Tucked away on Walmgate, York, there is an intriguing little food place with a charming blue front. If you walk past the window, you’ll see colourful, delicious looking (and generous) slices of York’s finest sourdough pizza, alongside delicious cannoli, arancini and more.
This is The Biga +, serving Pizza Al Taglio, which is made with three-day fermented dough, covered with delicious toppings that change every day.
SCENE got to chat with owners, Serkan and Hande, about their business.
“We started 6 months ago, and every day it is getting better,” Serkan tells me, as he hands me an espresso which comes with a delicious free chocolate on the top. The coffee comes from Monmouth Coffee Company, based in London.
I ask him about the name of the place, he tells me that Biga is a type of Italian dough made by fermentation – a mix of water, yeast and flour.
“We rest the dough for three days, that’s why the pizza has a different texture…The flour we use comes from Italy, so it really is a unique product.”
Originally from Turkey, Serkan and Hande came to England two and a half years ago to live in London during Covid.
Before moving, Serkan was a gastronomy teacher, specialising in Spanish, Mediterranean and vegetarian and vegan cuisine.
When they moved to York and set up their business here in Walmgate, the shop had originally been selling CCTV equipment, so they had to do a lot of refurbishing before they opened their doors just over 6 months ago.
“Before we came here there was nothing. Everything [he gestures at the whole shop interior] we made ourselves.”
The interior, like the exterior shopfront, is warm and friendly – blue tiled with an open kitchen-counter space, a large (frequently used) oven, and a little seating area for customers.
I ask them about their infamous pizza toppings…
“So, actually every day we change the toppings because we go shopping and we are looking, ok, is it good zucchini? Is it good spinach? Ok tomorrow we make zucchini and spinach. Another day we are look at, say, Pak Choi and we go ok we’ll try a more Asian flavour.”
Experimentation is the name of the game at Biga +.
“It always changes. Now we are starting deep-fried lasagne. Next week we are going to do spinach and aubergine lasagne. We make the calzone and arancini different as well. It always changes slightly every day, making it better.”
The Biga + do online deliveries, but, Serkan tells me, he is somewhat wary of the quality of his products being lost in transit.
“I know that if you eat in here, say, the arancini…I know that everything is perfect, everything is good. But when you don’t order here, if you get the arancini, maybe it’s gonna be sloppy or something and you’ll just think ok it’s just very normal arancini.”
This is one of the big downsides of online deliveries, I agree with him. There is nothing worse than expecting hot food and it arriving cold, or getting something that turns up, as he rightly puts it, in a “sloppy” state.
So, if you’re ever walking through Walmgate, or passing that way in town, go into Biga +, say hi, and pick up a slice of fresh delicious pizza, arancini, or (coming soon) gelato, along with a chocolate-topped coffee. I promise you won’t be disappointed…no sloppiness is a guarantee.
Also follow the Biga + on Instagram to get regular updates to find out what they have on their delicious menu.
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