Pizza Venti team up with local Instagram chef for festive menu

Pizza Venti Family, an independent pizzeria on Fisherton Street, Salisbury, has teamed up with local Instagram chef Salisbury Foodie to create a festive pizza menu.

The menu was showcased at a launch event on Thursday evening (2nd December 2021) with local food lovers, bloggers, chefs, family, and friends in attendance.

The festive menu features Salisbury Foodie’s signature pizza, a festive Christmas dinner pizza called ‘Elf’s Favourite’, a smoked salmon pizza accompanied with egg, fresh spinach, and mozzarella, and a ‘Buffalo Special’ featuring Buffalo cheese, cherry tomatoes, and parmesan on a pesto base.

The collaboration between Pizza Venti and James Butterfield (Salisbury Foodie) came about when owner Alex Popescu met James through their shared passion for food.

“I really wanted someone locally that could push me not just to be an Italian restaurant, but also to adapt the quality of Italy with the taste of the British people. We have made a team to try to get some more flavours out there,” explained Alex.

“Alex and I both share the same vision to produce really really good food. I wanted to try the pizza before I put my name to it and once I tasted the first pizza I was completely blown away,” said James.

Alex asked James to take on the challenge of creating his own signature pizza, which Pizza Venti would feature on their menu.

“I had a couple of ideas of flavours in my head and I went into the kitchen and just used the ingredients that were already there. We tried the pizza and everyone liked it so I just went with it.

“For the Christmas pizza we wanted to do something a little bit different. Everyone likes a traditional Christmas lunch so we decided to make a Christmas pizza. The pork sausage imitates the stuffing, and it aims to recreate the flavours of a Christmas dinner on a pizza,” explained James.

Salisbury food blogger Beth Doherty said, "For their festive menu Pizza Venti have put a contemporary twist to a classic dish. Combining their traditional delicious dough with Jame's experimental flair, the pair have created a crowd-pleasing Christmas pizza that is every English pizza lover's dream."

Passionate about contributing to the local Salisbury community, owner Alex and his wife Maria explained that Pizza Venti is more than just a pizzeria.

“When I created Pizza Venti I wanted very much to bring something extra to Salisbury. Not just a pizzeria, not just a quality product, but also a service to our community. I take more pride outside of what we are doing as a business than what we are actually doing as a business. I love my charity projects - they are my main motivation as to why I keep fighting to have a restaurant during a pandemic,” said Alex.

In order to support the local community, Alex created Community Mondays, an evening where the majority of profits from pizzas sold will be donated to self-funded charities and used within the local community.

One of the initiatives that Community Mondays will support is Rise, Rebuild, Resound, a project which aims to renovate Grosvenor & Riverside House into a place that cultivates the community through creativity and recovery.

Pizza Venti are open for dine-in, takeaway and are open Sunday-Thursday 12pm-10pm and Friday-Saturday 12pm-12am. They are also available on Deliveroo.

To find out more about Community Mondays at Pizza Venti email cs@pizzaventi.co.uk

Photography by Suzy Ellis.