Pizza at The Lanes - Bristol Food Review
Posted on: 2016-04-27
Our rating:
Bristol institution The Lanes has always had a stellar reputation for delicious, premium pizzas, but now it's upped the ante ten-fold with a new menu of incontestably awesome discs of dough-based deliciousness.
You certainly can't argue with the fact that the venue doesn't have a lot to offer. With 10-pin bowling, a vintage shop, live music, pool, table football, karaoke, club nights and even a backpackers' hostel all housed within the same building, it has to be one of the most dynamic and uniquely eclectic venues in the city.
The decor is a combination of utilitarian stylings and American diner replete with bright neon signs and basic wooden high tables and stools, but the atmosphere is immediately lively, friendly and buzzy, and even more so if you've got - as we did - a group of office workers whipping themselves into a competitively apoplectic frenzy over increasingly heated but vigorously mirthful games of bowling.
Beers and ciders are rotated regularly, and when I visited there was an impressive range of alcoholic beverages on offer. Ciders included Orchard Pig in bottles, Hogans cider and its blended cider sibling, Apples and Spares - perfectly kept and supremely quaffable because I had two pints of it.
Beer drinkers could take advantage of, amongst others, Dark Star Wheat Purple and Adnams Ease Up IPA, while real ales by Bristol Beer Factory, Wiper and True and Ashley Down Brewery represent the local beer-quaffing contingent.
But to the new recently launched menu, which is an eye-popping, mouthwatering myriad of enticingly gustatory offerings. To wit: salads and platters, sides, pizzas, calzone, sharing platters, pizza rolls, paninis and desserts.
A starter of fried breaded mozzarella sticks with a fresh tomato sauce dip (£3.50) were long, breaded crispy fingers which oozed forth unctuously molten, stretchy strings of mozzarella when you bit into them and the tomato dip was a refreshing, zingy accompaniment.
It's no exaggeration to say that The Lanes has, for some time, gained considerable word of mouth and a well-deserved reputation for its first-class pizzas. The new range of Ray's Pizzas thin crust masterpieces are hand-stretched and cooked on site and range from the classics such as Margherita, pepperoni, and ham and mushroom, as well as rossa (a vegan-friendly lighter alternative with no cheese) and bianca (literally 'white', so no tomatoes). All of them are available in 12 or 18 inch versions.
My 12 inch New York Hot (£11.50) was packed with tomato, buffalo mozzarella, pepperoni, red peppers, jalepeno peppers, basil and parmesan shavings and was a monumental work of genius. Thin, crispy and slightly blistered from the heat of the oven, the balance of flavours was tremendous with the combined heat and fiery piquancy of the pepperoni, red peppers and jalepeno leaving a heady, warming, intense delayed after-burn.
Opting for the 12 inch Ham and Mushroom (£11.00), my dad's pizza was primed with tomato, buffalo mozzarella, honey glazed ham, mushrooms and parmesan shavings, resulting in one of the most superlatively flavorsome versions of the classic we've ever tasted.
There are pizzas and then there are PIZZAS, and the sheer epic deliciousness of the final product here is obviously the result of pizzas made with love and passion and using the highest quality, tastiest local ingredients available.
An accompanying bowl of paprika and sea salt seasoned fries (£2.50) were thick, potatoey wedges of crispy-on-the-outside, fantastically fluffy-on-the-inside perfection.
Our Belgian Waffle (£4.40) was a faultless, post-pizza finale, the warm waffle topped with a generous scoop of heavenly vanilla ice cream and topped with a lavish squirt of whipped cream and a bountiful drizzling of rich chocolate sauce.
The Lanes has always been a lively, vibrant and coolly retro venue and the ideal hot spot for gregarious post-work shenanigans combining food, imbibing and bowling.
Its new menu, however - and primarily its pizzas - raises the bar to a new, cosmically delicious level when it comes to this deceptively simple Italian staple done phenomenally and consummately well.
5/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol.com - The leading events and entertainment website in the city
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Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg. He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels. You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.
