Editor's note: We've been excited to try Pizza Pilgrims since we first saw photos of their mobile operation. And what better time to check out their pies than during the Olympics! Thanks to London Serious Eats contributor Lizzie Mabbot for getting the lowdown on these Neapolitan pizzas.
Since the beginning of the year, London's street food scene has exploded. From what used to be dodgy hotdog carts selling suspect sausages to drunken revellers at the early hours, we now have lunchtime stalls selling banh mi, steamed pork buns, proper burgers, meatballs, fried chicken and yes, even hot dogs—but decent ones. The Pizza Pilgrims are usually parked up on Berwick Street Market, selling Neapolitan-style pizzas out of their Piaggio Ape van (you can read more about that here).
Their story is a unique one; two brothers decided to jack in their jobs and travel around Italy for 6 weeks, learning the craft of pizza and to pick up that all important 3-wheeled van. Once back in London, a pizza oven was built into the back of it and they started trading.
Their menu is short; on the occasions I visited, there was salami, mushroom and smoked garlic, Margherita and an 'Nduja topping available. My favourite, the 'Nduja (£6) is a spreadable spicy sausage, flavoured much like chorizo. Sparsely dotted around the pizza base, as it cooks in the ferociously hot oven it releases its spicy oil, flavouring the rest of the pizza.
The tomato sauce doesn't have the jammy sweetness that other pizzas often do, but instead is fresh and basil-scented. The dough is puffy around the crust and chewy underside. A few scorch marks here and there mark the high heat they're cooked with, and indeed wait times from ordering to receiving the pizza was under 10 minutes. For the money, you'd struggle to find a better pizza in Central London.
The Pizza Pilgrims
Lunch, Monday-Friday at Berwick Street Market (map)
pizzapilgrims.co.uk/
About the author: Lizzie Mabbott is a greedy girl based in London. She writes Hollow Legs. Follow her on Twitter (@hollowlegs).