So, we heard there was a buzz around PizzaBuzz and sent Jack down to Shoreditch to go and see what ‘Jane Dough’ and the ‘DIY Pizza Assembly Line’ was all about. Is it worth the hype? Well, you’ll have to be the judge of that…

Rating:

Cuisine:

Italian / Pizzeria

Appeals To:

Any man, woman or child whoever wanted to customise a pizza without having to actually cook a pizza: Any man, woman or child who wanted smoked mackerel and things that should probably not be served at the same time as smoked mackerel on top of a pizza (as for what those things are, you get to decide!).

 

Or anyone who ever wanted to make a pizza with 15+ toppings: (not recommended but don’t let common sense come between you and a edible pyramid of ridiculous pizza fun)

 

Ice cream aficionados: Here you shall find exciting and everchanging varieties of ice cream (almond milk and goats milk ice cream, you better believe it!) – and made by one of the UK’s most renowned pastry chefs…

 

In a Word

Inventive

Pizzabuzzed

PizzaBuzz is, in a city so very full of new restaurant openings, a very good idea indeed. The concept can be summed up (crudely) as ‘DIY Pizza’ or “we have the toppings, you do the rest!” or “Subway, but with pizzas!”. This doesn’t really do it justice however and there is, obviously, much more to it than that – which I’ll now try to elaborate upon

Essentially the idea is semi-self service pizza/food assembly. You take your place at the start of their “DIY pizza assembly line” and prepare yourself a pizza entirely of your own devising (though you don’t have to do anything really asides from tell them what you want your pizza to be made of – it arrives pre sliced too, woo!).

The Ambiance

As for the ambiance – PizzaBuzz lives inside the brand spanking new Alphabeta development on Worship street. On the inside it has a minimal vibe – almost the feel of an industrial space about it. Except they’ve made it more friendly with offcentre animal illustrations drawn onto the walls (pictured) plus their colourful logo and a recurring love of hexagonal things. Plus staff singing along to the music (not sure if this is an actual feature or if I just came in at the right time ^_^)

The Food

You choose from 5 types of bases (gluten free options are available). These range from a ‘regular’ Margherita (cheese, tomato etc) to the Bianca (white sauce, mozzarella, parmesan) – plus a pretty fkn extensive range of toppings, divided into vegetables, proteins (i.e meats, fish) and cheese. Said toppings include such gastronomic curiosities such as bacon jam and wild rock shrimp.

The recommended number of toppings for a pizza is about 4-5, though apparently one guy came in (drunk) on a Friday night once and ordered a £20+ pizza that contained EVERY SINGLE topping they offered. It ended up looking like a pyramid (hahahahaha!).

 

And, if you don’t fancy coming up with your own pizza, their ‘signature collection’ of pre-designed pizzas come in around £10, and have names like Middle Earth and Etna.  

 

Once you’ve picked your combo of ingredients, it takes them about 1-3 minutes to cook the whole thing in the wood fired oven – so you might even be able to describe it as ‘fast food’. Takeaway is also an option.

In the Southern Italian style, you can also get a burrata (and choose what ingredients to have it with, which is the recurring theme…)

 

I must also tell you about the dough – which took a year’s development and is quite something (they’ve got a video called ‘Jane Dough’ in which the dough explains this all to you in a Yorkshire accent, lol).

 

Anyway, it comes from a small mill in Oxfordshire and is, unusually, 50% spelt. I am told that this results in better texture, digestibility and mouthfeel than regular pizza. This is a big claim to make, and I’m not sure I agree – the pizza I had, however, WAS very good and that’s all I can say about that…

 

It’s also worth mentioning PizzaBuzz’s home made ice cream, which is made by pastry chef extraordinaire Roger Pizey (of ‘World’s Best Cakes’ and Marco Pierre White’s various restaurants, etc). As well as the conventional cow’s milk, PizzaBuzz will also do you ice cream made from almond milk and goat’s milk (and I can’t say I’ve ever seen that anywhere!).

 

I think the flavours of ice cream on offer change every day too, since they make it fresh, on a regular basis. It also comes in little cardboard tubs that remind me of Wheyhey…

What We Tried 

Burrata With Rocket & Lemon Oil Sea Salt 

The lemon oil and sea salt worked spectacularly with the burrata. 

 

Burrata With Beetroot & Fresh Mint

The earthy beetroot flavours and mint with the creamy cheese…not so much

 

Pizza: Focaccia Base, Smoked Mackerel, Turkey, Smoked Cheese, Sweet Potato and Artichoke

This is basically everything I wanted from a pizza. LEGENDARY.

Pizza: Verde Base, Chicken, Caramelised Onions, Broccoli, Jalapeños

Greta made this one. Quite sweet, maybe too sweet for my liking.

Goat’s Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Novelty value was quite high, but nothing particularly special here. I appreciate that they didn’t make it too sweet, and that you were getting something with more cocoa flavours. I’d imagine, as ice cream goes, that this is a healthier option…

Almond Milk Candied Orange Ice Cream

Drinks

They also make their own juices onsite every day, which, as you can see, can be taken away. I chose the ‘Green Machine’ – which made me feel a lot better about my life than ordering a beer. I believe spinach is a main constituent? If you’ve ever had a vegetable juice with a little apple to balance out the bitterness, you’ll know what this tastes like. And if you haven’t it’s basically moderately sweet, delicious and (probably) good for you. There could be something in the idea of serving these as ‘healthy apertifs’….

The Verdict:

All in all, Pizzabuzz is taking a very good idea from another restaurant (*ahem*) and applying it to pizza very, very well. I wasn’t surprised to hear that they have another site opening soon and can see them doing pretty well in future.

 

Inherently, it’s fun, a bit silly, and provides you with a lot more choice than most of the (pizza based) competition. Definitely a place I’d recommend to everybody (because who the hell doesn’t like pizza, really?!)

 

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