On the day of Federer v Djokovic at the Wimbledon final, the sun was shining bright, meaning we ideally wanted to watch the tennis and be outside at the same time. (And, additionally be at a place that would sell me a beer). Because I couldn’t be arsed to walk all the way to Millennium Square to watch it on the big screen, Holly and I went to Blue Moon, a pub/bar/hostel/restaurant to watch it on the outside screens there.
It was eerily empty, especially considering it took a good 45 minutes to get a pint here during the World Cup last year. Wandering inside, there were a few stragglers at the bar, but service was happily immediate when we grabbed a couple of beers and sat outside.
Honestly, we had been fully intending to simply sit and watch the tennis. But, as the sets rolled on (longest final ever- I was sat in the pub for almost five hours!), the tension grew thick in the air and the sounds of jeers and cheers grew louder and louder, so too did the sounds emanating from my tummy.
One of the food options in Blue Moon is the pizza made by Pepenero- which can be ordered in two sizes- 12″ and 20″. Suffice it to say I let my eyes get the better of me when I saw a 20″ one get slapped down on a nearby table. Besides, 20″ is the typical New York by the slice pizza size, and I’m all about the authentic experience.
I ordered and sat outside, with the little buzzer they gave me, and when it went off, I stormed up to the oven to collect my pizza.
I was directed from the bar to the oven that was tucked away inside, which was manned by a small, old Italian man in chef whites, who looked like a seasoned pro. He handed it to me across the desk- the vast, almost terrifying pizza. It was enormous. I lugged it outside and it made a considerable thump as I dropped it on the table. (iPhone for scale).
Having a go at the first gargantuan slice, I noticed immediately that this guy was one cheesy motherfucker. I liked the cheetahesque spot pattern from the various bits of burnt cheese, probably from the varying cheese density (on a scale from very cheesy to insanely cheesy).
Look- pizza and beer. There is no better combination.
The sauce was nice, a simple fresh tomato sauce, the usual fare. There was a good sprinkling of oregano, which was a nice touch- this is typical on New York style pizzas, but maybe there could have been a bit more.
The cheese was good, but I’m gonna be controversial and say there was probably too much of the stuff.
It was nice and stringy, but because of the density it was awfully bloody chewy, and because of how much there was, at times, it overpowered the flavours of the base and the tomato. This was greatly improved when there was a bite with basil in to cut through with a touch of aromatic sweetness, but there wasn’t enough for this to make much of an impact.
The crust was nice and crispy traditional yeast pizza base, which was a tad burnt- which is of course a positive. It was a harder style base, and it probably had to be this way to support all that cheese.
Holly had 3 slices and I ploughed through the rest.
I fell asleep on a sofa in in the midst of the final set because of the vast quantity consumed, so the cheese can’t have been all that bad. Although, my jaw did have some serious chewing to do to get through it- though that could simply have been because there was so much of it.
🍕🍕🍕+🍕/2
Cheers, Con
Pizza on Earth 