Mr Singh's (Handsworth Wood, West Midlands)

The Handsworth Wood branch of Mr Singh's shares the same menu as West Bromwich (formally Oldbury - click here for review), but is larger and has a proper seating area.

It's awesome to see a vegan friendly pizza restaurant, especially one that's full of customers - even mid afternoon on a Saturday. Pizzas are served in black pans similar to Pizza Hut's - they've really gone all out for that authentic experience.

We've had takeaway from there a few times now (there's free onstreet parking round the side), but haven't dined in yet. The quality's been consistently good and I'd definitely recommend it:

(this time you get not only the steering wheel but my fat belly and leg too!)

If I'm being totally honest though (which I always am!), we have been slightly put off returning recently, due to an unfortunate ordering mix up. I *always* say vegan (several times) when ordering - often to the point of looking like a bit of a freak. Mix ups are rare and do happen - I'm also good at spotting non-vegan things before eating them and politely questioning whether they're sure. In the case of Mr Singh's they've claimed several times (at both branches) that the garlic bread can be made vegan using vegan cheese, which we've ordered several times as a result:

Last time however the cheese on it clearly wasn't vegan and when questioned was told it was vegan (several times), then that it wasn't but it was my fault because I hadn't specified vegan when ordering (I had, and the pizzas I ordered at the same time were made correctly). Whilst they reluctantly agreed to remake another member of staff (the owner?) was tutting and the whole situation was rather awkward. I'd like to say that they've not lost us as customers, but equally I'm not sure how quickly we'll be returning.

Mr Singh's (Oldbury, West Midlands)

You know you're terrible blogger when places close down before you write the post.... Luckily in this case it's because they're gone up in the world (well, The Midlands anyway) to a new, smarter looking branch in West Bromwich. Whilst Oldbury is more convenient to get to (a mile from M5 J2) and had easy onstreet parking, the branch there was more than a bit shabby looking (see above!).

Mr Singh's is a vegetarian pizza chain with an unmistakable Indian twist - dhania pizza anyone? More exotic menu items (Tandoori Paneer etc) aren't suitable, but they've 8 vegan pizza options include Vegetarian Supreme, Pepperoni, Coriander and Sausage. Prices are reasonable, waiting time around 10 minutes and service friendly.

Dips are free and there's a slight discount if you order 2 pizzas the same size and remember to ask for it - they won't prompt you if you forget!

(yep, that's a steering wheel - classy I know)

The cheese and pepperoni they use appears to Redwoods - if I had to guess the sausage I'd go with Linda McCartney. Several other items on the menu are marked vegan, including hotdogs, nuggets and burgers (I assume Fry's given the description, but haven't tried them). The rest of the menu is vast - it's too bad some of the other choices aren't marked as vegan too.

I turned vegan before I had the chance to eat much takeaway pizza, but @cherrivalentine assures me that their bases are pretty much the same as you'd get from any takeaway - more spongy than glutenous, almost like they're raised with bicarb rather than yeast. If it were my choice they'd use a more Italian bread like recipe.

Like all good pizzas the flavour of their's improves with age (i.e. it's perfectly reasonable to eat the leftovers for breakfast!). The pizzas look the part (even the box they come in gives that true takeaway experience), but the toppings could be more varied - most of the options are variations on the same theme / set of ingredients. I recommend starting with something like their pepperoni and adding extra toppings (pineapple etc). They also don't mind if you ask for less chilli (the default is HOT).

I would recommend the Oldbury branch, but it's too late now ;-)