When my friend and desk buddy Harriet said she was
going to eat pizza on a bus, I had to ask her to repeat what she said. I mean, pizza! On a bus! How brilliant is that?
Here’s Harriet…..
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| Harriet AKA giddy schoolgirl |
All aboard!
You
know that unsettling feeling you get when you step onto a non-moving escalator?
And no matter how many times you tell yourself: ‘It’s okay, body, just treat
them like a normal, stationary flight of stairs,’ you still come over all dizzy and weird?
I
experienced a similar sensation when I first sat down for dinner on the Big Red
Pizza Bus, a restaurant in Southeast London. As the name would suggest, the
venue is a real, beautiful bus. I
expected the double-decker to move – because that’s what buses do – but not
this one. It stayed put. And thankfully that disorientating feeling lasted all
but a few seconds…
 |
| Jump on |
 |
| Choose your deck |
Step
aboard (no Oyster card needed) and take a seat on the lower or upper deck of
this retired – but loved – transporter.
 |
| Put your Oyster card away! |
The diner-style, candle-lit tables and
original, checked bus seats sit four comfortably. There’s a few longer pews (no
table) right at the back of the lower deck, too, where you might enjoy a few
cocktails and, I assume, hang out with the cool kids!
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| Lower deck |
 |
| The kind of cool kids you'll find at the back |
The
artisan pizzas are big and delicious (£6.95+) with generous toppings sourced from
Borough Market. The menu also offers handmade Italian egg pasta and salads;
though the chicken Caesar salad, in comparison to the pizzas, was
disappointing.
 |
| Ooh, conductor, you're spoiling us |
The
novelty of eating on a GODDAM BUS didn’t wane throughout my 90-minute sitting
and, by the end, I felt like a giddy schoolgirl (compounded when I rode the DLR
home, sitting at the VERY front).
Unsurprisingly,
therefore, Big Red is incredibly popular with children and, for this reason, the
waiter advised me to book if I visited on a weekend.
I’m
certain, though, to avoid disappointment, bookings will soon be mandatory midweek
too as this quirky eatery seriously takes off. Not literally, of course! That
would make for messy pizza consumption – like eating your dinner on a moving
escalator…
INFO:
The Big Red Pizza Bus, 30 Deptford Church Street, London, SE8 4RZ (next door to
The Bird’s Nest pub).
There’s
also an outdoor, heated terrace, and you can find details about their film,
comedy and music nights (and more) here: www.bigredpizza.co.uk
Twitter: @thebigredpizza
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thebigredpizza
