Many, many, many years ago, Nigel and I started calling Friday evenings “Takeaway Night”, because, as is fairly common in New Zealand, we often got food from takeaway shops—pizza, burgers, fish and chips, or maybe Thai, Indian, or Chinese food, depending on our mood. When we moved back to Auckland in 2006, we started spending Takeaway Night with family. I talked about that many times on this blog during those years, especially the times I cooked instead of us getting takeaways. When Nigel and I moved to our final home together, we still had takeaways on a Friday, but it was nearly always just the two of us (along with our furbabies lurking nearby, hoping we’d drop something).
After Nigel died and I moved to Hamilton, I often got together with family on Friday nights, often with someone cooking, and sometimes we had takeaways. Lockdowns and busy schedules reduced the number of times we got together, so I started having pizza on Friday evenings.
This is a simple pleasure for me: I’ve always loved pizza, but there are no decent pizzerias anywhere near my house, though one is “yeah, okay, I guess”. Two chain pizza companies deliver to my area, Domino’s, and New Zealand chain Hell Pizza. Domino’s isn’t great, and Hell is inconsistent—sometimes really nice, other times just “meh”. It was easier—and FAR cheaper—to make pizza at home.
I’ve tried making pizza from scratch a couple times (most recently in October 2021), and it’s a LOT of work for what’s supposed to be an easy simple pleasure. So, pizzas from the supermarket were my best answer among the available options.
Back in March 2021, I shared news on my personal Facebook that the Christchurch factory of my favourite supermarket pizza, Romano’s, had burned down. I said on Facebook, “Romano’s is the only brand of supermarket pizza that either Nigel or I liked.” Even after he died, I continued to buy the pizzas until the fire. I found out last week that their pizza is back in Countdown, so I bought our favourite variety (in the photo above), and another variety, too.
The first thing I noticed was that the pizza was smaller than it used to be, and in a box. I was neutral about the different packaging because the box is recyclable, of course, and will help protect the pizza. However, when I opened the box I saw that the pizza itself was packaged similarly to how it used to be in the old days: It was in a non-recyclable plastic pan-like thing with a plastic film cover (that film is recyclable separately where I live). I also noted that the base is sourdough, which was also used in the frozen Australian-made pizzas I made do with after Romano’s pizza disappeared, but I don’t recall that being used before. I also noted that the labelling called it “Premium Pizza”.
On Friday night, I decided to have the version one I’m pictured with, hoping that the product is as good as Nigel and I both thought it was. I also have a different one in the fridge for another night. At the very least, though, I hoped it’d be “good enough” because I’d really rather buy a New Zealand-made product instead of the Australian frozen pizza.
No: It wasn’t the same. First, the base: The company manufactures supermarket own-brand pizzas as well as blank (or whatever it’s called) bases. I tried their base once, and I didn’t like it. Unfortunately, that’s what they used in this pizza, not the original base. Second: The other ingredients had little if any flavour (apart from the cream cheese, oddly enough). I think they may have simplified their manufacturing processes, which makes some sense. But the toppings, surely they should’ve been “premium”?.
I followed the instructions diligently, but when I make the other pizza, I’ll do things differently (there are two more varieties, other than the one in the fridge, that I can also try). You never know, I may yet find one that’s “okay enough”.
So, it was disappointing, but not hugely: I expected it’d to be different. I guess it just matches everything else that’s different now. And the search for something I like—maybe a new favourite—continues.
Important Note: The names of brands/products/companies listed in this post are all registered trademarks, and are used here for purposes of description and clarity. No company or entity provided any support or payment for this blog post, and all products were purchased by me at normal consumer prices. So, the opinions I expressed are my own genuinely held opinions, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the manufacturers, any retailer, or any known human being, alive or dead, real or corporate. Just so we’re clear.
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