As part of my Simon’s Quest to find the best pizza in Cambridge, I decided to pop into a place that has been recommended to me by quite a few people during my journey, The Haymakers.

I used to drink here quite a lot ‘back in the day’ when I was able to leave the house without pre arranging it several days in advance (before having children! 🤣).

A lot has changed since then, the first thing that caught me off guard is that you can no longer park in the back, as they have turned the back into a lovely seating area. This is all well and good for locals but during the dark, cold, and rainy winter evenings it did mean we had to drive around looking for parking on a side street.

I apologise in advance for the photos tonight, the lighting was terrible for photos (even if it did give us a nice cosy atmosphere).

We were off to a good start with a selection of ales from Milton Brewery. There was also a really nice German beer that I thoroughly enjoyed called Krombacher (4.8%). The place is busy, which is always reassuring, with lots of people ordering pizza and having a good time. The girls behind the bar were doing a great job managing the numbers and were incredibly helpful while ordering.

The pizza menu was vast with a long list of various Italian styles, including calzones. All pizza bases are made fresh in-house and the meat used is from ‘The Art Of Meat’, an Arbury based butcher that specialises in free ranged meat and poultry (click here for our review of The Art Of Meat).

I ordered some olives while we waited. These were great quality and also pipless, so I didn’t have to eat at a moderate pace 🤣

I ordered the ‘Salsiccia e Gorgonzola‘. This consisted of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, and gorgonzola (Italian blue cheese) and came to £15.50.

By eye the pizza isn’t going to excite anyone. It is fairly ordinary looking and doesn’t jump out with any exciting gimmicks. The pizza is however, thoroughly bloody well executed. The pizza base isn’t dry and has a really nice soft texture with very little grease. The pepperoni and Italian sausage are decent, though I would have liked to have seen slightly more on top for £15.50, especially when compared to other pizzas I have tried so far in the city. The gorgonzola really pulls the pizza together nicely and gives it a strong flavour and a distinctive salty taste. There is a lot of flavour going on which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I was joined by Cambridge Foodies moderator, Gerry. He decided to order the most childish pizza on the menu – ‘Wurstel e Patatine‘ or pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, frankfurter & french fries.

Gerry had ordered this pizza out of curiosity more than anything. I thought it was a typo to start with, suggesting that the pizza came with chips on the side, but nope…the ‘French fries’ came on top 🤣

I say chips over French fries, as these were chunky and not thin cut but this didn’t make a whole lot of difference as the chips were lovely, crispy and fluffy. There’s nothing like having some carbs with your carbs 👍

The Frankfurters were a good addition. They didn’t scream flavour but were quite lean when compared to the Frankfurters I had the other day at Higgsy’s. Gerry was very happy with his pizza and was particularly fond of the base which he felt was consistent and stable throughout.

A good solid pizza

Gerry

Both Gerry and I enjoyed our pizzas. The service at The Haymakers was punctual and friendly, there were some good beers available, as well as a wide selection of pizza to choose from. The atmosphere here is great, so I can really see why this is a popular place. In terms of pizza, you can tell that they put a lot of emphasis on substance over style (or gimmicks).

Pizza prices are towards the top end for Cambridge, so I would have liked to have seen more toppings for that price but otherwise it was a good all rounder with a delicious base. I think anyone visiting will be glad they did but I couldn’t help but feel slightly overwhelmed when comparing the the stiff competition in the city.