ALL the cheese. Now that's a damned fine pizza.
Updated 11/8/20 with the extended opening dates
What can you tell us about Giz & Green?
During the lockdown, Gizzi Erskine and Professor Green - chef and rapper respectively - teamed up remotely over zoom for their Instagram show Giz & Green's Monday Night Fakeaway. On that they recreated the fast-food staples that people were missing - like a Big Mac or KFC - showing that it was possible to make them at home (and, in many ways, improve them).
One of the most popular creations was their stuffed crust deep-pan pizza, and that's what this pop-up is centred around.
So, we're verging into Pizza Hut territory here?
That's arguably the main inspiration, but this goes several steps beyond that. Many of the quality ingredients have been locally sourced and used to make standout deep-pan pizzas. Frankly, we've missed deep-pan - our local Islington pizza palace Sorrento Pizza used to create wonderful deep-pan delights before going solely thin crust. So if this pop-up heralds a deep-pan return, we're all for it.
Where is it?
They've taken over Passo, at the Old Street roundabout. The Giz & Green menu will be the sole menu there until the end of August.
What kind of Coronavirus measures can we expect?
Hand sanitiser on the way in, the tables have been slightly spaced apart, and there's regular sanitising of the tables too. They have a large alfresco space out the back if you prefer to sit outside.
Onto the menu then - what can we expect?
It's a simple affair - a couple of starters, five pizzas, dips and a single pudding, although more dishes are planned. Here's what we had.
The baked garlic jumbo mushrooms (£5) - you can add cheese to these, but swimming in acres of garlic butter was enough for us. Speaking of which...
More of that garlic butter is used on the Garlic Bread Bomb (£5) - sourdough roll injected with melted garlic butter. And then soaked in more garlic butter. Because, why stop?
The main event. This is actually the pepperoni pizza (£17.99) with the pepperoni buried under mounds of cheese. And don't forget that there's more cheese in the stuffed crust. After starters, this will easily fill two people, we think and it is a truly outstanding deep crust pizza, with a good kick to the pepperoni.
If you still have room after all those carbs, the sole dessert is the banana split - with white miso ice cream, whipped vanilla Chantilly cream, miso caramel, chocolate sauce and peanut brittle. We through this might actually be too much but our gluttony knows no bounds. Again, it's an excellent dessert.
And what are the other pizzas?
There's a simple cheese & tomato, the "Veggie" (with marinara sauce, double cheese, red onion, green peppers, black olives, sweetcorn), The Hawaiian (including ham, pineapple and mushroom), and the Chicken BBQ (with Tabasco chipotle BBQ sauce, chicken, bacon, red onion, sweetcorn, mushrooms).
It's also worth mentioning the Market Salad - which apes the pizza restaurant salad bar (but this is brought to your table). That's a piled-high salad with too many ingredients to add here - but you can go veggie with that too (or maybe add crispy bacon, prawns or chicken breast). That's a tenner before the extras.
And drinks?
There's a pared-down list for the pop-up. Six cocktails, a few beers and just a couple of red/white wines on the list (starting at £27 a bottle). We didn't have a cocktail - but next time the Cosmotango (vodka, Cointreau, Tango) looks like a must.
Overall thoughts
The Giz & Green takeover of Passo has a simple menu, but the focus means that it's one that's done really well. The heart of the menu, the deep pan pizza, was excellent. We do love our Neapolitan pizzas, but this was a welcome change. If you fancy some comforting food after the lockdown - this should definitely be on your list.
More about Giz & Green
Where is it? Passo, 80 City Rd, Old Street, London EC1Y 2BJ
When does it run? Now extended - running until end September 2020
How to book: On the Passo website.
Find out more: Follow them on Instagram @passo.london, @gizzierskine and @professorgreen.
Hot Dinners ate as guests of Giz & Green. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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