MOD Pizza, Irving Street, Leicester Square, London WC2

MOD Pizza is a chain of restaurants that has been in the USA for some years now, it is relatively new to the UK, this is the first one in London. MOD stands for Made On Demand, it is a clever concept – we might be looking at the new McDonalds here.  It is also great value, in fact for  Central London it seems ridiculously cheap at £7.87 for an 11 inch pizza with unlimited toppings.

If you don’t like pizza, then this is probably not the place for you, it does pizza, salad… or pizza salad. However, by limiting their menu, they do what they do very well. You order the size of base that you want and then you move down the counter asking the server behind it to add ingredients to your pizza as they take your fancy as you see them. There is a surprising number of choices, there are six different base sauces from basic tomato, through barbecue to a garlic rub – and I guess you could have them all if you wished. There are also six different cheeses, including a dairy free vegan cheese (is it really cheese if its dairy free?), 8 different meat types (they calls anchovy a meat!) and about twenty other topping types. Then finish it off with swirls of pesto or glaze and add a choice of spices to the top.

Then there is a quick opportunity to admire your creation, before they take it away for baking and five minutes later they bring the completed cooked pizza to your table. The first time I came, it was to a pizza party for about twenty five people and it was a very convivial evening. They are licensed to sell beer and wine, a pretty basic choice of each – but we are talking about a fast food type place here. It brings the American concept of unlimited soda fountain with it, the kids will love this, not only do they do the usual soft drinks, they also have three different types of home made lemonade. The original lemonade is wonderfully sharp, great on a warm day. The milk shakes are good too. If you have ordered too much and you are unable to finish, they also provide boxes for you take home what you can’t eat. I have to confess here that I am one of those (apparently disgusting) people who love cold pizza for breakfast!

MOD Pizza is an interesting new addition to the food offering in the centre of town, and although the competition here is tough, I think they have found a winning formula and we will see many more branches of this chain here in the UK before too long.

 

 

 

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