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It is no secret that The Blue Moon is one of my favourite pubs in Cambridge. Visiting this year, I found it to be warm, welcoming, and atmospheric. Better still, they have a generous selection of craft beers available, with regular tap takeovers from local and national breweries from across the country.

And if that doesn’t sound amazing enough, they are now home to Oscar’s Lockdown Pizza, which is currently running through Uber Eats! 😍

As the name suggests, Oscar’s Lockdown Pizza appeared during the pandemic when Oscar shared his home made pizzas with his neighbourhood. From there it gradually developed his own style and slowly turned into a business…and the rest is history.

The menu is a fairly standard size but has a diverse choice of desserts, pizzas, and starters. All pizzas are available with vegetarian and vegan options, with pepperoni being swappable for homemade plant based pepperoni, for example. The pizzas are cooked in an electric oven.

First up was one of their starters – the caramelised garlic flatbread with cheese. Like with their pizzas, this is made from 3 day fermented dough. This is then covered in fresh parsley, garlic and basil oil.

In my opinion, the flatbread here is as special as it is garlicky. Some people may be turned off by the strong garlic taste but it was too proud as unashamed of what it was to care. The garlic danced perfectly alongside the parsley and basil flavours, and the oil made the dough extra succulent. The base was lovely and soft without even the slightest hint of being undercooked. It was perfect! Top marks!

Next up was this stunning creation, called Leo’s Pizza, named after Oscar’s Italian friend Leo, who apparently has a real talent for flavour and pairing ingredients. It comes with the usual 72 hour fermented base, a hand-made creamy burrata from Puglia (Italy), n’duja (fermented pork with chilli and paprika) and kalamata olives.

The first thing you will notice about the pizza is the crowning jewel sitting bang in the middle – the buratta. Buratta is an Italian cows milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream. Its harder outer shell (which is still soft) is accompanied by a soft creamy centre, meaning that it can hold its structural integrity perfectly on the pizza until you want to use it. I ended up using mine as a dip for my crusts which worked a treat. It was beautiful!

The kalamata olives absolutely rocked my socks off. They were some of the most flavorful olives I have ever had on a pizza. In the dark lighting of The Blue Moon pub they actually look slightly dark red but are actually black olives. Historically, I have favoured green olives to their black olive brethren but today gave me a firm lesson in what I have been missing. It’s also worth noting that the olive portions were generous too. Superb!

Then, out of the blue, the n’duja slapped me around the face with a rich meaty flavour that was complimented with a mild fiery kick. There is also a slight smoky and salty flavour to them which added another layer of flavour to its smooth buttery texture. This was in stark contrast to the rather flat and anemic n’duja from Pizza Pilgrim a few months ago that left me forgetting it was even on the pizza. Not at Oscars though, the dollups of n’duja were the highlight of the pizza. Absolutely marvellous!

If you fancy something different then the “U Wot..?” might be up your street. This is a mango chutney base, yes, you heard me! This madness comes accompanied with charred baby plum tomatoes, red onion, aubergine pickle, rocket, and crispy onions.

It was beautifully presented with the rocket and plum tomatoes, giving it bright colours that pop off the pizza. The mango chutney surprisingly works too. It feels much lighter than the Leo’s Pizza but offered a crispy texture from the rocket and onion, with a sweetness from the mango chutney that is not like anything I have seen from a pizza before. I’m not sure it is something I would order again but it is something I could really see some people enjoying.

One of the best things about Oscar’s Lockdown Pizza is that you get a free tiny tiramisu with collections. Always make sure you volunteer for this job at home, as you can sneak off for a cheeky pint from The Blue Moon’s wide selection of craft beer. I helped myself to a ‘bohemian lager’ by Linton based Wylde Sky.

I left Oscar’s feeling like I had a damn good pizza. Interestingly, the more I thought about it on the way home and while writing this review the more I realised how good the pizza actually is. There is no gimmick with Oscar’s, he just uses quality ingredients that stand out on their own and really take you by surprise, they are then perfectly paired together which results in a concoction of vivid flavours that really work.

One thing I have learned about my Simon’s Quest pizza journey is that pizza, like with all food, is entirely subjective. There are so many different dimensions to pizza that it’s hard to rank them in order of preference because they may impress in entirely different ways. With that said, Leo’s Pizza tonight might be my personal favourite pizza so far. It’s humble but faultless. The ingredients are all to the highest quality and I will be thinking about that n’duja for days!

Also, you can have it with some of the best beer in the city! 🤣

Thanks for reading