The Big Red

Whoever looked at the space between a pub and a railway bridge and thought "I know, I'll park a bus up there and serve pizzas" was a little genius. Thanks to The Deptford Dame, I found about about The Big Red and dragged six of my mates there to try it out.

Deptford is no stranger to restaurants in strange confines. Though I haven't been, The Deptford Project looks like a perfect brunch place housed in a train carriage and now we have pizzas from another mode of transport. But you don't have to sit on a bus; a patio with tables and chairs, as well as big squidgy couches were where we chose to sit.

We got right stuck into a few jugs of sangria which were packed full of fruit and tasted dangerously unboozy.

As there were so many of us, we managed to order pretty much everything on the menu. A slight mix up in the ordering meant that we also got a starter of bread with nuggets of chorizo and black pudding - the black pudding in particular drew gasps of appreciation, as the sausages were split open to reveal soft creamy insides.

I went for the special veg pizza with extra Spanish anchovies. The bases were crisp and light, though not too thin that they'd shatter. They held the toppings of red onion, courgette, olives, peppers, capers and tomatoes well. The anchovies were obviously of top quality as rather than being overwhelmingly salty or fishy, they were just right.

Pepperoni and mushroom pizza was great - just the right amount of pepperoni and not overly greasy. Around the table, the Flamenco (with black pudding and chorizo) was hugely commended, as well as the seafood pizza. Even the Margherita, which I usually find a bit dull, was excellent. As we digested our food, huge satisfied grins beamed around the table. With a red heatlamp bearing down on us and the music at a happy 'it's Friday night' level, we all had to remind each other that we were sitting under the Deptford railway bridge, and were not in fact, on holiday. We fell in love with the place.

After an espresso to get us moving, we paid up the very reasonable £18 each with service (we had at least 4 jugs of sangria, at £12 per jug) and waddled off to a nearby pub.

The Big Red

30 Deptford Church Street
London SE8 4RZ

Tel: 020 3490 8346