One of the many casualties of the pandemic is Dough, the popular Northern Quarter pizza restaurant that I never actually got to visit. I know a lot of people rated it and their vegan offering, so it seemed natural for a vegan pizza restaurant to take its place. But, does Manchester need another pizza place? I was invited to try Purezza and try it for myself.
Purezza has a large bar down the centre, surrounded by tables with red and white striped chairs. There is foliage adorning the bare brick walls and an open kitchen with the pizza oven proudly taking centre stage.
Downstairs is a unisex toilet and a lounge area, with a swing and plastic cow for those Instagram selfies. I rarely take photographs of toilet areas, but I specifically went back to the table for my camera this time.
I absolutely love this concept and the doors tell you all you need to know. They also use Who Gives a Crap? toilet paper, showing that their environmental credentials go beyond the food.
Onto the food and, as you would expect, pizzas dominate but there are a couple of other dishes to choose from if you don’t fancy a pizza based dish. All the food and drink is completely plant based, meaning vegan diners won’t have to dig through the menu to try and find something they can safely eat.
There are no starters, but you can choose from a few nibbles and I opted for the Spiced Corn; a crunchy, lightly spiced mix of fried corn and roasted green peas. It’s a little bowl of moreish snacks that are perfect for nibbling on whilst choosing what to order.
The pizza dough is all made on site and is sourdough, matured for 48 hours using organic wholemeal flour. You can choose a wholemeal, hemp or gluten free base so lots of options to meet different dietary requirements.
I was tempted by the potato pizza, I mean who wouldn’t be, but I was keen to see what Purezza’s meat substitutes were like, so settled on the Nduja pizza. Charlie wanted something different so chose the Cheesesteak Calzone, both on a wholemeal base. My pizza has a white sauce topped with mozzarella, yellow tomatoes, nduja, crumbled sausage, green chilli, teardrop peppers and chilli flakes. There is a nice level of heat, not too hot that my mouth was on fire but enough to warm things up nicely. I think the heat of the chillis overpowered the nduja and sausage a little, which weren’t as spicy as I was expecting and the texture wasn’t there for me completely for me to ‘forget’ that this was a vegan pizza, if that is something you look for, but taste wise it was delicious and the base really was the star of the show.
Charlie enjoyed her calzone, which was massive and stuffed with oozy cheese, packed full of flavour. The ‘meat’ element is more like salami in style than steak, but the flavours were there.
We shared some sides as well with Dough Balls and Roasted Garlic and Herb Potatoes. The dough balls are seriously good. The cheese is the same as that in the calzone and is so runny and gooey, it drips out in the most satisfying way. The potatoes are like little roasties, doused in garlic and cooked in the serving dish so some have stuck, giving that gorgeous crunch around the edges. They were made perfect by the sauces we ordered; the basil in particular was my favourite. If you’re a crust dunker, you’ll need to try all three.
Stuffed, but with room for dessert always, I picked the Salted Caramel Brownie and Charlie went for the Lemon Cheesecake. The brownie was rich, gooey and decadent. Perhaps not the light dessert I had expected but well worth it. Charlie’s cheesecake was much lighter in texture with a fruity drizzle of mango sauce.
All in all, I really enjoyed our visit. The space is nice and the food tasty. The base of the pizzas is exceptional and I’d go back for a plate of those sides alone. Did Manchester need another pizza place? No, but I’m glad there is one that caters for those on a plant based diet without people having to check a menu before visiting.
You can book a table at the Purezza website.
I was invited to dine as a guest of Purezza and was not asked to pay.
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