In December 2015 Col’Cacchio Holdings launched a new restaurant, First Base in the Paddocks Shopping Centre in Milnerton, where you can build your own pizza and salad from a selection of fresh ingredients.
The day started out a bit rocky with a lost, but sweet first-time Uber driver. I eventually arrived at Paddocks Shopping Centre and browsed bookshelves with karaoke in the background while waiting for my pizza-eating companion, our Online Editor, Lauren. She arrived and we made our way to the food court. We were both ravenous.
I must admit that I’m not much of a pizza lover. Baked dough piled high with toppings doesn’t really appeal to me, nonetheless we listened to the friendly manager explain how it all works. We then did a walk-by of the toppings and I was pleasantly surprised at the assortment of fresh veggies and meats.
Interior decor
The space is large and has natural light flooding in from glass doors. The colour scheme is bold but simple: burnt orange with grey, brown and white, pulled together with an industrial-style ceiling with exposed air vents and mahogany-coloured laminated floors. There are different stations where you select your base and toppings, pick-up your order, and pay for your meal. The seating available is either on wooden high-chairs around a rectangular table with an adorable lamp and small pot-plant, or in a booth with couch seating. We chose the first.
Build your own
So, getting to the food, First Base’s menu includes build-your-own salads and build-your-own pizzas. The same principle applies for both, except when building your own salad you would choose a dressing instead of a sauce. Pizza was our choice of the day and I made my selection: a basic pizza base with a butter curry sauce, bacon, chourico and salami for meats, smoked mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, fresh garlic and crispy onions, and lastly grilled artichokes. Lauren chose the banting base with a spicy tomato sauce, chicken meatballs and bacon, smoked mozzarella and gorgonzola cheeses, crispy onions, fresh garlic and Moroccan eggplant Caponata. I chose a salted caramel milkshake which was divine and Lauren chose a flat white.
We swopped half our pizzas with each other so that we didn’t miss out and both agreed that my pizza was the winner. I really wasn’t sure that the flavours, which there were many of, would marry well but they certainly did. Every topping was fresh and flavourful and I savoured every bite.
First Base
Lauren Albertyn
Images: supplied
