It was my husband's birthday and he didn't want any fuss or frills, so we visited our local Pizza Hut. I'd heard a lot about pizza companies such as Pizza Hut and Dominoes introducing new gluten-free pizza bases and had read some really mixed reviews so I have to admit I was a little nervous about trying Pizza Hut gluten-free base. I was mainly worried about cross-contamination and whether the staff would be educated and adequately trained in preparing gluten-free pizza. But I needn't have worried.
When I got to Pizza Hut I made it known to our waiter that I required a GF pizza. He was not at all fazed by my request and simply proceeded to show me to the relevant section in the menu where it mentioned the GF base. He also explained that I could have any of the toppings as they are all gluten-free. Yes!
Now when it came to the salad bar I was a little bit more apprehensive. Our waiter was a little unsure about what sections of the salad bar I could actually have so he went to ask his manager and came back with a list of the items I should avoid, which included the pasta salad, bacon bits, croutons, bread sticks, and dry onions. He also said I should be wary of the seeds, salsa and pickled onions as they couldn't guarantee they were safe. I was so grateful for the extra effort he went to which made me feel a bit bad but in the end I decided not to have any of the salad because I was just so worried about the cross-contamination aspect - I mean, all the salad is in one place and it could be so easy for someone to drop, say, a crouton in to the lettuce accidentally or snap a bread stick in half and then some of the crumbs go in to the rest of the salad. Call me paranoid, but I was just not willing to risk it but I really appreciated the Pizza Hut staff going to so much effort to find out what parts of the salad bar were GF.
When my pizza arrived I found it was a square base, which means that the staff can distinguish between the normal bases and the GF bases so there is no way of mixing them up, genius! They also told me that the GF pizzas are cooked in their own square tins to avoid any cross-contamination. It looked delicious and I couldn't wait to tuck in, but not before cutting my pizza myself with my own (clean) pizza cutter. Again, this is another way Pizza Hut avoid cross-contamination by getting you to cut your own slices. This is such a good idea!
Overall I loved my pizza. It had the same flavoursome toppings that Pizza Hut are so well known for just with a different base. The base itself, although very thin, wasn't dry at all or chewy which I have found with some GF bases. Delicious!
When I had finished eating, the waiter came back to check that everything was OK with my pizza and he even told me that when Pizza Hut had first introduced the GF base all the staff had received training on how to prepare and cook the GF pizzas and as part of the training they had all sampled a GF pizza. He told me that most of the staff were really impressed with the taste, and these are people that wouldn't normally eat GF pizza so that is definitely reassurance to us Coeliacs!
It was great to see that the Pizza Hut are so well educated on their GF base and have gone that extra mile to include Coeliacs in their clientele. The waiting staff were wonderful and went out of their way to ensure my dining experience was stress-free and enjoyable! Thanks again, Pizza Hut! It now means that if I am out and about with family or friends and we need a quick, relatively cheap bite to eat, we can go to Pizza Hut and I'm not excluded from the pizza experience. I'm now on the look out for other eateries with GF pizza bases. Can anyone recommend anywhere else?
*Enjoying my first GF pizza base courtesy of Pizza Hut. This is the spicy cajun chicken topping*
Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteHi, no problem at all. Glad you found it useful
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