Eats

Well Oiled: The indie pizza joint that’s got people running to the suburbs for a slice

Here's a slice for thought on National Pizza Day.

Sophie Smith - 9th February 2023

If you haven't grabbed yourself a slice yet - this is your sign.

Located inside the beautifully renovated Meanwood Tavern, Well Oiled is truly bringing the speciality slices of Detroit to the suburbs of Leeds.

The menu has been wildly popular ever since opening in Meanwood in October, and the demand for slices isn't slowing down anytime soon.

Offering a carefully-selected menu of delicious Detroit-style pizzas, the popular pizza joint has everything you'd possibly want from a lunchtime snack or dinner time treat.

pizza on a tray. — Images: The Hoot Leeds

Detroit pizza is served as a rectangular shape, rather than your usual circular Neapolitan style - and rather than this just being an inventive way to change up the aesthetics, this actually allows the pizza to develop a deliciously crisp cheese crust around the edges.

The focaccia base itself remains light and airy thanks to an extensive proving period of 48 hours - and from there each individual pizza is built up with flavour-packed toppings and oven cooked to perfection.

These guys believe that pineapple belongs on pizza - but turn the age-old dividing fruit debate on its head by offering a moreish pickled version that's covered in a spicy and sweet pickling brine, developed in house, and served on a bed of Well Oiled cheese mix, rich tomato sauce and topped with smoked pancetta, Aleppo chilli flakes and fresh thyme.

Alternatively, plant-based foodies don't have to miss out on this one either - the chefs here replace the pancetta with a vegan fennel sausage handcrafted from plants by a local independent.

It's fair to say regardless of which version you choose, it quickly shuts up any pineapple naysayers with a single bite - the punchy flavours each have their own shining moment, and is just one example of how this pizza joint is putting a new spin on classic dishes- and is loved for it.

And it most certainly doesn't stop there.

There truly is a slice for everyone - choose from XXXL slices or sharer-style plates with everything from salami to chimichurri, roasted red peppers to burratas on the pizza menu to get stuck in to.

The Turbo Peppers is another firm favourite: grab yourself an XXXL slice with Well Oiled sauce and the house-made cheese mix topped with roasted red peppers and Roscoff onions before being drenched in turbo chimichurri and chipotle-spiced maple and pecorino for a sweet, savoury, slightly spiced slice that'll have you licking your lips to get to every last morsel.

The Well Oiled Full Spec is perhaps the perfect sharer. The four-slice special cooked inside the 10"x14" pans, and tuck into Detroit style goodness with Trealy Farm fennel salami, whipped ricotta, pickled mash, finished with hot honey drizzle and oregano.

The garlic bread here also deserves it's own talking point.

The tear-and-share style follows the same two-day-long fermenting process that creates that fluffy dough, before being treated with copious amounts of garlic butter (vegan-friendly) and sea salt, flat leaf parsley.

Grab as a standalone or the Burratini special, which comes with a Puglian burratini in the middle of the donut-style bread, perfect for dipping.

The popularity for the sellout pizzas speaks volumes for itself, but there's never been a better time to head down to Meanwood Tavern and give these slices a taste-test with the return of the Slice Safari - which gives you access to any of the pizzas as a XXXL slice for a fiver.

To find out more about Well Oiled, you can visit their website or head down to Meanwood Tavern, grab a pint and check out what the fuss is all about, slice in hand.

Feature Image- The Hoot Leeds