Lockdown Delivery - Papa Gee Pizza

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to write words on a virtual page about Papa Gee, Caversham. I've lived in Caversham for long enough - over 18 months now. It's also well over a year since I went into the restaurant and tried their food for the first time with friends, but that night I forgot my phone so no pictures were taken. Pics or it didn't happen right? I felt like I couldn't write about my experience back then and promised I would give Papa Gee the write up it deserved when I eventually got around to eating there again. 

It took over a year to eat the food from Papa Gee after that day, and if someone had told me that it would be under lockdown due to a global pandemic I most definitely wouldn't have believed you. There is no way I could have even imagined that we wouldn't be allowed to eat in restaurants, we would be made to stay home unless going out for essentials, we would have to queue just to go inside Tesco, we wouldn't be able to see friends and I'd be writing reviews about takeaways. But here we are and we are all making the best of it.

The Parma 

I think if I had known all of this that first night at Papa Gee in Caversham, I'd have savoured an evening out with friends and my ability to support a local business. I'd even go as far as to say I probably would have made an effort to support Papa Gee a little more before lockdown hit us all where it hurt. As they always say, hindsight is a wonderful thing and it definitely it 20/20.Never mind, I got around to indulging in Papa Gee's pizza again and so I thought I'd write a little mash up review. I'll start with the takeaway, partly because that's all we can get right now, but also because a few people have told me that they didn't know they were open for takeaway at the moment. 

The bringer of good news

Yes, Papa Gee are indeed taking orders for takeaway through the Deliveroo app! If you didn't already know then this will no doubt be some much-needed good news. You can order for delivery which will cost you £1.49 extra on your bill, or according to the app, you can opt to pick it up from the restaurant too. I won't lie, I'm sticking pretty solidly to staying at home as much as I can, and although it feels rather lazy (I really do live a stone's throw away from the restaurant) I opted for the delivery option to avoid unnecessarily leaving the house. You could argue that I've caused someone else to go out, but delivery drivers also need money and it's likely they were out already so I could at least not be an extra person on the streets. I guess I should take this opportunity to urge you to stay home too, of course. 

The online selection is pretty - I found the menu to be pretty varied - you can get antipasti, risotto, pizzas, dessert and wine or beer. You can't get pasta but I imagine that this would be because it doesn't travel as well, and I personally prefer smaller menus where you can get great food delivered, rather than big menus of food which doesn't keep its quality on its way to your home. I was looking at the menu on a Friday night anyway which calls for only one thing on that menu and that's pizza.

I didn't have pictures to reminisce about the lovely evening spent eating pizza, drinking wine and chatting in Papa Gee, back in the days when it was a restaurant - remember that? But I do distinctly remember enjoying my Sofia Loren pizza. The second time around, I couldn't choose between two pizzas so I convinced my housemate that it was a good idea to order both and split them half and half. 

Nothing beats a Friday night pizza.

Deliver-woo!

We popped the order into deliveroo which is easy enough to do. I'm not a newbie to Deliveroo to be fair, I have had the app for a good few years - it's residual from back when I lived in Nottingham. It gets a lot less use these days as I try my best to use off-deliveroo businesses. However, it's not always possible, especially now if when you want to order from a certain business - they may only be on Deliveroo and not be able to deliver themselves.So,  I selected two pizzas, the delivery option and sat back with a wine, satisfied that it was probably the cheapest weekend takeaway I've ordered in a while.

The app said it would take 55-75 minutes. I think this is a good feature of deliveroo as you can check before you order, before you've spoken to a soul, and get an idea of how long your order will take. You haven't placed an order yet, so there is no guilt if you feel that it will take too long and you kind of want to cancel because of it, you won't say yes because you've gone through the hassle of giving the order, address etc. before you find out. The one thing I will say is that delivery from all takeaways is taking a little longer than it used to, and before you think I'm being critical, I actually think it's a good thing.

If nothing else, a longer delivery time tells us that the business isn't operating in the same way as it used to. No businesses should have kitchens packed with staff right now and it should take longer to make food and for it to get to you. My biggest piece of advice right now is to order in advance and be patient - everyone is trying their best. I didn't mind waiting with my wine at all - I knew it would be worth it.

Four cheese deliciousness - Quattro Formaggi

If you've never used Deliveroo, then you may have a few questions about how it works. You simply download it onto your phone and let it access your location. It'll then tell you all the takeaways which you can order from in your local area, along with how long you can expect to wait for the food to arrive. You simply add what you want to your basket and then pop in your bank details to pay. You can then watch the order progress from prepared to out for delivery. If you have used Deliveroo before you might still have questions so I am here to tell you that it'll even tell you who your driver is and the app now contains information and updates about contactless delivery and where your driver is. 

At 60 minutes sharp my phone buzzed to tell me that my driver (or rider) was on his way with my Papa Gee pizzas and to keep an eye out on the app as the delivery would be contactless. The driver called my phone when he had arrived so he didn't even have to touch my door, and as it was raining he left his bag open on the floor with the pizza boxes visible and stood beyond my gate, well over 2m away. I got them out, thanked him and shut my door before he collected his bag and got on his way. This post is no review for Deliveroo by any means, but this at least is a good indication to you all that you can have a safe delivery to your door. I know that this is something that everyone will be wanting to be sure of and it's great that Papa Gee isn't being let down by Deliveroo. 

Pizza for Dinner ...and lunch

Papa Gee pizzas come delivered in unbranded brown boxes, probably because they've had to adapt to delivery very quickly, but I would also imagine that this means they are easy to recycle, so it's a winner for me. The delivery smelt amazing and when I opened the boxes I couldn't wait to dive in.

The pizza doesn't come sliced so I cut each of them into 8 equal slices, popped on the tv and my Friday night was complete. We had ordered the Quattro Formaggi - a 4 cheese pizza with mozzarella, gorgonzola, gran padano and smoked provola (there is no tomato on this one) - and I was delighted. I'm usually not a massive blue cheese fan as I don't like anything too strong, overpowering and coppery tasting, but this was mild and delicious. The gorgonzola wasn't overpowering at all. It was used sparingly which gave the pizza the extra flavour of blue cheese rather than just a mixture of plain cheese which can be boring. I was aware that there was blue cheese on the pizza, but I felt like it added something great, rather than took over. 

Let's not pretend we don't all have leftover pizza for breakfast the next day.

The second pizza was the Parma with deliciously thin and salty parma ham, masses of rocket, parmesan shavings and mozzarella. Whenever I order pizza I like to get one which is veggie or cheesy, and another which has meat on it, as I find that I like the contrast (yes I'm a person who likes to share food, I like to try more of the menu...). Alternating slices of each pizza meant the salty parma ham cut through the cheese on your tastebuds too so I didn't feel like it was all a bit too rich. 

The dough on both of these pizzas was light, fluffy and puffed up at the crusts - fantastic. Bad pizza can be really stodgy and overly filling so I often leave the crusts to have more room for toppings, but Papa Gee had it bang on for me - the perfect Friday night treat (and Saturday lunch treat for the leftovers... ok, maybe breakfast... no regrets).

Back when we ate out... remember that?

As much as I loved that takeaway pizza, I still I wish I could eat in at Papa Gee's restaurant. My evening there with friends really was lovely. The restaurant is really small and intimate, so you have to book in advance, and you're kind of packed but it was all part of the charm. I doubt we will be able to enjoy it in that way for a long while, especially in the new normal we might see in the near future. I doubt we will be allowed to be so packed in initially at least.

It felt very cosy in there, the food was delicious and the staff were lovely and friendly. I left feeling very full, happy and intent on going there again. 

I was served by a lovely Italian gentleman and I remember wondering, but being far too shy to ask, if he was Papa Gee himself. I like to think it was... but who really knows? Maybe one of you readers who has lived around Caversham for a while will know better than I do and I'd love to hear if you know if THE Papa Gee does indeed serve his customers personally!***

New normal

My hope is that if we cannot go back to the old normal, is that Papa Gee continues to do takeaway and delivery. Even if we can't get a table (when we eventually can eat out), I really hope that we can still support and enjoy this pizza at home long into the future. Until we can return to "normal" I'll continue to stay home and enjoy it from the safety of my sofa, and I hope you do too. 

Papa Gee already has a pretty decent reputation and has been around for years. You could argue that I didn't need to write this as it's so well known. But what struck me was how many people didn't realise that you could still order their pizza even in this weird time we are living. I wanted to spread the word and give it a bit of a shout out, and the credit it deserves - even if reviewing takeaways still feels a little odd.

I hope that some of you are inspired to give them a go on Deliveroo (even if Deliveroo has it's downsides which I won't go into here). It's a small business that needs our support and so if you fancy a pizza and you're in their delivery area then give it a try. I don't think I'll be reviewing all of the takeaways I get, but maybe the most noteworthy for me. 

My Friday night in with Papa Gee, Caversham was rather delightful. The only way I think it could have been improved is if I had ordered a tiramisu too.... 

Laura

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** Shortly after this post was published, Papa Gee got in touch himself to tell me that he, Papa Gee himself, did not serve me because he actually makes the pizzas! How amazing in this?! Papa Gee himself is in the kitchen actually making your food. He informed me that people in the restaurant are served by his wife, daughter and staff - this is a true family run restaurant and it is so heart warming. 

If you enjoyed this post you might also like my review of another great lockdown takeaway delivery service. Check out my experience with Valpy Street Bistro here.