Every 6 months or so the nice people at Pizza Express invite us to come down and try some new things on their menu. The Spring/Summer Menu for 2015 also coincides with the chain’s 50th Anniversary. This means the addition of new dishes, plus a very tiny pizza range called Romana65 that seems to focus on buffalo mozzarella (the best kind of mozzarella)
We headed down to the Pizza Express on George Street, Croydon (my endz bruv) to see what the new stuff tasted like so that we could inform you.
We then used cutlery to attack and analyse the following (new) things:
(NB: they’ve added more things to the menu than you can realistically try in one sitting (unless you are an elephant that enjoys pizza and that can read menus) so what you see here is obviously not everything that’s new!)
Legerra Superfood Salad (£9.95)
The house dressing is thin (in a good way) and neither overpowering in density nor distribution
The beetroot is thinly sliced and not overloaded with that earthiness that can sometimes make beetroot so hard to deal with
The little bits of ‘light mozzarella’ are fucking legit. I had no idea there was such a thing as light mozzarella but now I want to bathe in it all day every day. At first I thought they were some kind of yoghurt (‘cos I clearly don’t read menus properly)
The salmon pieces (a salad upgrade that costs a little extra are is ‘default good’ (it’s hard to make salmon not taste great) but really nothing to write home about. Also there are not quite enough of them. Also there’s apparently fresh basil in here too but I don’t taste it at all
Verdict: A virtuous salad for virtuous people who want to feel virtuous and all that. Good quality but at £9.95 it’s a bit much. Also maybe a bit more salmon please?
La Regina (£12.50)
In a nutshell, this is an Epicurean thing: terrifically rich, rounded and…salty. Like some ageing Midwestern oil millionaire or something (sorry, stretching metaphors again)
First impression? Ham and mushroom flavours predominantly fill up your mouth and your face in a satisfying, all embracing meaty embrace that you must brace yourself for (OK, you don’t have too – it’s not that strong)
Second impression: why are those pizza cutters so badly suited to their primary purpose? I could probably do a cleaner job using a series of palm hand strikes and the power of my (tiny) mind.
There is also a smattering of perfectly textured and tasting black olives add to the sexy saltiness (is sexy saltiness a thing? Yes)
There is not much cheese on it, but what cheese there is goes a long way (economical cheese?). A lot of the richness is provided by either the garlic oil or the truffle oil. All encompassing mouth culinary massage confirmed.
This thin crust style pizza is the perfect level of thinness – you can eat the whole thing without struggling against your digestive enzymes / a strong food coma.
The texture of the dough is moist and slightly squashy (due to the oil) – with an ever so crispy circumference The bits of shredded smoked ham hock are distributed generously. I don’t get any smokiness from said hock.
Verdict: Savoury flavoury level UP. This was a fkn good pizza. Strong pizza. Strong feelings for pizza.
Eton Mess Cheesecake (£5.35)
All I can really say about this is that it is basically a very good cheesecake. Since I have yet to have a ‘not very good cheesecake’ – this makes it both delicious and unremarkable.
The layer of strawberry swirled cheesecake (which is sandwiched between the meringue and the biscuit base) is a lot lighter and more yielding than the kind of cheesecake you might be used to. So it’s kinda like a layer of Eton Mess suspended between other foods!
But seriously, who cares – it’s a GODDAMN DELICIOUS CHEESECAKE so let’s not overthink things such as its design or texture.
Pizza Express Croydon’s Manager (who I am quite sure is either Sicilian or has spent time there) told me to describe it as “to die for” but not to actually describe it this way. So obviously I didn’t just describe this as to die for.
Verdict: It’s an Eton Mess and a cheesecake at the same time. What’s not to like? That said, I prefer a regular cheesecake. Also £5.35 is quite a lot for what is really quite a small piece of of cheesecake.
But it is a delicious cheesecake and if you like both Eton Mess and cheesecake at the same time you probably owe it to yourself and whatever higher power you believe in to try this one.