2 weeks Ago
Younger pizza-lovers universally, almost completely without exception in my experience, love a Margherita pizza. As a more-is-more sort of a person it's always puzzled me why you'd ever opt for such a straight-forward option ahead of meaty-beast or a pizza liberally covered in lovely oily discs of pepperoni. But as my GP would attest, I haven't always made the wisest and most far-sighted culinary choices.
An old friend who used to work at a pizza restaurant noted that around 99 per cent of male customers would choose an American Hot pizza, so I suppose I'm in good company among those with a Y chromosome and an unreconstructed approach to dietary health. Pizza Pilgrims, a rather groovy outlier on the scene, is currently serving up a punchy little creation which may go some way to boosting the profile of the Margherita with the spicy pizza lovers of this world (male and female, after all, the chaps don't have a monopoly on inside-incinerating toppings). The Provola e Pepe is a Neopolitan-style number and a Margh with added menace.
Last week we went along to the popular Ship Street to try it, and there are still a few days left for you to do the same (it's on until March 30, and may return in the near future. The boys and girls behind Pizza Pilgrims have said the new pizza is also celebrating the start of Spring, and true enough we'd managed our first post-work al fresco aperitif of the season, which included spotting a typically Brighton running club passing through the Lanes with a Cockerpoo happily trotting along with them. As the pizza was served it looked like you exactly what want from a Margheritas - with creamy pools of molten mozzarella, a tomato base, with leaves of fresh basil atop the familiar, puffed up slow-proved Pilgrim's pizza base.
But what set it apart was a bountiful addition of cracked black pepper, which allied with extra Parmesan and a nice splosh of olive oil made for a more moreish slice-a da pizza. A marvellous Marg which will hopefully become a permanent fixture on the Pizza Pilgrims menu. We enjoyed a few other indulgent and fiery dishes along the way.
A crispier than crisp bowl of Fritto Misto, a selection of their best deep-fried nibbles (look away now Dr), including Cacio e pepe balls, Crispy spaghetti balls made with pecorino cheese and pepper, artichokes fritti, fried in a crispy panko crust, and served with a rather fetching duo pot of chilli jam and garlic dip, which resembled a yin and yang, albeit a yin and yang pressing firmly on the side of unrestricted nice times. Our second pizza (we shared both) was heavy on the carne and closer to type. You've Got Maiale was a bit of bruiser, with prosciutto cotto, nduja, salsiccia and pepperoni, tempered with a cooling ball of burrata, red onions and a balsamic glaze.
Even the 'Schiaffo' pickled cucumber salad had a hefty kick to it, teeny-weeny slices of red chillies were interspersed with chunks of crunchy cue but the real heat came from the La Bomba chilli oil it had all been dressed in. Both sweets were coffee-fuelled, an Espresso Martini and Pistachio Affogato, and a nice pair of post-pizza liveners, with the added bonus of rim-side Ferrero Rocher in the former. Pizza Pilgrims remains a fab little high street venue, with an evolving menu full of big flavours and the odd new twist.
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