Dough Pizza Kitchen

I have been to Dough Pizza Kitchen twice recently. Dough is an intriguing Italian restaurant situated in the Northern Quarter of Manchester city centre specialising in pizza and pasta.

Although at first glance this may sound super boring and unoriginal, what I think makes Dough that little bit different from the countless other Italian restaurants in Manchester is the excellent alternative options they offer such as dairy-free cheese and wholewheat and gluten-free doughs. As I have two Coeliac friends who cannot eat gluten, Dough has provided the perfect opportunity for them to eat out in a normal restaurant and to be able to choose virtually anything off the menu! Perfect.

Back in January Bailey and I went to Dough to celebrate Rachel's birthday. This was only the second time Bailey and I had ever been to Dough and we were a very large party of over 20 people and were given a lovely table in the cosy downstairs area.

We found that, although the service was a little slow due to us being in such a large group, the food was really tasty and there was a really nice, relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant.

We all had baked dough sticks for starters which would have been yummier had we been given our garlic butter dip on time...

The main course more than made up for the starter as there was a brilliant selection of traditional and more adventurous pizzas. Bailey was absolutely bowled over by his bacon, sausage and egg Breakfast Pizza and hasn't stopped going on about it since!

After thoroughly enjoying Rachel's birthday celebration I knew I had to tell my other Coeliac friend Liz about Dough. She adores Italian food and loves eating out but can rarely opt for anything other than risotto when in Italian restaurants, so I knew she would be really happy to hear about it.

So on Monday when Liz was visiting Manchester we dropped by Dough for a spot of lunch after a morning shopping trip.

By the time we arrived at the restaurant and ordered our starters - Garlic Mushroom with Rocket for me and Baked Camembert with gluten-free Dough Sticks for Liz, we were absolutely starving which made us even more excited as you can see from Liz's face in this photo:

Needless to say we really enjoyed our starters. Liz's Camembert was apparently delicious and the dough sticks worked really well as a dipping utensil for the hot melted cheese.

I also really enjoyed my mushroom - which was really soft, garlicky, a little bit oily and then with a really good texture thanks to the rocket.

Once we had hungrily wolfed down our starters, the mains were ready almost straight away afterwards which was nice as we didn't have to wait too long but were given a nice breather in between courses.

Liz had ordered a Goats Cheese pizza with a gluten-free base and when it we were delighted to see that it was absolutely huge!

It was jam-packed with veg and yummy goat's cheese all the way to the corners of the pizza and the base was crispy and delicious.

I ordered the Penne Arrabiata with Med Veg and with a mixed leaf salad to go on the side.

I covered my pasta in loads of Tobasco before tucking in.

I really enjoyed my pasta with the slightly spicy sauce (before I covered it in Tobasco that is) and thought the veg were really well cooked. I also thought it was interesting that the sauce was completely different to the last time I had the Penne Arrabiata at Dough which I thought was a good sign that they freshly make the sauces. 

Anyway we thoroughly enjoyed our mains and by the end of the meal we were both absolutely stuffed. We thought that the waitress who served us was absolutely lovely - really attentive but not too overbearing and really chirpy and polite. She was more than happy to offer Liz a takeaway box when she couldn't finish her massive pizza.

Unfortunately we were both too full to sample any of the gluten-free desserts but maybe we will be able to next time.

We thought the food was really tasty and also very well priced. The meal for two courses each plus two large glasses of wine set us back £40. However, because Dough have such a great deal for Gourmet Card holders we saved a whopping £10 and the bill ended up being only £30. What a bargain.

I think Liz and I would both definitely recommend Dough, particularly as a place where people who cannot eat any gluten can have a really nice delicious and relaxing meal without having to worry about anything on the menu making you ill!