Esteemed food critic Giles Coren recently visited a popular pub in the Cotswolds and has since lavished praise on the pizza he enjoyed, describing it as “My UK pizza of the year.”
Coren, well acquainted with the Cotswolds from previously owning a second home in Naunton near Stow-on-the-Wold, continues to be drawn back to the region for its culinary offerings despite having sold his property there.
His previous reviews include enthusiastic acclaim for the Michelin Guide-listed Juliet in Stroud, where he awarded a rare perfect score, and for The Horse and Groom pub in Bourton-on-the-Hill, which he called “almost certainly the best pub in England.”
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Interestingly, The Horse and Groom was taken over in 2024 by chefs Nathan Eades and Liam Goff, the same team now behind Zonda at The Halfway, the subject of Coren’s most recent rave review.
Last week, Coren dined at Zonda at The Halfway, a pizza venture launched in summer 2023 at The Halfway at Kineton pub. Eades and Goff reopened the pub earlier that year after a sympathetic renovation and joined forces with Zonda - a brand that began in 2022 at Stow-on-the-Wold rugby club and quickly earned acclaim for offering the best pizza in the Cotswolds.
In his review for The Times, Coren awarded Zonda at The Halfway a 9/10 overall, praising the food, service, and atmosphere.
The meal, which cost him and his family £35 each, featured pizzas Coren described as “phenomenal.” He relished the American hot “Enzo,” topped with beautifully charred fior di latte, spicy pepperoni, parmesan, and candied chillies, noting its value at £17. Lighter options such as the marinara “Testarossa” (£9.50) and the classic margherita “Tricolore” (£14) were also available.
He particularly enjoyed his son Sam’s Sicilian sausage “Pantera” (£18.50), crafted with fennel sausage, rosemary, and thyme, describing it as “perfectly balanced, wondrously savoury” and insisting humorously that “this pizza cannot be modified.”
Accompanying the pizzas were a cool, rich blue cheese and iceberg wedge salad (£6), cheesy garlic bread with tarragon and rosemary (£8), and desserts including tiramisu (£9), chocolate ice cream (£3), and chocolate mousse with olive oil and salt (£7).
Coren reflected on the pub’s choice to specialise in pizza, observing: “Yes, it sounds weird for a small village’s only pub to go over entirely to pizza, but the Cotswolds is changing. Eating options are improving weekly, competition is fierce and, yes, renters and Airbnbers mean that village populations are not static, newcomers arrive daily, and they’ll all come for a pizza at least once.”
He added, “You can pine for the days when they’d have walked into a silent beer-only saloon and been glared at until they turned round and left hungry, or you can accept that it’s nearly 2027, get your ’nduja and hot honey ‘Diablo’ down your face and shut up.”
Zonda at The Halfway have shared Coren’s review on their social media channels and quoted it on their website. Their sentiments appear widely echoed by customers, with one declaring, “There was no doubt that Zonda pizza was the best in England,” while another expressed, “Finally getting the recognition it deserves!”