Doctor Dough – A Tasty Prescription! – Tucked away down Devonshire Road off Chiswick High Road, is a little corner of pizza paradise. It’s called Doctor Dough and it serves the most amazing New York style pizza pies – either to eat in or takeaway. The night we went, the place was buzzing: families stuffing themselves with slices of giant pizza, and a trail of people leaving with large takeaway boxes, rushing home to eat them.
Inspired in part by his experience living with Crohn’s disease, founder Sonay Ali set out to create a pizza that didn’t compromise on flavour, while feeling lighter to eat. His passion led him to develop a distinctive fermented dough-making process, creating a lighter, more digestible pizza that retains the flavour, texture and indulgence of traditional New York-style slices. The approach inspired both the business and its name: Doctor Dough.
Doctor Dough Pizza has only recently opened as a restaurant. It first gained popularity from a stall in Hammersmith’s Lyric Square Market, where queues quickly formed for its New York-style slices, characterised by rich tomato sauce, burst cherry tomatoes with mozzarella and parmesan. The business has grown organically through market trading, pop-up residencies and collaborations with some of London’s best-loved independent operators.
The menus are sensibly concise. We started with a drink -a very good spicy Margarita for me and a bottle of Little Swine very low alcohol beer (Hog’s Back Brewery) for my husband. The beer was a new discovery for him and apparently very good indeed – very ‘hoppy’ and refreshing – so Sonay obviously chooses his stock well.
We were amused to see a sink well positioned on the corner of the serving area so that it could be used by customers and staff. It was obviously a popular move so that folk can wash their hands before heading home after eating copious pizza slices.
Well, we had to try the OG New York Marg, so based on seeing what neighbouring tables were eating, we chose an 18inch one. (This has Fior di Latte, Pecorino, Mozzarella, house sauce, Grano Padano and basil). The board showing the Seasonal pizza seemed to be saying ‘try me’, as it sounded so amazing, so that was our other choice. This seasonal option had Shitake, white and oyster mushrooms, confit onions, Forme d’Albert and garlic whipped ricotta cheese. This comes as a 12inch only. and was seriously good. The thin crusts are the perfect vehicle to carry the amalgam of toppings. The menu also offers a selection of dips for you to use with any leftover crust. We tried the hot honey and the maple bourbon chipotle – both were very good, but to be honest, not really necessary as the pizzas are so good.
We had a chat with Sonay about the flour that he uses, as we are concerned about the new legislation here in the UK for adding folic acid to white flour and the potential harm it can cause. Sonay assured us that he uses Italian flour, so no folic acid to worry about as most other countries aren’t being forced to inflict it on their citizens.
Needless to say, we couldn’t manage to eat both pizzas (despite my husband doing his very best!), so Sonay kindly offered to put the remaining pieces into a box for us to take home.
There is only one dessert on the menu: Angela’s home-made Tiramisu.Of course, we had to try this and it was pretty magnificent. I managed to grab a couple of small spoonful, and it was sensationally light, but rich and delicious.
As with the food menu, the wine list is equally concise and well-priced. There are four house wines (red, white, rose and orange) as well as prosecco. Prices are reasonable – from £8 for a 175ml glass or £32 for a bottle.
Doctor Dough is the ideal prescription for any pizza fan. Sonay is looking for his next site and we urged him to look closely at Twickenham. But in the meantime, you’ll have to hop on the 267 bus, get the tube to Turnham Green…or drive.
The Seasoned Gastronome