I have decided that I must write a review about my takeaway pizza last night.  I know I said I would review restaurants I attend in this part of my blog but have decided to break the rules this one time.

As I am down at Rainbow Bay / Coolangatta I decided to check in last night at my favourite pizza place: Earth & Sea Coolangatta.  I have been coming to this pizza shop for more years than I can remember and yet again it came up trumps.

My order, as it has been for at least the last 10 years since I discovered the joys of chilli with food, was a small cheese pizza and a large half “Some Like it Hot” and “Number 14”.

The description of each from their menu is as follows:

• Some Like it Hot: “As our big brothers up the road are fond of repeating, 100% pure beef (with our seven secret herbs and spices), onion and chilli sauce. Italy’s answer to the Aussie meat pie.”
• Number 14: “When we only had 13 pizzas on the menu the local lads invented the number 14. Great Pizza! Real beef, ham, onion, egg and chilli. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Well, it is now one of our most popular pizzas, so there!

Now that I have read that again it does strike me that they are quite similar but when you eat them it is the subtle flavours of the eggs and the ham that do really make a difference.  Equally, I am not fussed that they are quiet similar pizzas because food is all about ones personal tastes and preferences and these pizzas are the ones that I like.

As a takeaway experience, you would struggle find one better for mine:

• The staff member who took my order over the phone knew her stuff: even asked me if I was sure that I wanted that particular combination in my half and half pizza because “you know mate they are basically the same pizza”.  Often that would irritate me but in this context (as it showed she knew the menu) it did not.
• The 15 minute time estimate for my pick up was spot on.  I walked in, I paid, I had about 30 seconds of banter with the staff member behind the counter and then my pizza was ready.
• The price was fair for the food that I got.  When you look at the menu you will be taken a bit aback by the pricing of the pizzas: it just looks expensive BUT you have to get past that because the pizzas are massive both from the perspective of size and amount of toppings.

As for the pizzas, I am unable to make a complaint about them.  The cheese pizza that I bought for a bit of nibble later in the evening was the best plain cheese pizza I had (as it has been since it went on the menu).  Why? Because it had a heap of tomato sauce on it.  The half / half pizza was perfect: heaps of beef, heaps of egg and just enough chilli to make me sweat a little under my beard but not so much that I would be awake at 2am tasting the pizza in the back of my throat.

I am not surprised by this though because over at least 20 years of coming to Earth & Sea Coolangatta I have never been left disappointed.

A review of a takeaway pizza would not be complete without an assessment of how the pizza went second time around having been refrigerated over night.  The leftovers ticked all of the boxes for a “morning after the night before” breakfast: the topping all still stayed on the pizza, the base was not too hard and cold it tasted almost as good as it did when it came out of the oven.

All in all, as a takeaway experience I can not fault the guys at Earth & Sea Coolangatta (80 Marine Pde, Coolangatta) and recommend you check it out if you are down this way.