Exe Valley Pizza Co has become a staple in towns and villages across Devon – and, when I braved the January chill to visit, it was easy to see why.
The business operates a small fleet of vans that allow them to prepare woodfired pizzas across the county, including in several communities without a ‘permanent’ takeaway.
Its East Devon locations include Whimple (Tuesday), Lympstone (Wednesday), Colyton (Thursday) and Exmouth at Withycombe RFC (Friday).
But the most convenient of their locations for me is Hemyock, so I popped down to the football club's car park at around 7pm on a Friday evening.
The vans each contain an authentic pizza oven, allowing the team to freshly make their pizzas and cheesy garlic breads to order in a matter of minutes.
The company is currently on its winter menu and has traditional offerings such as margarita, pepperoni and meat feast, plus more modern twists like chicken tikka (which even comes with mango chutney) and stilton and walnut.
I opted for a 12-inch Greek pizza from their vegetarian menu with added mushrooms and a 10-inch garlic bread, ordered by text to make the process as quick and easy as possible.
And sure enough, it only took a couple of minutes until my name was called after I arrived.
But I wouldn’t mind waiting; the interior of the van itself looks brilliant, with the lights and roaring fire in the oven cutting through an otherwise gloomy evening, while you can also watch your pizza being prepared, cooked and cut.
I was also given the option to wait in my car and be told when my order was ready, which was a nice touch.
When I got home and dug in, I found the pizza was generously topped and packed with flavour from the marinated Greek olives, feta cheese, mixed peppers and garlic.
The colours and chew of the vegetables contrasted with the deliciously browned, crispy crusts you can only get from a proper woodfired oven.
The garlic bread was also topped with plenty of cheese and garlic.
An added bonus was the leftovers, which made for a great lunch the next day (reheated, but I'm aware this is contentious).
It was great value at £13.50 and offers a much lighter, more authentic alternative to some other pizza takeaways – particularly the huge chains.
I’ll definitely be going back, and I recommend you give them a try when they’re in a town or village near you.
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