More Pizza Express

[sassyl]

Went to Pizza Express tonight and I am really. really impressed. I had a gorgeous pizza and a brownie. Staff were really clued up and pleased to be serving GF food. I can't wait to go back.

[FionaGFG Administrator]

Same here. We were pleased to know that staff from the Mgr to the waitress had had proper training and all knew that they were now using GF flour in the kitchen to roll out the normal pizzas and so help remove the risk of cross contamination. Our only gripe really was that the pizza wasn't crispy and was hard to cut as it was soft & the starter risotto was extremely salty. How did you find yours, what topping did you have? Our full blog will be on tumblr.com/blog/glutenfreeg... soon.

[root]

Same again, pizza and beer at Pizza Express for the first time in years. I spoke to the chef beforehand to ensure the training had been done, and he and all the staff were great.

[pretender]

So are you saying that they use GF flour to rollout normal pizza's while also rolling out GF pizza's. (is it the way I am reading it?). They roll out both types of pizza on the same flour and no contamination issues. I would have expected a dedicated kitchen because of these issues.

[sassyl]

No, the GF bases are pre-rolled and created in a separate area of the kitchen with colour co-ordinated equipment used only for GF. Everything for GF is black, including the boards the pizza is served on. Chef's wash their hands before starting to prep GF food, and a new pack of sauce for the base is opened for the first GF order of each day.

Other pizzas are rolled out away from the GF area. Dough comes in pre-made but they use flour to dust as they shape it, and this flour is now GF so that there is no cross-contamination from flour flying about in the air. (There's still flour flying about in the air but it's GF, and away from the GF area too).

[Ajt02]

Brownie you say??!!! I think I know where I'll be going on Saturday

[pretender]

Thanks sassyl, but not for me, to many GF products are switching over to Hydroxpropylmethylcellulose as a gluten substitute the effects for me are worse than the coeliac disease itself.

[Regalbirdy]

Hi, I had a Pizza Express meal last night and all went very well.

The staff couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. We were served by a waitress who was herself doing a gluten challenge for medical reasons; and the shift manager who had a family member who was coeliac - so besides the standard training, they were both clued up on GF food needs for personal reasons.

The pizza I had was lovely. On ordering I questioned if one of the toppings I wanted on my pizza was GF. When they weren't sure, they referred to their folder of special dietary requirements and showed me that the item I wanted was listed as GF - which I found to be quite reassuring.

I echo what somebody else said about the pizza base being slightly sweeter than a regular base; but to be honest I was two thirds of the way through the pizza before I even noticed it!

Didn't try the beer, I can't stand the stuff - GF or not! Did however have the brownie for dessert. It was quite small but very rich and tasty. When I said that I didn't want it served with the coffee it came with, the waitress immediately offered me about 4 other choices of drinks. She allowed me to switch to mint tea which I thought complimented the brownie very nicely as it was made with real mint leaves.

This month, Sunday to Thursday there is a voucher on the Pizza Express website that allows you to have 25% of main meals for the whole table - we found it very handy!

I hope anyone else planning to go has an equally good and positive experience as we did.

PS. I was also with dining with a Vegan who was adequately catered for but was slightly jealous of the new coeliac measures and wishes Pizza Express would do more to cater for Vegans!

[Lexy]

Hi All - I just want to add in my 5p worth of comments...I have dermatitis herpetiformis and I class myself as pretty sensitive. I first branched out at Zizzi's and had their 'gf' pasta without any after-effects. I've also had gf-pasta at another Italian restaurant near where I live without any knock-on effects (and I use the Tescos free-from pasta at home with no bother), but this was my first restaurant 'gf' pizza. I wasn't going to try the gf pizza at Pizza Express because of cross contamination issues (and these happen despite best intentions) but today it happened. Taste was fine - definitely gf, no doubt about it! - and it came served on the black board. Hubby had a 'normal pizza' which came on a different board. The pizza base was indeed a bit on the sweet side, but not overwhelmingly so.

I am not faulting the company or the service at all. The waiter did his best to spend time with me pointing out all the items on the menu that were 'gf' - of course it's all actually 'no gluten-containing ingredients', that frightful term. So I had an inkling that I might react, as I already do react to other items which are marketed as 'no gluten-containing ingredients'. About 10 minutes after I had finished the pizza the tell-tale itching began, first my scalp, then back of the knees, then forearms - classic DH reaction for me. It continued for a good 2 hours or so, and now has lessened to every now and then. So I definitely had some kind of reaction (I only ever 'itch' like that after I ingest something that doesn't agree with me). I don't appear to have major stomach issues as a result, so hopefully it was a 'lesser' reaction than usual. So I don't think I'll personally be rushing back for a Pizza Express pizza - but I'm delighted to hear that there are plenty of you who can enjoy them without issues! Great! Despite the itching, it was definitely fun just to go out and pop into a pizza place and order pizza, for the first time in about 18 months!