Pizza Union, London

Pizza Union, Spitalfields

Address: 25 Sandy's Row (Corner of Middlesex St), London, E1 7HQ
Tube Stations: Aldgate East/Liverpool Street

In honour of Fat Friday (I've deemed this as an official weekly holiday), I thought I'd kick start this blog with a restaurant review. Everyone likes pizza, right? If you don't, gaze at the close-up image of it for long enough and you will be. 

I've been eyeing up Pizza Union for quite some time now and seeing the guys at work frequently arrive with the takeaway boxes in hand has only promoted it higher up in my lunch list of priorities. Finally, Tuesday was the day and I striked while the stone oven was hot.

First things first, let's get to know the place a bit better. It's situated conveniently near Spitalfields Market and a scarily quick walk from work. They're open 7 days a week from 11AM - 11PM and accept table bookings (4+) and pre-orders for pick up. However, all of that is invalid between 12PM - 2PM on Monday to Fridays. Drat.

Tip: Go after the peak pizza hour. We arrived at 1:30 and ordered immediately.

The Italian pizza bar serves 12" artisan pizzas in their traditional stone oven and prices range from £3.95 - £6.50. That's pretty darn cheap for good quality pizza in Central London.

I'm a sucker for restaurants that have exposed pipes/brick walls as part of their decor. The canteen style seating is a winner too. Luckily for the innocent diners, we were taking our pizza away. I'm the type to shuffle up to my neighbour, strike up a conversation and throw in one too many awkward jokes that either of us would care for. This was proved by my lengthy chat with the owner whilst I was placing my order - he ended up telling me a few facts about the place before (happily) waving me towards the pick up bar.

Pizza bar owner's fun fact: This is apparently the biggest stone pizza oven in the UK and can fit up to 16 pizzas at one time.

After the base been made, the pizza magicians then proceed to build it into your very own personalised masterpiece. It reminded me of the retro 'fish and chips' game where you'd control the little chef with the customers' orders of mushy peas, fish or chips and deliver it to the little canteen tables. I'm now off on a tangent but seeing it in real life amused me greatly.

I ordered the GIARDINO: tomato sauce, mozzarella, spinach, mixed peppers, artichoke, black olives and mushrooms. 

To make it as healthy as I could, I skipped the cheese and asked for an egg (sunny side up) as an extra topping instead. That's another thing I love about this place - you can customise your pizza to however you'd prefer it with an option of 22 toppings. Each additional topping is £1 - slightly pricy but... egg. I like eggs. I added chilli flakes to it too.

Hi pizza.

Having an egg seemed to many like an old choice but it's extra protein and again, I like eggs. For yolk sake, I'll give you a few minutes to marvel at the perfection of it. Just look.

The base was thin, crisp and held the explosion of vegetables well. The traditional stone baked method gave it a slight hint of smokiness too. My Italian colleague seemed suitably impressed and was eyeing it up ;). She has declared that she'd like to visit the place too. Approval from a native? Must be good. 

The Italian pizza bar seemed to be a lot more authentic than its American cousin hailing from Chicago and New York. It wasn't greasy in the slightest, didn't taste at all like the commercialised stereotypical junk food (hi Domino's) and has only made me even more excited to indulge in the dish when I visit Italy in April. I'd definitely recommend it for a quick pizza fix for lunch/dinner but would look else where if you prefer deep pan pizzas or after something very filling.  

What made this whole experience even better?

I stepped out of the restaurant and came across this sign:

Can we just get married now?