Proove launches new Neapolitan brunch menu

Given the fact we are well and truly in what I’m told is ‘beach season’, a pizzeria may not have necessarily been my first choice for brunch.

A Neapolitan brunch though? That sounded suitably continental and different enough to internally justify that I should accept an invitation to jump on a tram out to the ‘burbs on the hottest day of the year so far to check out the launch of the new brunch menu at Proove in West Didsbury.

Having landed in Manchester last year following the success of their original site in Sheffield, Proove have, er, prooven themselves a welcome addition to Burton Road.

It’s a sleek-looking venue, with a nice open space, a huge, tiled oven and a reputation for serving a solid range of home made pizzas, antipasti and the like, inspired by Napoli’s finest.

The latest offering is the brunch menu, a take on more traditional brunch “with a Neapolitan twist”, and also adapting some of their usual pizza topping combinations into brunch dishes.

Such fusion items on the menu include the likes of ricotta pancakes, bruschetta with eggs, breakfast calzones and even eggs and dippy soldiers with soldiers made from Angioletti pizza dough.

I went for Baked Egg Diavola, a take on one of the pizza menus, consisting of eggs baked in a mix of San Marzano tomatoes, peppers, onions & spice, with optional nduja sausage for a bit of spice should you wish. Which I did.

Speaking of which, I’ve never been confident on how to correctly pronounce the word nduja, which I mentioned to some fellow guests and the waiter, all with different variations.

Mine was the undoubtedly the worst attempt and in retrospect was more like the sound of a sneeze in reverse than a spicy Italian salami.

Following this faux pas, I have since checked online and the waiter was right. It’s en-doo-jah, in case you were wondering.

The dish itself was a really nice combination and idea, not as spicy as I’d expected, but really enjoyable, and actually made me want to come back and try the pizza variation –
especially while sat in the sun-trap back terrace on such a Neapolitan sunny day.

It’s definitely a must see for locals or anyone looking for something a bit different for brunch.

With it being beach season, I made sure to supplement my brunch with some fruit – three peach Bellinis. And a mini-Bloody Mary. All technically fruit, but with a Neapolitan twist.

160 Burton Rd, Manchester M20 1LH

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