All The Bases Covered | PizzaBuzz, Alphabeta Building, 2b Worship Street, London, EC2A 2AH

This is where dreams are made, well pizza anyway… Photograph: PizzaBuzz

BYO pizza… No not bring your own pizza – BUILD your own pizza! This is the new concept at PizzaBuzz. Situated in the Alphabeta Building on Worship Street, PizzaBuzz is guaranteed to satisfy the ‘two tribes’ of locals – the suited tech financier city workers and the bearded Silicon Roundabout creatives.

It’s been compared to Subway, nobody should be compared to Subway, so we’d rather compare it to the way that Chilango or Tortlilla works. Basically you’re in charge of your pizza from start to finish, the only limitation is your imagination (and possibly your budget – if you go topping crazy). But don’t worry if all this decision-making isn’t your thing, they have a signature selection of ‘Worship Street Loves’ pizzas – we like the sound of Ham and Peas (£9.95.)

Veggie pick ‘n’ mix…

You start with your 12″ base, made with 50% wheat flour and 50% spelt flower (more on that a little later) although gluten-free bases are available. The first decision is the sauce so you can ‘lay your foundation’. Saff chose the Rossa (£4.25) – crushed tomato, garlic, oregano and olive oil (ideal for her as it doesn’t contain cheese).

I played it safe and ordered the Margherita sauce (£4.95), same as the Rossa but sprinkled with fresh mozzarella and parmesan. But there are three more options to send your decision-making neurons into meltdown – Focaccia, Verde and Bianca.

Next up, the protein. This isn’t just ham, oh no. They have toppings such as wild rock shrimp, Merguez sausage, fennel salami and silverside beef – never had beef on a pizza before, not sure how that would work. (£1.50/£2.50 per portion). I added a selection of porcine delights – pulled pork and pancetta, whilst Saff recreated a meat feast of pepperoni and cotto.

Where’s the cheese?

As staff can’t eat/doesn’t like cheese she skipped the selection of 12 extra varieties that PizzaBuzz had to offer and moved straight onto the vegetable toppings (£1/£1.50 per portion). Here she had the pick of more imaginative ingredients and chose the pickled peppers, sliced portobello mushroom and red onion rings.

Beer and pizza

I really struggled when selecting the cheese toppings (£1.95/£2.50), I could have had them all. I pondered adding gorgonzola but felt it wouldn’t work too well with my porky platter. The burrata also made it onto my shortlist, but as it can be ordered as a side dish, I thought I’d leave it. The winner was the smoked provola – a popular cheese used by Naples’ pizzerias. As for the veg, I kept it simple and finished off with a handful of colourful, roughly chopped heritage tomatoes.

Fluffy buratta is the kind of cheese that Saff wishes she could eat

At this point our finished pizzas were whisked away to be slid into in the specialist wood-fired ovens, which reach temperatures of around 350°C, cooking them for about 90 seconds. This barely gave us time to even look at the salads, (from £3.45 for a basic green leaf and herb salad) let alone order one. But I did manage to sneak a side order of excellent quality Burrata (£5.50) with rocket, lemon oil and (a little too much) sea salt.

So who’s been drawing on the walls again? Photograph: PizzaBuzz

We had barely sat down at our boothed table when the pizzas arrived. I told you they were fast. So fast that we didn’t really have time to take in the decor. From what we remember it was a very clean, bright and functional space with splashes of vibrant primary colours – a little bit staff canteen, but very fit for purpose. Loved the recurring honeycomb and hexagon theme – very clever

PizzaBuzz has all bases covered (no pun intended) when it comes to drinks too. They have Chash tea (from £1.95) including a special PizzaBuzz blend of which £1 per cup is donated to Cystic Fibrosis and Climpson and Sons provides the coffee (from £1.80). There are freshly squeezed juices, wine on tap and bottled beer and cider.

I had a bottle of Gladiator Spelt Beer (£4.99) brewed by Glebe Farm. I’d never tried spelt beer before but I’d definitely drink it again – a lovely light beer and surprisingly refreshing. Saff’s Serena Cabernet (£3.50) was a little too warm with a slight fizzy feel to it, perhaps a one off. The soft drinks are customisable with an in-house freestyle soda machine like Five Guys, filled with a 125 different flavours. Did you know the idea for the Coca-Cola Freestyle was developed by a surgeon? True fact.

So we had built our pizzas, watched them go in the oven, so what did they actually taste like? They were great, the spelt flower made the base lighter with an incredible springy almost spongy texture. The sauces where fresh and the topping ingredients were excellent plus at roughly £9 each the pizzas are actually pretty good value too.

I scream for ice-cream…

PizzaBuzz has an exclusive range of Mamoo ice cream created by Michelin starred chef, pâtissier and friend of the owners Roger Pizey which is pasteurised, churned and hand-potted on-site every day. The ice cream comes in traditional and occasionally more unusual flavours. But what is unusual (and great for those with intolerances) is that they come in a choice of almond milk, goat’s milk or rich cow’s milk. Saff ordered the Honey flavoured almond milk ice cream (£1.95 per tub) she said it tasted healthy – but I think that’s psychological. My Pistachio (cow’s milk) variety was luxuriously thick and creamy, one of the best ice creams I’ve had in a long time!

It looks like the owners (The Meredith Group) have thought of everything. You can dine in, take away, order and pay via the flypay app (either at your table for more drinks/ice cream or from your office to order a take out). They have considerably added a kids menu and you can even take home their chilli-spiced Spanish olive oil, PizzaBuzz flour (with recipe to recreate the dough at home which we kind of successfully did) as well as branded merchandise, PizzaBuzz hoodie anyone?

Sounds like they have lunchtime service sorted, the manager told us they average 125 pizzas between 12.30-2.00pm. Not bad going, although they do need to work on the evening crowd a little more. When we visited at around 7.30pm the place was nearly empty. Our solution, lower the lighting and change the music to a calmer playlist – because everything else is spot on!.

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER… Bottomless Bubbles is available between 11am and 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays in September only. Costing £25 per guest for a two-hour slot, enjoy a Worship Street Loves or three-topping pizza with unlimited Glera Frizzante.

pizzabuzz.co.uk
Alphabeta Building, 2b Worship Street, London, EC2A 2AH
Telephone: 020 3815 6696
Email: info@pizzabuzz.co.uk

Opening hours: Monday – Thursday 9am-11pm
Friday -Saturday 10am-12
Sunday: 10am – 10pm 

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Nearest station: Liverpool Street Station (5 mins walk) Moorgate (7 mins walk)

We ate as guests of PizzaBuzz, this does not affect our review in any way. We always write with complete honesty.