All aboard | The Big Red Pizza Bus, 30 Deptford Church Street, London SE8 4RZ ** THE BIG RED IS NOW A POP-UP CALLED WÜNDERLUST **

A bird in the nest is worth two in the bus… Photograph: The Big Red Pizza

Even with a mask as a disguise, Big Red stuck out like a sore thumb…

** THE BIG RED IS NOW A POP-UP CALLED WÜNDERLUST **

Half term = an agonising time trying to find things to keep the kids occupied, when said children are at that awkward age gap it makes things even harder. One’s six months off being a teenager (but already looks and acts like one) and the other is still a child who wants to play games and requires a lot of stimulation. Luckily they both like eating, even if the younger one is one of the fussiest eaters known to man.

Oi, that’s my pizza!

I heard through the grapevine about The Big Red Pizza bus – a knackered old double-decker converted into a restaurant in Deptford, I knew it had the potential to be a winner and fill an afternoon. They also show free kids films, in a slightly alarming looking converted lorry in the back of the restaurant’s secluded ‘garden’. When I say garden, it’s more of a yard with a table football machine and some seating. As it was a rare sunny day we sat in the patio area, despite the bus being a huge novelty we didn’t fancy sweating away inside it. It’s a weird old place, kinda cool and very quirky, like something we’d stumble across in Thailand, quite hippyish with colourful paper lanterns and quite obviously child-friendly. Random origami hung from the plastic roof, kids drawings of the bus were pinned to the wall and there were more children than adults roaming about.

Balls? No baby Alejandro chorizo!

In the Meantime I’ll have a Mojito

We got off to a good start with our starters – Piccante baby Alejandro chorizo served with dough balls £4.50 and Garlic bread with cheese and honey £4.50. The slightly sweet dough balls were made for dipping in the puddle of chorizo oil at the bottom of the bowl once the caramelised meat had been eaten (which didn’t take long). Ade and the almost teenager loved the garlic bread, such a great combo, why isn’t this done more often? So easy to recreate at home too.I sipped a Mojito £7 whist Ade had a Meantime lager £3.85, my cocktail was so good that it spurred him on to purchase some ingredients to make some of our own at home, result! Until the hangover the next day that is.

A big red pizza

As this was a pizza restaurant we all opted for pizza – the Pepperoni £8.50, Flamenco (tomato, mozzarella, roast peppers, chorizo £8.95 and a plain old Ham and mushroom (sans cheese) £8.50 for me. I wish one of us had tried the pasta but it was just too hot a day and it didn’t seem right to eat a steaming bowl of food. Unfortunately the pizzas weren’t as good as we’d hoped, a slightly soggy bottom (never a good thing) these were run-of-the-mill pizzas, not bad but not like our most recent exciting pizza discovery. Charlotte’s kids pizza arrived way before anyone else as the waitress took her order with the drinks for some reason, although it worked out as it meant she could go and watch the film and make friends with the other children. Kids get a pretty good deal though, they can choose a Little Red pizza (Margherita) or Little Red spaghetti (with tomato and basil), a choice of vanilla or chocolate ice cream and a juice for just £6.95. The pizza is the same size as the adults so it’s brilliant value, shame there’s not more of a choice of toppings though, kids menus need to move with the times.

Desserts ensured we finished the meal on a high, tasty and so retro with the dusting around the side of the plates on the Warm chocolate brownie with ice-cream and Sticky toffee pudding with cream both £4.50. My X-rated knicker with shot! £6.50 came with a scattering of rainbow coloured sugar strands atop the cream with a shot of limoncello on the side, what a brilliant dessert! It’s amazing what a difference the little strands make, not only do they look pretty but they deliver a hit of nostalgia.

Yes the restaurant is quite shabby and the pizzas aren’t up there with the best that London has to offer, but everything else we ate was really good. We all fell for its laid-backness and the free cinema is brilliant for rainy days or when money’s tight. The fussy one didn’t want to leave so that’s a big plus in our eyes.

www.bigredpizza.co.uk
30 Deptford Church Street, London SE8 4RZ
Telephone: 020 3490 8346

Opening hours:
TUESDAY & WED 12:00-23:00 (kitchen closed for one hour at 16:00, last food orders 10:30pm)
THURSDAY 12:00-24:00 (kitchen closed for one hour at 16:00, last food orders 23:00)
FRIDAY 12:00-02:00 (kitchen closed for one hour at 16:00, last food orders midnight)
SAT 12:00-02:00 (last food orders midnight)
SUNDAY 12:00-21:00 (last food orders 20:30)
CLOSED MONDAY – (Open for lunch in the school holidays)

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Nearest stations: Deptford Bridge DLR – 1 minute walk.
Deptford British Rail – 2-3 minutes walk.

*We ate as guests of The Big Red Pizza, this fact does not affect our review in any way, we always write with complete honesty.