Although this is a great area to live, one of the things I still miss about living in London is a wide range of top-class take-away food restaurants on the doorstep.  The whole process of ordering it online, dropping in and having a chat whilst waiting to collect it, carrying it tenderly home whilst inhaling the stunning aromas, and then pouring a big glass of wine to kick back and munch and slurp accompanied by a good movie was wonderful.  My takeaways were always something to seriously, seriously enjoy.

Enter Pull Up Pizza in Farndon (Harbledown House Garage, Churton Road, Farndon), a splendid fortnightly pop-up, every other Friday, that has brought a large dash of cosmopolitan sparkle to the village, and produces pizzas to order on the premises that quite simply make your heart sing.  Mucho mucho happiness.  The upmarket take-away has arrived, and in style.  The magicians are husband and wife team Will and Charlie, with Jonny and Chris, who form the power-team that produce this excellence, working like crazy, making time for quick chats with big smiles.

I first noticed it on Friday two weeks ago when I passed the garage entrance on my way home, a little way up from the post office/pharmacy in Farndon as you head north on Churton Road towards Chester.  To my surprise the garage entrance was wide open, filled with light, and there was a busy pizza-making operation in full swing.  I immediately abandoned my plans for making a fiddly cheese soufflé, ditched the car, and entered a nirvana of bright music, a chatty, friendly atmosphere and the most gorgeous aromas emanating in my direction.  Fifteen minutes later I walked out with an exciting  pink and black pizza box, the proud possessor of a Penduja Power.  Oh the bliss!  I could barely wait to get home to lift the lid as the aromas began to do serious injury to my will-power.  The Penduja, with a crispy crust, thin base, chunky slices of jalapeño and thickly spread nduja, has a serious kick to it, with smokiness from the pepperoni, whilst both the creamy fior di latte mozzarella and pure mozzarella ensure that there is just the right balance of flavour, with subtle undertones and divine ultra-spicy overtones, all accompanied by gorgeous hits of fresh basil.  It really was love at first glorious bite ❤️.

Pull Up Pizza’s “Penduja Power” with a guilty slice missing

I was so busy enjoying my small chunk of heaven that I forgot to photograph the thing.  This meant (oh dear, oh dear) that I had to go back this Friday to buy another one.  And you know what?  I had already been so completely overpowered by the alluring scents by the time I arrived home that I had devoured a slice before I remembered that I was supposed to be taking a photograph of it – again!  This could have gone on forever, so here’s the photograph of the pizza decanted onto a very large pre-heated plate with (ahem) one slice missing. Please note that before I had wrestled it with inelegant haste from its box it was actually a thing of real beauty and perfection.

Although they can take walk-in orders when they are not snowed under with online orders, the whole operation is based on the premise that pre-orders will enable them to respond with maximum efficiency to make their pizzas to order, ready for collection at a certain time.  They emphasize that checking ordering before cut-off times is essential, so signing up to their newsletter (a maximum of three emails a month) or checking their website or Instagram page is essential.  For example today’s cut-off for all evening orders was 3pm, and order collections began at 4pm and ended at 9pm.  For full details of how it works see the Pull Up Pizza website, but basically you can either order via Instagram or if you don’t have an account, you can just click the Order Pizza Now button on the aforementioned website, which is what I did.  Customers select a fifteen minute timeslot from a drop-down menu and pay in advance, and it all seems to work like an absolute dream.  There are a number of different payment options, including debit card, credit card and Apple Pay, and of course you receive an order confirmation.

This is a real pop-up.  When they close down, everything is on wheels so simply pushes back out of the way to re-create the garage space. It was really good to see people coming and going, chatting to the proprietors and generally enjoying the spectacle and the anticipation of great pizza and garlic bread (oh the scent of that garlic bread!).  If you arrive early there is a bench inside where you can sit and wait.  There is parking on the road immediately outside as well as on the main Farndon high street, and of course there is free parking at the Memorial Hall on Church Lane.

I am a serious pizza nut, so it is a matter of some celebration that these guys have established Pull Up Pizza so close by.  My major challenge is to wean myself off the Penduja Power and try one of their other pizzas, all of which are listed on their website.  I foresee a Crimson Blaze on the horizon.  The fact that they are only open once a fortnight holds out some hope for my waistline actually continuing to be a waistline.  Wishing them all the best for a really great future – it’s such an enterprising idea, and so well executed.
xxx