Pizza Union is an Italian industrial style canteen near Liverpool Street serving super thin pizzas super fast all day. It is as simple as that.
The venue is busiest at lunchtime when the city workers flock in to grab their pizza before returning to the office. The open-plan, airy interior lends itself to big group outings or quick meet-ups, perhaps less ideal for an intimate date. Communal style basic tables are dressed with salt, pepper and chilli oil, the empty surface cries out for a pizza plate. After a cocktail round the corner at Discount Suit Company, Pizza Union was the perfect option to satisfy our seemingly insatiable hunger. Even on a Tuesday evening the large room was full and it had a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
You order at the counter, and when your buzzer is activated your pizza is ready to collect, just 3 or 4 minutes after ordering. The menu has a large selection of classic and creative recipes, though the staff seemed happy to cater to my additional ingredient request. Calabria is a rich and luxurious option with tomato sauce, mozzarella, mascarpone, n’duja spicy sausage and rocket, I particularly loved the flavoursome meat. We also sampled the Pepperoni with additional black olives, red onion and peppers… it was a Mediterranean dream with fresh flavoursome vegetables complemented by the intense pepperoni slices. The pizza bases are thin and tasty and cooked to perfection. I would have loved a pepper grinder for some crushed black pepper but we made good use of the chilli oil. The drinks fridge features familiar Italian beers and soft drinks, I chose a delightfully refreshing Blood Orange sparkling San Pellegrino.
Ice-cream pots are provided from Soho parlour, Gelupo, but I would recommend the authentic Dolce (a dough ring with nutella and mascarpone). Arriving warm to our table we insisted we would never be able to conquer such an epic dessert. Minutes later we were scraping the plate clean… it was indulgently delicious, served hot with a creamy chocolatey centre.
I am still marvelling at the reasonable prices… a Margarita costs just £3.95. Pizza Union is a blessing for those working in this business area; I’m a rare visitor to Liverpool Street but I will keep this great pizzeria in mind next time I’m nearby.
More information on Pizza Union here: www.pizzaunion.com