We've been getting a fair bit of (warranted) stick on our Instagram page that this is turning into a pizza blog. And yeah.... They have a point. We (J) love pizza and we're going to eat a lot of it! And we were going to stop doing quite so many pizza reviews, honestly.
But then Mozzarella Fellas happened.
Mozzarella Fellas don't have premises, but rather run out of a customised van. They are a product of COVID - having launched during the first lockdown, where a lack of physical store is a help rather than a hinderance. It's a two person team - Adam Bailey and his partner Siobhan.
Interestingly, they have also just launched a Halal offering , a part of the market that has been traditionally overlooked by pizza companies.
Mozzarella Fellas is not the easiest to get your hands on in these strange days that we live in. You have to order in advance (via DM on Insta / or Facebook), with deliveries only on Wednesdays to Hemel and Thursday - Sunday in St. Albans. 20 minute delivery slots tend to go quickly, so if you have a specific time you need to eat you'll need to act fast. Not great for the impulsive type. But both times we ordered it arrived hot and on-time, hand delivered by Siobhan. You can collect too.
To judge pizza fairly we always go for a margherita and a pepperoni/house special. In this case I went for 'The Don' - Italian speck, 'nduja, sun dried tomatoes and rocket. The margherita is a very reasonable £8 and the Don £11.50, with most pizzas around the £10 mark. Minimum order is £20 for delivery - which is a touch frustrating as if you order two pizzas you can easily end up sub £20, meaning you need a third item to get delivery. Pizzas are 12".
Let's get into it. This is FANTASTIC sourdough pizza. While we're only in January, I'll be very surprised if this is not a contender for our Best Pizza Award of 2021. Great pizza is all about the dough, and this is by far and away the leader in its class in that regard. The 72 hour rested sourdough is delicious. It comes with a great char, but with the perfect amount of chew. Dough that is chewy can often be heavy or lack flavour, but this is light, flavoursome, with the perfect amount of salt. Not a bite of crust was left from C or I. The ingredients must be top notch to get that taste. They are (rightly) secretive about that, but they say it comes from the very best Italian flour, fresh yeast, rock salt and extra virgin olive oil.
Coming to the toppings on my meaty pizza - they are generous with the perfect amount of spice. The Italian speck in particular was amazing - a type of ham I saw plenty of in Italy/Germany/Austria, but have yet to see widely used in the UK on pizza. I am not a fan of sun dried tomatoes or rocket on pizzas at all, but I was surprised to find that it really worked. The sun dried tomatoes were much sweeter than any I had had before and the rocket rather than being an afterthought as it is on... well, everything... actually seemed to round off the flavour.
The really interesting bit is the mozzarella. This isn't as neutral, creamy a cheese as you would get on most pizzas, it actually carries a flavour through. It's no bad thing at all, it's just a more umami tang than I'm used to. You'll notice it at the first bite, but again it feels like a part in a complex palate.
But this, hands down, is the best pizza we have tried so far at Hemel Food. It loses a mark for being fiddly to order, (how spoiled by Just Eat and Deliveroo we are!) but frankly it's that good, being somewhat challenging to order is probably a good thing for our waists and wallets.
Service:
Fiddly to get hold off, with limited delivery slots and only available by social media DM or email. But pizza arrived on-time and hot. Also you pay when it arrives on iZettle. Why don't more take aways do this???
Quality:
Amazing pizza. The dough in particular is out of this world. This is one of the best pizzas we've ever had. And we eat a lot. Too much maybe.
Value & Price:
Starting at £8 the pizzas are good value for money, but with a £20 minimum delivery it somewhat works against you! The more premium pizzas are £9-11 and definitely justify the price.
Overall:
EXCELLENT. Try it. Try it now. The one to beat so far for anyone making pizza in Hemel or Herts.
Update February 2021- you can now order on their site which makes things much easier!
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