| Ambiance: |  (4 / 5) |
| Service: | (4.5 / 5) |
| Value for money: | (4 / 5) |
| Pizza: | (3.5 / 5) |
| Toilets: | (3.5 / 5) |
Zero Degrees was recommended to me as a great place to go for drinks, and good pizza. The restaurant/bar also used a stone baked oven so I was keen to see what their pizzas tasted like. Also, the fact that it’s equally well known for being a bar appealed to me, as I wanted to see how the concept worked.
Before going to Zero Degrees, I was introduced to Milk Bar. Café or ‘Shed’ by day, it takes on a more coffee shop feel but at night, the upstairs opens, the fairy lights come on and the DJ sets a more lively, evening scene. For 7pm on a Friday night, it was pretty packed, but then you’d expect somewhere which offers cocktails out of jam jars or milk bottles to be pretty popular. For £6.50, it was a pretty good gin, cucumber and elderflower cocktail. The toilets left a lot to be desired though.
Zero Degrees wasn’t what I’d expected. Given the name, I thought it’d take on more of a cold blue ‘icy’ theme but in reality it’s very open plan, with exposed brick work and generally quite earthy in colour. We were sat by a radiator, making me very happy as it was a pretty cold and blustery outside. I’d already seen the menu online, so I knew what I wanted – a kilogram pot of the thermidore mussels. I chose a half pint of pale ale (I don’t actually know what’s happening to me, maybe I’ve been injected with testosterone or something…) and then a glass of the house white wine to enjoy with the mussels. We decided to share the Gamberi Piccante for our starter and we ordered peking duck pizza as the other main, which I was happy about because it meant I could try some, and really see whether the stoned baked oven is something to rave about!
The prawns were pretty delicious, such simple ingredients but the prawns were perfectly just under-cooked and the accompanying sauce was fresh, vibrant, with a kick of chilli. The mains came out ten minutes later and both looked mouth-watering. I was initially wary about the mussels being over-cooked as nine times out of ten, they are. Not at Zero Degrees though, these mussels were a beautiful orange-amber colour and tasted perfectly smooth and delicious. The thermidor sauce, with unexpected lumps of cheese (maybe Fontana?) was so yummy. I made good use of the accompanying French fries to dip into the left-over sauce, although it ended up effectively being soup with chip croutons, as I was greedily spooning it into my mouth.
The pizza looked very impressive. Piled high with toppings and finished off with slices of deep fried tortilla, it looked amazing. My friend tore the pizza up with his fingers, which was definitely a new approach for me so I decided to give it a go. There’s something about eating food with your fingers – it just seems to taste better; I might do it more often… well, when appropriate I suppose. The toppings proved to be a tasty combination but unfortunately, the dough let it down. It didn’t taste fluffy or doughy like a true stone baked pizza, and the dough seemed quite taut as if it wasn’t left to prove long enough. But, he was happy and devoured the whole thing so that’s all that matters really I suppose. I just know that MYO’s dough needs to have a crispy edge and a soft, fluffy inside.
The best end to an evening
We didn’t have puddings as we had red wine and chocolate buttons to go home to, so we left fully satisfied, and not over-full. One of the main highlights of our evening and deserves a big mention, was the service. They were so accommodating and bubbly and perhaps stood out as being among the best service I’ve received. Usually when going to a restaurant, I’d always choose food over service, but in this case I didn’t have to as both seemed to match evenly.
Recommendation
If you like your mussels, I’d absolutely recommend going to Zero Degrees purely for the 1kg mussel pots. However, there’s such a vast menu which I’m sure you’ll find something equally yummy.
Extra Information:
Address: 9 Bridge Street, Reading, Berkshire RG1 2LR
Phone: 0118 959 7959
Website: http://www.zerodegrees.co.uk/
NTK: Order the thermidor mussels! (If you like mussels that is) but bring your appetite!
