London’s new vending machine pizza: reviewed

We live in an age when we’re spoiled by convenience, when in less than 60 seconds we can flick open an app and order a lukewarm pizza to arrive in as little as 20 minutes. But what if we could dig into a piping hot slice in under five?

Now, thanks to a techy new take on the vending machine available in two London spots, Angel and Plumstead, Pizza Revolution is promising just that. And of course, we simply had to give it a go.

Located at the edge of a Texaco garage with a screen displaying the phrase, ‘Waiting for pizza is unethical’, we’re not exactly off to a gourmet start in Angel.

The ‘revolution’ pizza machine, Angel (Jo Taylor)

Though you wouldn’t know it for the price. At £10 for a Margherita and £11 for a pepperoni, it’s not cheap, considering the former is only £5.95 at Pizza Union and there’s no live pizzaiolo inside (we hope). After four minutes, an oven-hot, space-age disk nestled in cardboard pops through a letterbox, which is rather exciting.

Here it comes: space age packaging (Jo Taylor)

Though the pale, round of dough topped with masses of glossy, plastic-looking cheese inside is anything but. Unsliced, it’s impossible to enjoy it immediately, and the result, once we dissect the pizza, is reminiscent of the big, floppy squares often dished out at schools in the 2000s: underbaked without a whiff of seasoning, the bare minimum tomato sauce and flavourless, unidentifiable cheese.

The, er, ‘revolutionary’ pizza (Jo Taylor)

Our takeaway? Wait the extra 15 minutes for something worthwhile — for now, at least.