Pizza Pilgrims, Soho

One Sunday in January I headed to the London Cookery School with my Dad and my brother Dean, for a fun course in some classic dim sum dumplings.

Beforehand, we headed into Soho for a bite to eat, and I finally got to try the Pizza Pilgrims' Dean Street restaurant.

Having worked in Soho frequently over the last few years, I'd tried the Berwick Street Market outpost a few years back and had followed the Pizza Pilgrims successful journey online, but had never ventured into one of their restaurants.

Laid back and informal, with just a hint of cool is how I'd describe the interior. Stripped back but with fantastic Italian posters from yesteryear, as well as photos of the Elliot brothers, the faces behind the Pizza Pilgrims brand, but with chintzy Italian-inspired green and white gingham tablecloths. We were in the downstairs dining area, but upstairs you have the open plan kitchen area, including the wood fired pizza oven, which is an impressive piece.

We had some mozzarella and tomato to start - which was incredibly simple, yet delicious. The mozzarella is reportedly flown in from Italy, and I can well believe it given the creamy quality.

I chose the Nduja, which is a Margarita base with Nduja, or spicy Italian sausage slathered around, and it was an absolute triumph. I'm pretty partial to anything with Nduja, but this really was good. A super thin base with a superbly crisp and flavourful crust, and with the toppings to boot. You're invited to order the various dips for the crusts, and we had a garlic butter and a spicier one, and both were great, but the crust was quite edible without any dip.

The Nduja Pizza, Pizza Pilgrims

My brother enjoyed the simple Margarita, which was of course, beautiful and my Dad chose a different tack, the Portobello and Truffle on a bianca or white base of mozzarella which was particularly good.

The Portobello and Truffle Pizza, Pizza Pilgrims

The portion size is generous and I couldn't quite finish mine, although both my Dad and Dean did.

The pricing is really fair, nothing is more than £11, which considering the quality I though was reasonable, and we enjoyed a couple of Birra Moretti's each and our whole meal was around the £50 mark, well worth the money.

Pizza Pilgrims brings a small slice of Italy to London and has absolutely nailed the Italian way of making something fantastic with just a few simple ingredients. I'll be sure to return.