedeli.co.uk

'homemade' - 16/4/14

I've put the word homemade in the title of this post in those dickish little quote marks because technically, this pizza was more 'home-assembled' than actually crafted by my own tiny hands over a roaring fire or any of that shite. I used a Napolina pizza base and Tesco tomato and herb pizza sauce, as well as some frozen and fresh veggies, in order to craft the culinary sensation you see above, immortalised 4ever (- The Veronicas) by my shit iPhone 4 camera.

I will start my ~review~ with the base. I was rly into this base, but I think that is mainly because I expected it to be ranker than it actually was. Instead it was a pretty nice surprise, and had crispy edges and a bottom that didn't sag despite a fair few toppings which is something I have found in the past with other pre-made pizza bases. Would have enjoyed a little more crispness underneath but otherwise I would actually really recommend these if assembling yr own 'za is something you enjoy (also pretty sure that they're vegan so even better - the box says they are made with margarine but seems to imply that it's a vegetable oil based one rather than a dairy one. fyi.)

The Tesco sauce was also pretty good, but pretty basic. I feel like you could very easily make something similar with tomato puree, passata and some herbs, but because I obviously could not be arsed to do that, this sauce was a dope stand in. I would give a shout out in particular to its consistency, which was p perfect for the purpose. Alliteration.

Finally, I would point out that with this particular pizza I decided to go cheeseless (a shocking admission from a pizza purist) and it was actually really delicious. The flavours/textures of the veg (I used sweetcorn, red peppers and olives) were definitely sharper than I think they would have been with cheese, which would have made this quite little pizza a bit too busy. Would definitely recommend an attempt at cheeseless 2 those who haven't tried it because it is an incredibly pleasant change.  

Overall this was cool because putting the pizza together/choosing exactly what toppings I wanted was a p fun thing to do. Maybe now you too will assemble your own pizza. I hope I have inspired u. Thank u.

Pizza rating: 7/10

some next Sainsbury's pizza - 10/4/14

I feel like this pizza looks way shittier than it actually was. My mom bought it for me because the only foods she knows I like are pizza, Bombay potatoes and Jelly Tots. Even though we all know that the king of all shop bought pizzas is Pizza Express (that sauce *heart eyes emoji*), I feel sort of sad that the humble own-brand pizza does not get enough love because they are usually about 2 quid and fairly nice.

Something I really wanna praise this pizza for is the base. As you can see, there isn't much of an actual crust, but underneath this pizza cooked really well, and it was all golden so that when you bit into it there was a tiny bit of crispiness which I was definitely about. Something I was not about was the uneven cheese distribution on this pizza but I think for £2 I cannot complain. 

The sauce was pretty standard tomato but who has ever hated on that? The cheese was apparently cheddar and mozzarella but tbqh with you neither was hugely flavourful. It was still a pretty pleasant pizza experience though, and I would like to give a shout out to my moms for buying this dish from Sainsbury's in Acocks Green for me: ty mom. 

Pizza rating: 6/10

(srsly though for the price it was completely dope)

Grove Café, Leeds - 5/4/14

last weekend I went to Grove in Leeds. I was pretty excited about that because literally everyone I have ever spoken to about Grove properly loves Grove. Would I love Grove? I was soon to find out.

This place is weird because when you get there you don't expect it to be that good, because it is sort of in the middle of nowhere, and it also doubles as a curry house. But obviously the hype was right/it's completely class/the pizza is good as all fuck. 

Something which is especially cool about Grove is that they do an unusual amount of vegan pizza options, two of which you can see in the photo above. My pizza was a nice change from the norm because instead of tomato sauce, it had like this sort of odd but crazy delicious spinach and garlic thing on the bottom which I was really into. It also had on it vegan cheese (!), green peppers, aubergines and sweetcorn, which I added as an extra, all of which were good. The aubergines were especially tasty because they tasted like they had been cooked in garlic, which is a process that improves most food items approximately 100%. I think what makes Grove stand out as a v good purveyor of pizza is the fact that all of the toppings/topping combinations are sick and have obviously been well thought out, which is actually pretty unusual imho.  

The only part of this pizza which I found a little bit disappointing was the base, 'cause it didn't taste that fresh and I am all about that fresh dough life so that was sort of sad, but the toppings were so good that I can let it slide. 

Also, when I sicked this pizza back up at 4:30am after drinking 5 double vodkas really quickly (thanku DQ Sheffield) it did not even taste that gross so I think that is quite a good endorsement for Grove.  

Pizza rating: 8.5/10

(minus points for base, extra points for making my vomit more pleasant than it might have been)

Grove Café, 133-135 Cardigan Road, LS6 1LJ

http://www.grove-cafe.co.uk

(ty Ben 4 the photo even though my mouth looks strange in it)

Franco Manca, London - 28/03/14

if u know about pizza, u know that Franco Manca is the total fucking tits. If this pizza was a person, it would be in the year above and you'd stare at it walking past your Maths classroom and even though it would never even look at you, you'd still jerk off to it fifteen times when you got home anyway. That's how good this pizza is. You will never be as good as this pizza. Know that.

But the difference between the unattainable deity in Upper Sixth and this pizza is that you actually get to put your mouth on this pizza because it is actually not a person, and is in fact a circle of baked dough with stuff on it. I am not a religious woman, but for that, I thank God.

So yeah anyway Franco Manca. The one in the photo/the only one in the chain I have ever visited is the Brixton Market one, but I think they have about seven restaurants in London. I like the atmosphere there quite a lot, but the only downside is that if you sit outside on like, the main market concourse bit, the pizza gets cold quicker. So if you get a choice of where to sit, go inside. TOP TIP.

me enjoying my Franco Manca experience :-)

I want to talk about how this pizza tastes but I feel like it needs sonnets written about it to really do it justice. But I cannot be arsed to write a sonnet so I will just write some other normal things about it instead. The dough is rrrrrrllllllly soft and delicious. Usually I am about a crispier pizza but this is an exception. It's sort of hard to cut though, if you care about practicalities. The sauce and cheese are both great and also taste really fresh which is obviously cool. On this occasion, I ordered pizza number 5 on their menu, which describes it as being topped with "tomato, garlic, oregano, capers, olives, anchovies and mozzarella" (I had it without anchovies though because a) they are gross and b) I am a herbivore) and all of those toppings were delicious. I was especially into the olives which were v salty, v tasty.

To be real w u, this pizza was the dopest but you can't rly expect anything less from Franco Manca. I also just want to mention real quick that this pizza cost me less than £7 so whilst also being literally one of the best things I've ever eaten it's also really inexpensive and you should definitely eat it too. Also also, if you are a vegan, you can get the pizza without cheese which I am told is really good. Everyone wins. Also also also, get the fresh lemonade to accompany ur pizza because it's off the chain. Ignore how much it looks like piss.

Pizza rating: 9/10
(loses a point because my pizza got cold p quick on this visit)

Franco Manca, Unit 4, Market Row, SW9 8LD
http://www.francomanca.co.uk

ICCo, London - 25/03/14

ICCo is pretty cool. It is on Goodge Street (LDN) and it sells hella cheap pizzas which are also delicious. This particular pizza was called a Vegetarian and I think it had on it peppers, sweetcorn and onions. I was not crazy about the onions but, as the late, great Gary Coleman once said, "diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks". Actually no he was just on the show called Diff'rent Strokes but whatever. Something that was dope about this pizza was the base, because it was pretty thin but it also managed to be crispy and that really gets my pizza dick hard. It was also obviously fresh dough which I appreciated.

The cheese:sauce ratio on this pizza was okay. I could probably have gone for a little bit more sauce but I am really into pizza sauce so I guess maybe the average diner might have been happy with the ratio. Anyway, as an overall pizza experience this one was good. The pizza @ ICCo is huge and tasty and satisfying, it's cheap as shit (this one cost me like £5.50 to eat in and you can get a Margherita for about 4 quid), they have a nice selection of drinx (lots of Snapple) and there are also good extras like garlic/chilli oils and chilli flakes for free. I would probably go back to ICCo (s/o to Lily for bringing me; s/o to Kate for coming too).

Pizza rating - 7/10

ICCo, 46 Goodge Street, W1T 4LU
http://icco.co.uk

ayo

what's up nerds. this is a blog about pizza (and maybe other things as well who knows not me.) as something of an aficionado on the foodstuff/because I hate my degree and have nothing better to do, I have taken it upon myself to write about literally every single pizza I eat on this weblog. I will also rate the pizzas. I eat a lot of pizzas so I hope that posts will be frequent and annoying. I hope that u enjoy my insights as I continue to follow my true vocation of eating all of the possible pizza. thank you.