Pala Wood Fired Pizza

The law of averages hit hard when I ordered a pie again from Pala Wood Fired Pizza. Three weeks ago I tried the wood oven pizzeria for the first time and delighted in the authentic flavours of their dishes, including the dessert.
Too tired too cook, I opened up the Hungry House app with the intention of trying something new from Pala. The Quattro Formaggi pizza piqued my interest, with a combination of fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, and Gorgonzola atop their tomato sauce. I ordered the personal sized 9 inch pizza, as well as their ‘focaccia’, and a strawberry cheesecake to bump the order up to the minimum of £12 on Hungry House. I later learned that the minimum order on the Pala website is £10, so that might be a better option if you want to save a couple of quid.
As always, the order confirmation and delivery from Pala is insanely fast, with the entire process taking about 15 minutes tops. The food arrived very hot, and I was eager to dig in to the quattro formaggi. In Italy the four cheese pizza can use many different regional cheeses, and here the two most robust flavours come from the goat cheese and the Gorgonzola. The mozzarella and Parmesan are almost an afterthought from the two other strong cheeses. In my humble opinion, these two used together in the pie is a mistake. I’m no expert, but I think Pala used Gorgonzola Piccante, instead of Gorgonzola Dolce, lending the pizza a bite to the tongue that clashes with the goat cheese. I only consumed half of the pizza, and before reheating the remainder the next day for lunch, I removed the Gorgonzola and added some in-​house toppings to make the pizza more palatable.
If you are a big fan of actual focaccia, you’ll be disappointed to find that their version is simply their pizza dough with olive oil, garlic, and basil. The initial disappointment aside, it’s not bad to get what amounts to a vegan 9 inch pizza for only £2. The final let-​down of the evening was with the dessert. The tiramisu from my first visit was very good, so I had high hopes for their strawberry cheesecake. The cheesecake in this case was interesting to say the least. The strawberry topping was a semi-​frozen layer of what could pass as preserves, over a flavourless cheesecake. I’m assuming their cheesecakes are brought in frozen, or perhaps this one spent a little too much time in the fridge.
Outside of the speedy delivery, my second experience at Pala was a night and day difference from my first order. I have very fond memories of that half metre buffalo Mozzarella pizza, so I will very likely patronise Pala again, with slight trepidation over what I order.

I was pretty excited when I heard that a wood fire pizza takeaway place had opened in North Birmingham. Wood fire pizzas are hard to come by this side of Birmingham, however the pizzas were a little disappointing for the price. I ordered online through their website without any problems and the pizzas arrived quickly. The bases themselves were lovely and crispy, however the toppings were overpowering in taste and too much in quantity. It was a bit of a shame as I had high expectations, maybe too high. Hopefully Pala pizzas wood fire ovens will spark a new trend for more wood fire independent pizzerias in the area.