Project Pie at intu Bromley
Making your own pizza at home is great – you can pick whatever topping you want (and as many as you want), and it can be a fun thing to do with friends or family. But on the other hand, going out for pizza is even more of a treat; no washing up, no cleaning, no cooking…
Well what if you could have the best of both worlds? What if you could go out for pizza that is expertly cooked by those who really know how, yet you could have the fun of picking and choosing your own toppings and creating a completely unique pizza just for you?
At Project Pie at intu Bromley, you can.
Project Pie is a cool, modern restaurant located within the heart of the new food court at the intu Bromley shopping centre on the high street. It has an industrial feel to it; “People say we should be in Shoreditch!” laughs UK director Susan Canavan. “But we like it here!”
But it’s anything from stuffy – you are made to feel so very welcome. And that’s good news because Project Pie is the kind of restaurant that deserves a first look, a second try, and plenty of regular visits after that.
We stepped inside and surveyed the choice ahead of us with wonder. 42 different choices of toppings were neatly displayed over a long, metal bench, and smiling, friendly pizza chefs were ready to make whatever we wanted. And I mean anything. I did ponder, briefly, how many permutations of pizza could be made with the toppings on offer, but my brain does not compute numbers like that, and I soon gave up, giving into the food instead.
After the pizza base (a special, artisan recipe that is covered in olive oil to ensure that the crust is nice and crispy) is flattened in a rather impressive gadget that I wouldn’t mind in my own kitchen (albeit perhaps a smaller version) and the delicious homemade tomato sauce is added, it’s time to choose the toppings. And you can have as much or as little as you like, all for the price of £9.95 per pizza.
I have to say, it’s pretty blooming exciting. Like the kid in the proverbial sweetshop, we ummed and ahhed and eventually made our choices. I went for mozzarella, gorgonzola, black olives, homemade sausage, pepperoni, jalapenos, caramelised red onion and red peppers. Now that’s not a pizza you’ll find in a standard pizza restaurant! The good news was that it tasted divine. It’s amazing what a little experimentation can do. My partner was a little more restrained in his choices: mozzarella, buffalo mozzarella, pepperoni, ham, black olives, sweetcorn, mushrooms and onion.
Along with the joy of making your own pizza, there is a further delight in having unlimited soft drinks available from the amazing soda machine. Black cherry, ginger ale, cola, lemonade, lemon and lime, cream soda… Try them all if you like, mix them up, do what you like (which is kind of the running theme at Project Pie).
And just when you think you can’t manage any more pizza, there is dessert. Do not leave without trying at least one of the sweet pizzas – yes, really! – on offer at Project Pie. We went for the apple pie pizza and the s’mores pizza. Oh. Wow. The apple pie dessert was warm and comforting, the scent of cinnamon wafting deliciously up from the plate. And as for the s’mores… Fresh strawberries, melting marshmallows, crumbled biscuits and a hazelnut chocolate sauce coated the perfectly baked pizza base – and there was a delightful dollop of cream on the top.
If you think pizza is pizza is pizza you need to think again. At Project Pie each pizza is indeed a project; and it’s all yours.
Project Pie
intu Bromley
262 High Street
Bromley
BR1 1DN
020 8460 2583
www.projectpie.co.uk
