Manchester's pizza scene has long been one of the best in the country.  Seemingly a new pizza slinger opens their doors every week, but sadly it's often nothing new or overly interesting to be honest, as much as most of our local media likes to pretend otherwise.  But in recent weeks a newbie launched which on first look appeared to be profoundly more interesting than the norm.

Behind it are two gents called Dan Hope and Richard Carver, the latter of whom is the mind behind Manchester's OG Neapolitan pizza offering; Honest Crust.  And the name of their new restaurant is Proloco!  We received a kind invitation to come on down and sample things, so headed over to the very lovely One Port Street, where Proloco is pro-located.

The menu is a reassuring balance of starters/small plates and pizzas.  There's not enough options to make you question whether or not shortcuts are being taken or that there's a lack of passion, but rather there's enough for you to know that the guys care deeply about what they do.  It's a focused offering which is a clear labour of love

So, we started off with a splendid array of small plates which as invitees, asked our lovely server Miška to select for us. She did a stellar job taking care of us the whole evening.  We kicked off with a simple plate of great quality salami (£9), its quality being revealed before even being consumed, with the fat starting to melt at room temperature, finished with walnuts and a Microplane of cheese.  An early gauge of things to come.

Panelle (£9) followed swiftly, and is served in 4 bite sized cubes, generously topped with sweet crab meat and a disk of cucumber for a burst of freshness.  Then came a couple of veg based plates with some roasted Beetroot headlining.  An array of red, yellow, chunks and disks, well acid balanced and garnished with Roscoff onion and chervil (£9).  This was one of the evening's favourite dishes.

Then came Squash with cobnut and Durrus cheese (£10), which acted as a leaf salad plate. It didn’t quite hit the highs of that beet, but still brought some freshness to our menu choices, was packed full of well sourced greengrocery and the dressing was immaculate.

But arguably the headline starter plate is Proloco's Crispy Egg (£11), or Uova alla Monachina as they are called in their Napoli homeland.  These are boiled eggs, cut in half, the yolks removed and made into a type of Bearnaise, then the mixture is put back into the egg whites which are reassembled, panko'ed and deep fried.  Satisfying and deceptively labour intensive, served with a slice of quality Mortadella.  Outstanding.

Proloco have also invested some clear thought into their wine offering too.  The juice menu is compact but full of quality with plenty of non stuffy wines which align with the broader concept, offering plenty of fun.  Seeing Lambrusco, a sparkling red on any menu, always makes me smile too, for the same reasons as above. It's just a fun drop which never takes itself too seriously.

With a 1/2L carafe priced at a reasonable £20, yet the cheapest actual bottle starting at £42, perhaps there could be space for a circa £35 proper bottle?  I have no beef with carafe wine at all, but a bottle holds more occasion.  I guess that time will tell there, dependant upon demand/what's selling once customer buying trends emerge in the coming weeks..

But this is ultimately a pizzeria, so the main event is those pizzas.  They  all come in 18" diameters with a choice of either traditional toppings, or more boujee seasonal options to add a bit of a USP to things.

You'll notice that on the menu there's an eel pizza, which we purposely didn’t order, but not because we are squeamish.  Due to being on 2 week long Spanish food focused road trip, we were a bit late to the launch preview event, during in which time the local food media and influencer collective had already posted about the eel pizza endless times, so we figured that you'd probably want to hear about other offerings.

But despite sounding massively off piste, eel is actually already established as a winning topping.  It may surprise you to hear that some of the finest pizza in the world comes out of Japan, where it's an institution.  For decades now they've been combining traditional pizza with their own culturally inspired flavours, which of course eel is very much a cornerstone of.  Both Kabayaki glazed and also grilled unagi/eel are staples when sat atop a pizza crust. Michelin listed Papa San in NYC are also famous for their Japanese style eel pizza too.  But back to our own experience rather than geeking-out and wasting of word count…

We chose to half and half our 18" creation in order to explore more options, plus 2 x 18" pizzas for 2 people would have been ambitious, not to mention cheeky when accepting a free experience.   It will cost you an extra couple of quid to half and half, but it's worth it.  Anchovy with salsa rossa, tomato and lemon pangratatto was our first choice, and comes without cheese.

Also, new a topping on the menu has been added since launch; Squash & Brown Butter.  We figured that it would be wise to order it since  unlike the eel, it's not yet seen any press until this piece.  The squash is accented with tomboncino, chard, chilli and Spenwood cheese, and our choice was rewarded no end with layers of flavour and lovely balance.

But the base is what really sets these pizzas alight for us, which makes sense when you consider that Richard Carver, the man behind Manchester's pioneering OG Honest Crust, is also at the wheel here.  Unlike the Napoli-originated bases that he's known for, these are crispy and hold up well when folded, even in 9" long slices.  Their seasoning is perfect, and the dough is loaded with flavour; a dead giveaway to a loving prove and no rushing of things.  Excellent work.

And Proloco team; if you're taking suggestions for new seasonal toppings in the future then I'd love to see a take on the Brazilian classic pizza topping of peas!  Maybe peas, lemon, mint & Feta in the Spring, for a more Greek vibe?  Pizza is truly international and amidst any well-overused gags about whether it's OK to put pineapple on a pizza, the truth is that whatever tastes good to you is therefore good, and hence perfectly OK.

There's a selection of dips on offer too, which work wonderfully with any crust that somehow may be left over.  We chose the punchy Green Goddess, a herby orchestra that's loaded with goodies from Cinderwood; a name that you now predictably see on every single mid-range menu in the city.  But again, it shows the lovely quality produce that Proloco stick to.

We ended with a few smart scoops of Proloco's made-in-house  Fig Leaf ice cream and apple sorbet, and both delivered a pleasant sugar based hit.  The sorbet lacked the garnish of its peer, so a bit of crumble could have helped make this more of a dish.  £5 each makes them a simple yet worthwhile end to any experience, making a meal into a proper dinner as touched on earlier.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love pizza in all of its forms and origins.  But my issue with most pizzerias is that they are just that.  Super casual, super quick, in and out ASAP at a low spend.  That's exactly their intention though, but sometimes I bemoan that a foodstuff which I love is seldom given the proper a la carte/restaurant service treatment.  Why can't a pizza menu be a bit higher end, and a pizzeria feel like more of an occasion, not just a quick meal?  As touched on, in Japan there's pizza Omakases in high end hotels!  That's how much they regard the product.  In the UK though, even when venue's pizzas are truly great, the starters etc often feel like quick GP boosting afterthoughts.

Proloco for me swipes that whole issue left, and very much feels like a proper restaurant which rather than a mere quick bite to eat, which you could visit and spend a bit of time in, akin to a proper a la carte offering.  And I shall be back before long to spend my own money and do just that, which is the true barometer of how much any food blurber actually enjoys a product.

** Our experience was gratefully comped **