I first discovered Pizza Pilgrims about 5 years ago, however at that point the only vegan option they offered was a tomato base pizza. Which is exactly how it sounds – pizza with tomato sauce on it – and so it wasn’t really a favourite of mine to visit. The pizza was very tasty even if it was very plain, but at the time I felt the price really wasn’t worth the product. I do know though that over the years Pizza Pilgrims has improved their vegan offerings quite a lot, which also means they are more popular and therefore trying to find space at one of their restaurants is always very hard to do.
Luckily, I had a long weekend planned to celebrate my birthday and we finally managed to visit a Pizza Pilgrims without having to fight through the crowds. We went to the small pop up restaurant they have inside Westfields at Shepherd’s Bush and needless to say, I was very excited.
To start with, this pizza was way bigger than I was expecting. It was literally hanging off of the plate. The base itself was super crispy, but those crusts were the perfect doughy crust: crispy on the outside but lovely and doughy on the inside. You could opt for a little pot of dipping sauce, and I am a bit sad that I didn’t try this. Even on their own though, those crusts were absolutely delicious.
The pizza itself was also amazing. The tomato base was far more like a tomato puree than the usual sauce, as it was quite acidic and fresh rather than the usual sweet base I am used to from other places. The cheese was very rich. It had a similar consistency to a cream cheese, and I believe it was made out of cashews which explains the cream cheese like texture. Either way it was perfectly melted and very rich, which worked well with the acidic tomato which helped to cut through the rich cream of the cheese. Easily the best pizza I have had at a restaurant, and that isn’t even up for debate.
I did decide to stick to the basic to start with, hence why I only had a margherita. They did however also have a pepperoni version, a mushroom pizza, and a garden party similar pizza which came with a variety of different vegetable toppings. I will absolutely be coming back to try these as the margherita was delicious, even if it is meant to be the ‘plain’ option.
This pizza was £10.95, which I think is very much market value. The quality of this pizza, I would argue, is worth more than this though. Unfortunately I have to go into London in order to get one of these pizzas, but I now fully understand the hype and why there are always queues outside of their restaurants. This is now my favourite, and I really don’t think I can go back to the usual Pizza Express, which is unfortuanly the only pizza place close to where I live. I am very tempted now to always go into London now for my pizza fix…
Taylor Talks Vegan 