Pizza Pilgrims ambled in to the Nottingham Pizza scene last month taking over the space formerly occupied by Edin Gondzica’s Sexy Mama Love Cichetti on Carlton Street in Hockley.
They have totally transformed the former Jewellers Store with just the clock left on the outside to show the buildings former use. Inside it has been opened up so that the upstairs and downstairs spaces link together through an opening to the mezzanine
The whole place is now very bright and airy in contrast to the low level lit european style cafe that it replaces. If you have never been in the building before you would never know what it was like before, it feels brand new and reborn somehow.
Anyhow we are here for pizza not a gander around the building so lets take a look at the menu
PIZZA MENU AT PIZZA PILGRIMS
On their menu they tell us a little bit of the story about how “In 2011 we began a pilgrimage in search of the best pizza in Italy” that would be the founders James and Thom Elliot, “Since our return we’ve spent every day trying to create our own perfect pizza”
Sounds good to me, but what sort of pizza?
“The pizza you’ll eat today has a double fermented dough topped with the finest ingredients we can get our hands on and baked … to give a light, chewy and charred crust”
Ah nice, I do like a chewy crust 😍
Pizza wise I do like the meatier ones and there seemed to be less of those on the menu than at many places. The three options seemed to be “Double Pepperoni & Spicy Honey“, “Nduja“, and “Salsicci e Friarielli”
I went with the Double Pepperoni, I am bored of Ndjua now, and I didnt fancy the other one with wild broccoletti. I know I sound like a caveman just wanting meat and more meat.
MAC N CHEESE BALLS
While we waited for our pizza to come we started off with a side of mac n cheese balls with a pesto dip. They were really quite decent, could have been cheesier but the textures were spot on, crispy coating, soft unctuous pasta and cheese filling.
My only gripe is that you get three which is rubbish for sharing 🤣😂 I woud have a whole plate to myself if I came again
DOUBLE PEPPERONI & SPICEY HONEY
Aha now it was time for the Pizza 🍕
We had orderd the DOUBLE PEPPERONI & SPICEY HONEY described on the menu as
“Honey on a pizza? Two types of pepperoni for mega Smokey meatiness on our classic Margherita topped with chilli infused honey. Trust us, it works”
I did trust them, and yes it did work. The honey was neither too sweet or too spicy but there was a little gentle bit of both in the background as you ate.
The pepperoni was sweet, tangy, meaty, and Smokey all at the same time, actually quite a joyous taste. It was a very memorable flavour and reminded me of one of my other local favorite pizzas the Meat Sweats from Oscar and Rosies.
I thought the quality of the two types of pepperoni was excellent and there was a generous amount of topping as well. Sweet, crisp and a little bit chewy just as I like my sliced meat products
DIPS FOR YOUR PIZZA SIR?
The pizza eating experience was going very well and was about to get even better as we discovered the side dishes of dipping sauces for your crust.
This turned everything on its head and was a revelation to me at least, maybe I am late to the crust dipping scene but I haven’t been this excited about eating my crust since 1995 and they started stuffing my pizza crust with cheese at Pizza Hut
Dips of Nduja, Pesto, and Truffle Mayo were the options and we had all three.
The pesto was the best as it was really fresh and vibrant, it lifted the tastebuds away from their thoughts about meat adding a little bit of lightness back to the palate cutting away some of that fattiness from all the porkiness.
The Nduja was also quite a welcome treat, it was more of a spread than a dip and that was how I used it. I know I said I am bored of nduja but here in this form it made a lot more sense and was great for using up the bits of crust that I may have discarded in a previous pizza eating life
I wasn’t that keen on the Truffle Mayo, it added very little for me and perhaps is better with one of the vegetarian pizza options?
Anyway what I am saying is get the dips, they are a great idea and addition to the meal 😎
It was a really interesting deviation from my normal pizza scoffing experience and gave life to the crust and made it a big part of the party
PIZZA CLOSE UP
This was my First visit to Pizza Pilgrims in Nottingham and pleasantly surprised by how good the pizza was.
It’s the sort of pizza that needs a knife and fork to eat, too thin to pick up or fold. The crust is fluffy, soft and airy, nice char to the edges and nicely tearable for dipping.
We have a lot of excellent local pizza makers in town and I always begrudge outsiders enroaching on our pizza party so I was a little guarded with my expectations when I walked in through the door
I liked it a lot and I will be back again to try some more, it is definitely a place to add to the list of pizza I like to eat
Pizza Pilgrims in Nottingham is located at 15 Carlton Street, Nottingham, NG1 1NL a short walk from the Old Market Square and from the Lace Market Tram stop.
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