Pizza at Proove, West Didsbury

Living in South Manchester, we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to delightful, independent restaurants to tickle our taste-buds. Everything from authentic Spanish tapas, to vegan whole-foods, to downright dirty burgers…there’s something for everyone. You’ll know well that one of my most favourite cuisines is Italian, so when I was asked to go along to try out some Italian Pizza at Proove, West Didsbury I jumped at the chance. Plus, it was a great excuse for a date-night…

Proove, West Didsbury

So where is it? In the gorgeous little neighbourhood of West Didsbury, which is centred around the bustling Burton Road. The hubby and I always loved this part of South Manchester and used to frequent the strip when we first moved up from London. Back then, it reminded us of home and we were drawn to the independent bars and approachable cafés. We loved it. Over the last 6 years, Burton Road has thrived, seeing more and more small places open to feed the hungry locals.

The setting

The restaurant is welcoming with a cafeteria-cum-dining feel, you know, informal enough to pop-in after work with friends, yet swish enough for a date night. The interior is simple with some lovely touches of industrial lamps and wooden tables with the bar at the front as you walk in (I’ll tell you more about that later!) and an open kitchen at the back where the chefs kneed, turn and toss the pizza dough to please hungry on-lookers. We were sat on a round table by the kitchen and handed our menus to peruse.

The Food

Being Italian, Proove, West Didsbury has a selection of Antipasti on the menu, alongside some more unusual offerings of Italian Street food, but naturally the Pizza is the star of the show. It’s like carb heaven!

I wanted to try as much as possible without going into a carb-coma, so here’s what we chose:

The Fritto Misto – Arancini (delicious deep-fried balls of risotto), Crocche (sort of like a potato croquette), Angioletti (deep fried strips of dough with dipping sauces).

We also went for one of the specials, which was courgette-based and was the star of the starters for sure!

Onto the mains and the hubby went for one of his faves – the Calzone, full of salami, ham, onions and cheeses and I went for the special pizza – a bolognese pizza – which I’d never had or even seen as an option before. But knowing that Italians do bolognese nothing like us Brits do, I wanted to try it as I LOVE it!

What did we think?

The starters were fab and really fun to pick at with a glass of Prosecco or a cocktail…or a Prosecco cocktail, which is what I had! (These guys are seriously good at their cocktails by the way!). It feels very Italian eating like that and relaxed. We happily ate our way through the selection of street foods which were lovely, but a tad under-seasoned for me. The marinara tomato-based dipping sauce is absolutely delicious! The minty, yoghurty counter-part, not so much – so just go for your life with the marinara…it’s wonderful!

As for the pizza…well…for me, they were perfect! Just the right thickness of dough, thin-ish with crispy edges but a chewy crust. My special bolognese pizza was absolutely delicious and I demolished it happily and the hubby loved his calzone too. Proove, West Didsbury certainly knows how to make a pizza!

Dolce…

Although nearly entering a carb-coma after all this wonderful food and cocktails, it would’ve been impolite to not try a dessert right? Plus we were on a date-night, so we were trying to extend the festivities and not go home too early.

If I could’ve, I would have had the Pizza Dolce but I couldn’t squeeze in any more dough (ha!) and I really wanted the Bombolini or the Salted Caramel Brownie but these are often choices I’d have when eating out at an Italian restaurant. So I opted for the special dessert instead, which was a little underwhelming in honesty. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but in honesty, we were quite full by this point and we were really there for the pizza so not too disappointed. But next time we go, I think we’ll skip the starters and go just for pizza and dessert instead 🙂 …and cocktails!

Will we go back?

Absolutely! The staff were beyond friendly, extremely welcoming and smiley. The bar man knew how to put together a cocktail…I got through three on the evening…it was date night after all! Although we were treated to a dinner on-the-house, I noted that the prices were extremely reasonable and the nature of Proove, West Didsbury, means you could go for a quick post-work pizza or a more romantic 3-course meal. It was ideal for us parents, 10 minutes in a cab, maximum time dining and enjoying some quality time together and 10 minutes home…back with the kids and in bed by 10pm.