Heath P.
Yelp
Yes it's me, the lactose-intolerant pizza-lover.
Ok, I'm a conundrum. But places like Pizza East help. I emailed in advance to ask if there was any lactose in the crust and if they could make a cheeseless pizza for me, and they emailed back not ten minutes later saying I'd be safely lactose free!
That hurdle cleared, all I had to do was get there and then decide what to order. Ordering was the hard part. Ok, so I'm an indecisive, lactose-intolerant pizza-lover. Fine. Decisions, decisions.
I actually didn't get a pizza, after all that! Other reviews said the pizza was alright but other things were better. So I tried the avocado, pancetta, and tomato focaccia, £5, lamb meatballs in tomato sauce, £5 (asked for it with grilled bread, which came free of charge!), and the artichoke and aubergine fritti, £6, accompanied by a Bethnal Pale Ale, £4.
All that would have been too much for me, but I was with a friend so we shared the fritti. It was delicious - a small portion but just enough to leave you wanting more without getting bored of it. (We added chili flakes to the mayo sauce for zing.) The foccacia was lovely, and brimming with avocado, but would not have been enough on its own. The lamb meatballs were mouthwatering, but by the time I was done eating all three, I was really glad of that bread because damn were those babies salty! Delicious, but a bit too salty, I think.
I even got to try the pizza, because that's what my friend ordered. Good tasting crust, a mix of crispy and chewy. She had the prosciutto cotto, tomato, mozzarella, artichoke, £11. That type of prosciutto is more like ham, and the 'tomato' was just sauce, not on top, while she reported the pizza to be under-cheesed. Oh well, that allowed me to take a bite. It was good, but not great.
The decor is cool. Could be in NYC or LA but fits right in across from the Box Park. Service was ok but not exceptionally attentive.
All in all, it was a nice meal in a nice place but not raveworthy. 3-stars "A-OK" fits perfectly.