Hurstpierpoint pizza kitchen wins second place in both National Pizza of the Year and National Pizza Chef of the Year

The pizzeria, based in Hurstpierpoint, came second in not one, but two of the three main categories including National Pizza of the Year and National Pizza Chef of the Year.

The eatery was set up by Jo Malone during lockdown following redundancy from her job in marketing.

Village Pizza Kitchen (VPK) offers British Craft Pizza, which is freshly made using high-quality British ingredients, many of which are locally sourced in Sussex. Launched in what was previously a lighting shop on Hurstpierpoint high street in West Sussex, VPK quickly gained an excellent reputation and a big following of regular customers and were finalists in the Best Local Food Producer category of this year’s Muddy Sussex Awards.

Mrs Malone said “Having opened Village Pizza Kitchen in a small village less than two years ago, we are incredibly proud to have come second in the country in two of the industry’s most coveted awards.

“We are often told by our customers that we offer some of the best pizza around, but to be officially recognised as offering the second best pizza in the country, made by the UK’s second best pizza chef is quite something. We still can’t quite believe it!

“We are so thrilled for our Head Chef, Simonetta Held. She performed brilliantly in the competition, keeping her cool and producing six fantastic pizzas using sponsor’s products for the technical and vegan rounds and our own ingredients for the signature round.”

Simonetta Held, who is originally from between Naples and Rome, but now lives in Crawley has been with Village Pizza Kitchen since they launched in December 2020.

It was VPK’s signature ‘Game Changer’ pizza that won them second place in the National Pizza of the Year category. Made with their 24 hour cold proofed dough, secret tomato sauce, Somerset mozzarella, meatballs with locally sourced wild venison from Calcot Farm in Ashurst, garlic, juniper and rosemary, sun blushed tomatoes, organic British Bocconini mozzarella and crispy Sussex kale from Selsey. This is served with their homemade chilli jam.

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The pizza was developed especially for the competition and will be featured on VPK’s menu as a special from next week.