Ohh Pizza Hut, oh Pizza Hut, is anyone surprised it didn’t make the cut?
AdvertisementSorry Pizza Hut, you’re not the worst pizza place in Preston but you’re up against some independent giants who make everything from scratch and don’t charge £16.99 for a small one person pizza.
So, no nominations for Pizza Hut, and a decent number for Honest Jon and 1260 Craft and Crust.
However, Blog Preston’s readers’ top three nominations for the best pepperoni pizza in Preston are Nonna Lucia’s at Ships and Giggles, Marj and Reta’s at The Hunters, and The Moorbrook.
The pizzas received a mark out of ten from each judge for the base, and the same for the topping.
The winner will be presented with the coveted Blog Preston Top Scran certificate to a thunderous round of apathy.
Here are the final scores…
Third: Nonna Lucias at Ships and Giggles
£9.50 for a 12 inch pizza
Base/crust: 19/30
Topping: 19/30
Reader vote: 2nd (2 points)
Total: 40/60
Nonna Lucia’s pizza was the neatest pizza I’ve ever seen. It was thin bordering on two-dimensional, and the topping came right to the edge meaning that there wasn’t a crust to it, just the bit where pizza stopped and the outraged eyes of my chihuahua started.
There were plenty of razor thin pepperoni slices and, despite the general lack of a third dimension, it still had as much flavour as the others with the sweet tomato sauce balancing a good hit of garlic and fragrant dried Italian herbs.
For enthusiasts who prefer a thin, tasty pizza with no leftover crusts, this is the one for you.
Second: Marj and Reta at The Hunters
£9 for a 13 inch pizza
Base/crust: 20/30
Topping: 20/30
Reader vote: 1st (3 points)
Total: 43/60
The Hunter’s website reads: “We use a classic Neapolitan tomato sauce and mozzarella blended cheese… Our dough is handmade in-house daily and sleeps for 48 hours, giving it a more distinctive taste and maximum flavour.” Which, coincidentally, is the number of days I let bags of salad sleep in my fridge before I transfer them and their distinctive taste to their forever home/bin.
The blended cheese lacked the classic mozzarella’s stringiness noticeable in the Moorbrook’s pizza, but it had a more cheesy flavour. I’d guess that there was some cheddar or similar hard cheese in the mix, which lifted the mild taste of this tomato sauce.
The base was as thin as the others, with a crust that was smaller than the Moorbrook’s but bigger than the pizza from Nonna Lucia’s.
It was the best value out of the three, and a safe bet for sharing as none of the flavours were overpowering.
Top Scran Awards: The best chips and gravy in Preston
First: The Moorbrook
£10 for a 10.5 inch pizza
Base/crust: 26/30
Topping: 27/30
Reader vote: 3rd (1 point)
Total: 54/60
The Moorbrook’s pizza was different from its rivals. Despite being slightly smaller in diameter from the others, it contained the most topping. So much, in fact, that the pepperoni slices were sinking into the melted cheese like the horse in The NeverEnding Story sank into The Nothing, ending the childhood of every kid who watched it in the eighties. Millennials, don’t Google that.
The cheese was noticeably different to that of the other two, as it was the only one that had the classic strings of creamy mozzarella cheese clinging onto the mother ship as each slice was lifted out. It also had an effortlessly Italian rustic look with a light crust and topping piled on like their fridge had packed up.
I’m a fan of a chunky crust, so this was my ideal pizza as it was built like a magical bread ball pool filled with cheese, tomato and pepperoni instead of children and a weird smell.
All three of the pizzas were enjoyable, but due to the pile of topping and the tasty crust, all the panel members agreed that The Blog Preston Top Scran award for Best Pizza should go to The Moorbrook. Have it!
Read more: See the latest Preston news and headlines