Deg
“Slice, Slice, baby.”
In recent years it has become increasingly popular to refresh to good old approach to Pizza in Sweden by bringing in more authentic Italian roots. While some of them try to really imitate that Naples-style authenticity, Deg tries to fuse it with the Swedish approach of just doing feck-all on a Pizza. So, traditional style of dough with wild combinations on top? I am intrigued to say the least.
Right at Drottningsgatan in the centre, a little, 70s style themed sign, simply saying "deg” (dough in Swedish) invites you in. It can be easily missed in the busy street, but inside, you will find quite the nice aesthetics. A waiter assigns you a seat, and then you can take out your phone to order from the QR code.
Yeah, not a big fan of QR code ordering systems, but it’s alright. The one from Deg, however, confused me by opening up a Facebook Messenger business chat, where I have to interact with a bot to open the menu. Then there is a more traditional system where you choose and change. Good: it has many options to adapt to allergies and veganise some things. Great! Confusing again: you order and don’t pay straight away, but do it later from your Messenger bot. All in all it works, but the system is still a bit wild and confusing. But also, because it makes the waiting staff just bring you stuff and clear the tables?
In any case, the menu has a vegan pizza, which is a wild composition of white sauce, roasted chickpeas, pickled onions and rosemary (we added vegan chorizo as well) and that’s it. But there is a tomato pizza that can be veganised. Interesting: I opted to veganise it and didn’t expect to receive it with vegan cheese instead of just as a marinara. That should be mentioned, but I was not mad.
So, how is the taste? The tomato-base pizza with vegan cheese is alright. The dough is good, the amount of vegan cheese is good (=not that much), but the sauce is off. It’s extremely oversalted and just off-putting. If you eat one slice it’s okay, but the second one in a row starts to overwhelm your poor taste buds.
And the vegano? At first, it’s interesting. It goes into the direction of Flammkuchen, and that is quite refreshing to have as a vegan pizza. But similarly to the tomato one, it simply overwhelms you fast with salt, herbs, and just too much of it all. Granted, the vegan chorizo might have made it worse, but I think even without it it might be a bit too much.
And that’s a bit the verdict here. The dough is good, the composition of the vegano is refreshing, but Deg overwhelms you in taste, or rather salt. I felt a bit sick after eating a bit over one Pizza. Disappointing.
Price:
Tomat(o): 165 SEK
Vegano: 175 SEK
Alcohol-free beer: 45 SEK
The Verdict
The inviting 70s aesthetic of Deg is quite refreshing, and so is the menu. A vegano with a white sauce and different types of toppings is a rare sight. Especially with a place that is inspired by Naples-style dough. However, the confusing QR-code ordering system that makes you chat with a bot on Messenger is a bit convoluted for something so simple. Also, serving the Tomat(o) pizza with vegan cheese was a surprise, as it was unclear from the ordering, but it was pleasantly not too much of it. And the Pizza Vegano had an interesting vibe of eating Flammkuchen, which is uncommon to say the least.
But in the end, the taste is not great. Oversalted sauces, overwhelming taste profiles and just a feeling of being sick after eating one pizza is just not a good sight. I get what they go for here, but I think less is more and being a bit more shy on the salt might do wonders.
The price is alright, the atmosphere is cool, but it’s not a great experience. It’s okay, but I wouldn’t come again. There are better places for good Naples-style pizza in Gothenburg.
3/5 Leaves
Pro
Cool 70s vibe
Fair prices
Different and new compositions
Con
Weird QR-Code ordering system that makes you chat with a bot
Oversalted sauces
Not informing they add vegan cheese was a bit weird
Location
Drottninggatan 29
Opening Hours
Mo-Tu: 11:00 - 21:00
We-Th: 11:00 - 22:00
Fr: 11:00 - 23:00
Sa: 12:00 - 23:00
Su: 12:00 - 21:00
