We are implored to eat out, bribed to even, but when home delivery is this good the desire to mask up soon fades

I’ve been out to eat, I’ve taken the Rishi tenner. I don’t want to see any restaurants go under as result of all this hysteria and panic.

It’s often an odd experience though, especially when I was recently served by a waiter armed with both face mask and welder’s mask, rendering everything he said all but incomprehensible.

Or the waiter in the beer garden who screamed’sit down!’ at me because I moved a few feet from my table to get the blackboard menu more in focus. “Covid Nazi!” I muttered impotently as I slunk back to my table prison.

Odd times indeed.

Home delivery may yet take over. Many people under 25 seem to know of no other way of eating but on the sofa, high fiving each other between mouthfuls. Although possibly I’ve watched too many TV ads and it’s not like that really.

Pizza was once the king of delivery foods. Then with the rise of the app and lockdown, it became possible to order just about anything even up to Michelin star level.Me, I like a biked pizza best though, minimal unwrapping and no faffing about.

Gallio only does delivery, I don’t think they have bricks and mortar dining. The food concept grabbed me off the webpage, pizza bases made with ancient grains and a range of side dishes from the middle east. The menu was alluring.

The man on the Deliveroo bike was very quick, on a pushbike too which may have been coincidence but boosted Gallio’s green creds. As did the 90% plus recyclable packaging.

We unpacked the’starters’ first. A box of’ancient grain’ flatbread redolent with garlic and rosemary, and slick with olive oil.Iranian beetroot borani, yoghurt, dill, medjool dates, feta, walnuts was wonderful, the sweet beetroot, the super sweet dates all set off by tangy yoghurt, saline blobs of feta and the crunch of nuts.

We happily piled this onto the thin, crispy breads.

I love sesame, so I love tahini, although it has to be diluted if you buy it in a jar.Here summer herb green tahini, yoghurt, dukkah was smooth and light.  A fabulous green from the herbs and it had the dukkah on top, that ubiquitous Egyptian topping/dip made from sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds,  but mostly roasted hazelnuts, was freshly roasted and ground and not the sawdust you buy in jars.

To be honest, after this lot we were a bit pooped for the pizzas, but luckily, I had already put them in a low temperature oven to hold them hot. After ten minutes we felt ready to go on.

For me a pizza is always as much about the base as it is the topping. The two have to work together. These ancient grain bases were just right – a little crunchy with semolina underneath, gently chewy, full of flavour, properly singed at the edges

Chorizo, piquillo peppers, manchego, caramelised onion, tomatoes, capers, sage on one worked almost perfectly. I’d have like a few more of the giant capers to offset the slightly domineering sweetness of the onions. Other than that, a winner.

As was nduja, fennel salami, mozzarella, tomatoes, wild rocket. At first, we thought the nduja could have been spread more evenly, but we soon came to love the sudden hot flavour bombs dotted about.

The salami was excellent quality, the aniseedy notes very welcome.Really very good pizzas, but those Middle Eastern sides almost stole the show.

A pot of baked sweet potato wedges with za’atar was a carb too far for us, although decent enough if a little soggy from the journey.

If you’ve been put off delivery pizza, often arriving upside down and with too much boring base, then you need to try Gallio.

If eating in is going to have to be the new eating out, then things could be worse. Even if you don’t get a tenner off.

DELIVERY

Gallio is available to order online at www.galliopizza.com to homes and offices in Westminster, Covent Garden and parts of Mayfair and south of river to Lambeth, Waterloo, Elephant & Castle, South Bank, Vauxhall and Southwark, as well as to select postcodes via Deliveroo.