1pm. Hockley. Prime time for the creatives of the city to venture out from their studio spaces and office hold-ups, to grab a little something to see them through the rest of the day. The queue for Ugly Bread Bakery is almost out the door. Good sign.
We were escorted by Jade Vedone, manager and owner of the sourdough specialists, to our table, passing bowls of self-serve olives with garlic-infused oil, and the largest selection of fizzy fruit juices one can imagine. Huge windows in the upstairs dining area allow you to peruse the top of Pelham Street from your perch atop a proper cosy sofa. A people-watcher’s paradise.
Two Coca-Colas in, we asked Jade to bring us a selection of the best bits Ugly Bread had to offer: a twelve-inch chorizo and wet mozzarella sourdough pizza; Edam, basil pesto and fresh tomato toasted focaccia; and a meaty mezzaluna. Literally meaning half-moon in Italian, the mezzaluna was half a toasted focaccia sourdough, folded in half to house the salty chorizo wedged inside. Melted mozzarella cheese coated the upper layer, and roasted courgettes created the softest cushioning for all that meat. A fair few jalapeños were roaming about, giving it a right kick-in-the-balls heat. It’s a proper sandwich to say the least.
Surprisingly light for a giant portion of bread, the sourdough focaccia with Edam was exactly what the doctor ordered. Bread and cheese are my two favourite food groups, so I was already proper chuffed. The fresh basil pesto coating the underside of the sarnie almost crunched with nuttiness, and combined with some proper sweet tomatoes, was a bleddy lovely addition.
Despite being the simplest dish of the three, the pizza de résistance had to be the twelve-inch sourdough disc of joy. Perfectly crisp slices of chorizo sat among wobbly chunks of mozzarella that burst with oozy, cheesy goodness upon being pierced with our teeth. The sourdough base was cooked to absolute perfection. Never before in my life do I remember eating a pizza so perfectly baked. The crust was firm and crunchy, but soft in the centre. Wizardry if ever I did taste it.
We were far too stuffed full of carbs to possibly consider dessert this time around, but chocolate, lemon and pistachio cannoli deck the counter with their crunchy shells of fried pastry and brightly coloured filling. Accompanied by a perfectly-frothed Cafe Vero coffee, they form the best over-the-counter medicine for those Thursday afternoon sugar slumps. They’ve literally thought of everything. Lucy Manning
39 Pelham Street, NG1 2EA. 0115 874 9563
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