Recently Pizza Pilgrims seem to have been everywhere - from Taste of London to fuelling Stones fans (rather than stoned fans) at Hyde Park not to mention having their recipes in the Telegraph as well as publishing their first book. But they're not slowing down at all - as they get ready to launch their first permanent venture right in the heart of Soho.
The new Pizza Pilgrims Soho pizzeria is opening on Dean Street (right across the road from Pizza Express), spread across two floors which are loosely split between takeaway and dining in. The ground floor will be a shop front for the pizzeria, mainly selling pizza to take away but with a few counter seats if you don't want to grab and go. Downstairs is mainly reserved for dining - with two separate rooms seating around 55 people. There's also a bar and table football down there too. It'll be for walk-ins only, with no reservations planned.
For the main menu, they'll be focusing on the traditional Neapolitan pizza that has been their mainstay, and such a big hit from their van, but there will be two or three starters too. Chief among these will be the Neopolitan grissini - soft, chewy sourdough breadsticks. These will be served with prosciutto, which you can wrap and have melt around the hot grissini.
As for the pizzas, there will be eight on the menu - many which have been favourites from the van. The main attraction is the simple but classic margherita and the spicier n'duja. There will also be a range of pizza bianca (with no tomato sauce). The main pizza bianca will be the salsiccia e friarielli - fennel sausage with wild broccoli - a traditional Neapolitan pizza bianca. For those who want to forego the pizza (or want something to go with it) there will also be panzanella - Tuscan tomato and bread salad - but with pizza base broken up to take the place of the bread.
For dessert, they continue to team up with Gelupo - who have joined them for Forzawin in the past - and are planning something rather special. The dessert will be made from blood oranges - Gelupo will scoop out the centres and freeze the skins, making sorbet from the juice. These frozen skin halves are then refilled with the blood orange sorbet and wrapped together so you'll be able to open them "like a chocolate orange".
Drinks-wise, there will be Moretti, red & white wine and prosecco on tap (served in carafes). There will be a small wine list - a couple of red or whites - as well as a more extensive selection of prosecco available too. Cocktails will be Aperol and Campari based - with Aperol Spritz (very familiar from Forzawin) and Negronis on offer. There will also be plenty of "top shelf" Italian liqueurs including Fernet Branca on offer - alongside a special Limoncello they're creating with Chase. That won't quite be ready for opening day, but when it's available they'll be selling bottles of the stuff too. Coffee will be supplied by Netil Market's Terrone.
The Pizza Pilgrims Pizzeria opens August 1 at 11-12 Dean Street, London W1D 3RP
