Hell Pizza, a NZ original. It claims to offer the hottest pizza in New Zealand. Also claims to be hell-thy.

A number of things contributed to my desire to order a pizza from Hell recently. It was the day after my 65th birthday. It was almost Halloween. And, Allie had informed me that as a promotion, Hell Pizza was offering free brains on any pizza ordered between October 24th and 31st. Clearly the favourite topping for zombies everywhere. Well, that did it for me. I had to have one. How could I, who professes to be willing to try just about any new food item, not give this very unique pizza topping a try?

(this is the ad from Hell Pizza) 

So, here is my thin crust beauty now, with pepperoni, tomatoes, kalamata olives, mushrooms, anchovies, and brains. (lamb)

The brains are in the centre of the picture with some sesame seeds in the crumb coating. 

And here is Allie's. She got some nice Big pieces of brain.

The boys of course, preferred individual cheese pizzas without any funny stuff messing up the perfection of simplicity. 

I mentioned in the title that Hell Pizza boasts the hottest pizza in New Zealand. I would not be up to trying such a pie. However, they offer another gimmick to those who want to experience a hint of what consuming one of their hottest pizzas would be like. They call it 'pizza roulette.' They put one drop of their blisteringly hot hot sauce on one of the eight slices of your pie and they don't tell you where it is. It's up to you to find it and there will be NO doubt when you do. You'll taste the flavor of chili and know that you have about ten seconds before your mouth explodes. Can you get a glass of cold milk quickly enough? 

Despite their name, they are not evil and wish no one harm. Therefore, they pack a little reminder that you opted for the roulette in with your pizza. (It's that little white thing in the corner) Here is a video of how it reminds you...

(We used this little gadget on trick-or-treaters this year as we opened the door.)

I like a company who has fun with it's product and this company most certainly does. I don't think they needed to name the company 'Hell' to make it a success. But, I'm not going to refuse to try their pizza because of their name. I don't think that they are sending any of their employees or customers down the slippery slope because of it. 

They will continue I'm sure to come up with innovative ways to sell their wares. They have proven their creativity. In the past they offered free-range goat pizzas, and just last Easter featured rabbit pizzas. When they sell their hottest pizza, the 'Flaming Dragon', they spray it with ethanol and ignite it, as it is presented to you. I love that artistic touch. 

And they address the tastes of the vegetarian and vegan crowds out there too. They use quorn. For those of you who haven't come across that yet, quorn is a meat substitute product made from a protein derived from the Fusarium venenatum fungus, it's a mycoprotein! Amazing stuff.  I haven't tried it myself yet but it's on the list. 

So, what's on their pizza topping horizon? Who knows? I'll keep you posted. Oh, and yes, I liked my pizza very much. They do a good job.             -djf