A Healthy Dinner At Mezzo, Pride Park, Derby
Published On Sunday 9 Apr 2023 by Sticky Beak
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I’ve often said that sometimes it’s the simple things that taste the nicest (especially when made with fresh, in-season ingredients) and it seems that Skevy and her partner, David, think the same at their venue, Mezzo, that opened in 2021 on Derby’s Pride Park. Following their own personal ethos of eating healthily to live a happy life, Mezzo offers bowls of flavoursome, wholesome food, as well as some street-food inspired morsels.
Having snagged one of the very limited parking spaces opposite the eaterie (there is more in the Derby Arena car park next door, available for 3 hours, but remember to key in your car reg details on Mezzo’s in-store tablet) we meandered over, taking in the wooden framed, covered seating area outside that I can imagine to be very popular at lunchtime.
Mezzo is a play on the word Meze, which probably gives you a clue as to the type of offering you can expect: bowls that you can tailor make to your whim on any particular day, or one of the set choices on the menu. This quirky venue is open predominantly Monday-Friday, but does occasionally open on Saturday (Noon-3pm for a made-to-order service) if The Rams have a home match on – check Mezzo’s website for details. Skevy and David offer online ordering, call-and-collect, in-store made to order bowls or deliveries (Deliveroo, Uber-Eats and Just Eat) from 10am, and in-store help yourself buffet service from 11-3pm.
The Man Bird and I went in the evening when it switches to the team making bowls or street food dishes to order for you, 3-9pm. The bowls themselves come in four sizes: extra small, small, medium and large priced £6.95, ££8.95, £10.95 and £12.95 respectively - a Salmon Fillet carries a surcharge of £1.50, which is fair enough. Your first step on your Mezzo journey is picking what size bowl will satiate your hunger, then you select your protein, then what base you fancy, the side to pop in your bowl, and finally a sauce to add some pizzazz. As if this isn’t flexible enough, you can opt to skip the base element and double up on the salad/vegetable component or flip it around and forego salad/veg and double up your base....then you can always pay extra to double up your protein (Chicken Breast, grilled Halloumi, Falafel or Salmon Fillet).
Don’t panic if, as a Mezzo virgin, this sounds complicated; one of the lovely team will talk you through all the options (as they did with us) and you’ll soon be a pro at navigating your way around the choices. Once we’d ordered our feast, we grabbed cutlery from the counter and helped ourselves to napkins from the wall-mounted dispenser, before sitting back down at our taupe toned banquette and dark, wood-effect table and taking in a bit more of the open-plan surroundings. Red brick walls are either festooned with twinkling fairy lights or emblazoned with Mezzo’s “Eat Well, Love Life” philosophy. Faux foliage garlands wound their way around the modern pendant lights that hung above the seating, and the Olive coloured mid-back, free standing chairs blended in nicely.
Soon our small sized bowls (which are pretty substantial, let me tell you!) were being placed before us and we heartily tucked in. The Man Bird had chosen Wild Rice, Daal, Chicken Breast and Chipotle sauce, whilst I’d gone for Teriyaki Noodles, Quinoa Superfood Salad, Salmon Fillet and Sriracha sauce: both make-your-own. If you want to simplify things then the specialty set bowl options are: Burrito Bowl, Buddha Bowl, Hulk Bowl (so called because it’s green!), Rainbow Bowl, Chicken Curry and Wild Rice or Beef Chilli-con-Carne and Wild Rice, with standard prices ranging from £6.95-£13.95.
Both of us were impressed with our protein options; the flesh was succulent and juicy, and the portion size was very generous (and filling!). His Nibs’ Lentil Daal was pleasantly chunky with a nice chew time, which the wild rice also had, and his choice of Chipotle sauce added a good wallop of heat and smoke to the meal. My Salmon fillet still had its lightly crisped skin on, though the fish itself was delightfully silky in my mouth. A good injection of crunchiness came via the Peppers, Radish and Kale that were nestled amongst the Quinoa grains of the Superfood Salad. Carb-rich Noodles were nicely coated in Teriyaki sauce, and I’d added fiery Sriracha as my sauce, so my taste buds soon got blasted awake! A happy silence fell over our table as we munched away, punctuated by grins of happiness that were testament to the tastiness and quality of Mezzo’s bowls.
Relatively new to the Mezzo menu is the range of ‘Street Food’, including Gyros’ (Chicken or Halloumi), Wings, Potato Wedges and Fries, Sweet Potato Fries and Bao Buns (Hoisin Duck or Jackfruit): prices range from £3.95 for Fries all the way to £17.95 for 15 Chicken Wings.
Our gluttony is well known, so regular readers won’t be shocked when I say that we also ordered 3 BBQ Chicken Wings, and a Chicken Gyros (without fries though, but you can add them on for £2 extra). At first glance the wings didn’t look as if they were going to be too much of a challenge to eat, but they were deceptively meaty, despite appearing on the dinky side. As with The Man Birds’ breast meat, the wings were lovely and moist, complimented by a richly tangy, smoky BBQ sauce that clung ferociously to the insides of the cheeks, demanding that you let it linger there to savour it better!
Both the wings and the Chicken Gyros come in cardboard packaging, at which point I should probably say that all of Mezzo’s packaging is recyclable and the take-out cutlery is wooden, so that can be recycled too, despite it being single-use - you know what I mean! If you’re eating in, then the cutlery at the counter is regular metal stuff that you pop into the wicker basket so it can be taken back to the kitchen and washed.
Kelly and Tia kept coming over with morsels and checked that we were enjoying ourselves so far (we absolutely were!), and asking if we needed any more drinks. Customer service-wise, you can’t fault Mezzo at all.
As well as its eco-friendly outer packaging, the Gyros had been snugly wrapped in foil-lined paper to retain its heat, and a puff of steam escaped when we opened it up. The pieces of chicken were beautifully soft and tender to the bite with a gorgeous creaminess from the yoghurt sauce that cocooned them. Crisp Iceberg Lettuce, crunchy slices of Red Onion and slices of sweet, juicy Tomato completed this tasty treat, and what a treat it was!
Whilst we’d been chomping away there’d been several customers dropping in to pick up their orders, and then a family of four (with two young children) came in to sit down and eat in. Whilst children are welcomed, furry friends aren’t currently permitted inside Mezzo, but I assume they can be outside if their humans are eating on one of the wooden picnic-style benches? *EDIT* You can indeed have your pooch’s with you if you dine outside; I asked.
Hot Wings happily awarded to this fab Derby team; fresh food has never been so tasty . To find out more, ring 01332 318181 or visit www.mezzoderby.co.uk and hit the ‘order now’ button to grab yourself a slice of the gastro-action! Huge thanks to David for extending the invitation to us, we had a superb time.
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