A new home for Ace Pizza

London-based Ace Pizza (www.thisisacepizza.com) reports that despite the challenges presented by Covid-19 and the associated lockdown, it is proud to have now launched in its new home - Hackney’s Pembury Tavern - having also used the downtime period to refine its pizza recipes and bolster its collaboration with independent brewery company, Five Points.

NEW MENU

Already famed for their delicious ‘Pembury pizzas’, the Ace Pizza team report that they have been able to perfect their pizza recipes during lockdown, having now launched with a tantalising new menu that is inspired by the traditional coal-oven pizzerias of the US.

Everything from vegetarian classics such as their ‘Papa Jones’ to meaty delights with a twist like the ‘Honey Pie’, and their mouth-watering vegan ‘Aphrodite’ – plus house-made dips and tasty sides – are now on the menu.

Ace Pizza is currently available Wednesday through to Sunday via the brand new Five Points On Tap app for delivery within a two kilometre radius of the Pembury Tavern, and for takeaway, with socially distanced walk-ups also available from the newly reopened pub.

To celebrate the launch in June, they offered customers 50% off every order booked through the app during their launch weekend.

LOCALLY SOURCED

Ace’s pizza dough is cold-fermented for 48 hours using a traditional biga starter to keep the base light and crisp. When combined with top quality, fresh ingredients - including British mozzarella from Kentish cows, local vegan cheese from Black Arts Vegan and Ace’s own house-made plant-based toppings - these are arguably the best pizzas in Hackney, feel the pizza-makers.

The popular ‘Honey Pie’ pizza features spicy salami, fior di latte, fennel seeds, habanero-infused honey, guindilla chillies and pecorino. Their ‘Papa Jones’ pizza is a vegetarian spin on a takeaway favourite with house-made vegan fennel sausage, spicy marinara, bell peppers, red onion, mozzarella, Italian herbs and garlic sauce. Their ‘Ndon’tya’ is also a vegan pizza made with house-made fiery plant-based ‘nduja, Black Arts vegan mozzarella, tenderstem broccoli, rosemary and a sesame crust.

And for the perfect takeaway treat, Ace Pizza advise that their pizzas are great when paired with the full range of Five Points beer (now also conveniently available via the Five Points On Tap app or takeaway from the Pembury Tavern itself). This range includes two-pint draught bottles of the brewery’s Pale, Jupa, XPA and Pils beers.

THINKING TIME

Ace Pizza is headed up by executive chef and co-founder, Rachel Jones (main picture), formerly of Italian-American street food company, Capish. “Since launching at the Pembury Tavern with Five Points, we’ve worked really hard to refine the menu. We’ve tried and tested lots of different ideas and are now really happy with our product,” she says.

“With the pub being closed to the public during lockdown, there was a real catalyst for relaunching with a focus on takeaway. Coronavirus didn’t just force us to think on our feet and pivot our service to try and keep reaching our regulars, it actually gave us the time to start thinking about what Ace Pizza would look like as a brand in its own right.

“We’ve always been here to serve the local community in Hackney, and it felt frustrating that we couldn’t do that for a few months. But with the Five Points On Tap delivery app now live and the kitchen back open, we’ve been able to develop a way to serve beer and pizza to our locals again!”

THE FIVE POINTS BREWING COMPANY

The Five Points Brewing Company - who own the Ace Pizza-serving Pembury pub site - claims to be London’s largest independent brewery and is also based in Hackney.

They have been brewing with a commitment to great beer and the local community since 2013, their beers having won numerous awards and become a staple of many pubs and bars not just in their local East London heartland but across London and beyond. Recent additions to their range include Micro Pale and Five Points Best, which join established classics like Five Points Pale and JUPA.

Five Points say that they have worked hard to adjust to the challenges of the Coronavirus epidemic, and as a result, not unsurprisingly perhaps, their online business has exploded; the launch of their Five Points On Tap app being further evidence of their push into new strategies, they feel.

At the same time, Five Points has also been offering all NHS staff 20% off its webstore and pledging £1 for every webstore purchase to a community charity (June’s donations went to the Trussell Trust – a UK-wide network of Food Banks), and the charities they support will change monthly to help those in need, say Five Points.

Priority target areas:

Scotland/NI/ROI/NE

■ Bangor (NI) ■ Carrigaline ■ Cavan ■ Coleraine ■ Cork Glanmire ■ Crook ■ Darlington East ■ Derry City Side ■ Guisborough ■ Hexham ■ Middlesbrough -

Coulby Newham ■ Newcastle Jesmond ■ Newtownards ■ Peterhead ■ Peterlee ■ Yarm

NW/W Mids/Wales

■ Birmingham - Moseley ■ Birmingham - Marston Green ■ Birmingham - Oldbury ■ Bridgnorth ■ Cardiff - Merthyr Road ■ Cheadle (Staffs) ■ Clitheroe ■ Daventry North ■ Dorridge/Knowle ■ Holyhead ■ Liverpool Kirkby ■ Oswestry ■ Pershore ■ Pontypool ■ Prenton ■ Tylorstown ■ Whitchurch

Yorks/Mids/East

■ Ashby de la Zouch ■ Brigg ■ Hatfi eld Station ■ Hemel North ■ Lincoln Ermine ■ Louth ■ Malton ■ Normanton ■ Norwich South ■ Royston (Yorks) ■ Sawbridgeworth ■ Skegness ■ Welwyn North ■ Wetherby ■ Whitby

London

■ Bermondsey ■ Cabot Square ■ Charlton ■ Creekmouth ■ Dagenham ■ Kennington ■ Lewisham ■ Marble Arch ■ Norwood Green ■ Poplar ■ Soho ■ Stepney Green ■ Stratford ■ Waterloo

South East + West

■ Ash Green ■ Axminster ■ Banbury - South ■ Bishop’s Cleeve ■ Bournemouth - Westbourne ■ Bracknell - Easthampstead ■ Brighton - Moulsecoomb ■ Bristol - City North ■ Bristol - Stoke Gifford ■ Brixham ■ Canterbury - St Dunstan’s Street ■ Canterbury - Wincheap ■ Chipping Norton ■ Cinderford ■ Crawley - Bewbush ■ Dursley ■ Fareham - Portchester ■ Falmouth Penryn ■ Gloucester - Hempsted ■ Hoo St Werburgh ■ New Milton ■ Plymouth - Lower Compton ■ Ringwood & Verwood ■ Sherborne ■ Southampton - City Centre ■ Southampton - Townhill Park ■ Teignmouth ■ Wickham