Crazy Pedro's Part-Time Pizza Parlour, Manchester

Separated from the man buns and French Bulldogs of Manchester's Northern Quarter, Crazy Pedro's Part-Time Pizza Parlour (try saying that after a few margaritas) finds itself sandwiched between MOJO and Liars Club, just a stone's throw from the affluent Spinningfields and iconic Deansgate. It's a compact venue that offers a unique range of pizza slices and tequila-based drinks. 

The brainchild of Lyndon Higginson, Pedro started life as a mere doodle, eventually becoming the Warhol-esque creation with cobalt complexion and hot-pink moustache that adorns the front of the business. The product of an evening of mescal and pizza mixology, Pedro found himself needing not only a company, but a venue, with the end result a sort of Frankenstein's lab for pizza. By the slice or by the whole, the offerings are schizophrenic, from the Wacko Jacko (pepperoni, jerk chicken, pineapple, cashew nuts) all the way through to their 'world famous' hotdog pizza: this pizza parlour doesn't need to, nor does it try to, compete with your cardboard takeouts in their cardboard boxes.

On a nocturnal visit, we are crammed in amongst the industry professionals, as the venue fills with late-night bar staff seeking carbicide at 2am (Crazy Pedro's serve pizza until 4am). With a whiff of mescal in the air, we slurp concoctions of drinks that look like glitter-rolled unicorn deposits, everything garnished with sprinkles or tuck shop sweets. The peach and black pepper frozen margarita is something that your blue-rinse grandma might turn her nose up at, but is decidedly moreish. Admittedly, drinking from those American 'beer pong' cups may not be for everyone, but if you like your cocktails served with a monocle, you're best off heading to one of the nine-to-five briefcase haunts nearby.

Here you'll find the kind of bastardised flavours that are guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows among purists: after all, where else in Manchester can you find a nacho-laden pizza that drips in sour cream and guacamole?

Decoration-wise, Pedro's is an eclectic time warp of Americana. Who needs wallpaper anyway? The walls are plastered with retro pizza adverts – a brave move, perhaps, advertising the likes of Pizza Hut, but these lot are no real competition to young Pedro. The Parlour retains the kind of rustic charm that has been lost by the corporate chains, and the Michael Jackson/ET skateboard hanging on the wall and scrawled chalkboard puns pave the way for a unique experience.

Pedro's is the kind of place where the staff bellow your order across the crowded room and you self-serve on giant wooden boards. Food flops around on branded paper plates and you find yourself using a small forest of paper napkins to mop up your inevitable mess (gargantuan portions have us asking for our slices to be downsized to more manageable chunks). As the drinks flow, the Sicilian chef Enrico is hard at work developing his 100% authentic sauces and bases; a Jekyll and Hyde of flavours who is more than happy to hear the input of the clientele.

The whole visit is like an LSD trip from Fear and Loathing, or a Chuck Palahniuk book. Sugar-loaded meat-sweats ask you to question your perceptions of reality; and the only things done by halves here are the pizzas. Grab a cup, grab a partner and grab a slice of their fried-chicken-and-waffle pizza.

If you liked Crazy Pedro's, try:
American Pizza Slice, Liverpool
Slice, Manchester
Ply, Manchester