We make a lunchtime visit to Purezza to try out their small plates...

If you follow us on Instagram then you will have seen the fabulous reels our Marketing Officer, Lilli, has been putting together showcasing the city and our brilliant businesses. Lilli had been talking to Purezza about going to see them to film the food and the restaurant however for filming it looks better to have a variety of dishes so she asked if I would like to join her to make sure the food didn't go to waste. I very generouosly agreed to help ;) 

Purezza is the UK's first vegan pizzeria and while they have now expanded with restaurants in Camden, Bristol and Manchester, Brighton is where it all began. Their ambitious mission was to create a delicious and sustainable vegan menu that would appeal to everyone & it's safe to say they have achieved this. To be honest I struggle to get my head around the fact that the 'mozzarella' still tastes creamy. But why question it when you can just enjoy it? 

The day menu now features small plates and you can order three for just £18. As we were there to film we had three small plates and two pizzas, this was too much for lunch so we took the pizzas away with us and had them the following day. For two people having lunch I would recommend having 1 pizza and 2 other dishes, to be honest this would probably work for three people as well. 

We had a Pesto Pizza, Four Cheese Pizza, Mac & Cheese, Courgetti Speghetti and Dough Balls. A few words of warning here, first of all the food is messy so this is not the place to go on a first date or as part of a job interview, you need to go with someone who you don't mind seeing you get food all over yourself. It may just be me as I do tend to be a messy eater but I don't see how anyone could eat this delicately! My other word of warning is that the dough balls have mozzarella in the middle of them - I forgot this and tried to tear a chunk of dough off and proceeded to get mozarella on my pizza. Oops! This is not a complaint though just a friendly warning. 

I love pesto so the pesto pizza and courgetti speghetti were defintely my favourite dishes. The Four Cheese I found baffling as the cheese still tasted cheesy, in fact the blue cheese was still too rich for me, just the same as the dairy version is. As a lover of bacon I was intrigued to see what the vegan version was like and while it was tasty, it's not bacon (sorry guys!). To be fair the first bite did taste similar but then the aftertaste was more appley. While the pizzas are the stars of the show I was impressed by the range of other dishes available and the courgetti really was lovely. 

Of course it's not all about the food, again as we were filming we were lucky enough to try a few different drinks which would probably be too much if you were a regular diner. You can get 2 cocktails for £12 which is a great offer, they all sounded delicious but as we were there at lunchtime we opted for the Lychee Zen Zero mocktail - fresh lime, lychee juice and ginger kombucha. It was a lovely, light, refreshing drink and as with everything here, it was beautifully presented. We also got to try two of the smoothies - Hanging Like a Monkey (raspberry, blueberry, banana, flaxseed, agave and milk) and Fatigue Fighter (mango, pineapple, passion fruit, chia seeds & milk). While the Monkey one was the prettiest, the Fatigue Fighter was my favourite as it was packed with fruity & zingy flavours. Personally I think I would find the smoothies too filling to have with the food so I'd probably have a cocktail with the meal and then perhaps a smoothie afterwards instead of a pudding. 

After all that we had to waddle back to the office but I was only too plesed to have been able to help Lilli with the shoot and I would be very happy to go back again. Purezza really does believe in being inclusive as not only is everything vegan but they also have a wide range of gluten-free options and can cater for most allergies as everything is made fresh to order so just let them know what you're allergic too and they can tailor something for you. They are also dog-friendly 🐶 

Remeber to follow us on Instagram and keep an eye out for Lilli's Purezza reel. 

Charlotte

Purezza Offers:

🍕 3 small plates for £18

🍸 2 cocktails for £12