Foodie Profile - Dark Horse Pizza - Long Read

"After one too many glasses of wine and a lot of searching through Done Deal we bought a horsebox!"

Such is the origins of Dark Horse Pizza, the gourmet good food stand with heart and goodness. 

A true passion project, Oisin and Zoe are to-the-bone foodies. 

"Oisin has been a chef for the past 15 years, living and working in Singapore, London and Ireland and I had just come back from Portugal, where I was travelling and working on an organic farm. We had both moved back to Ireland and ended up working in the same restaurant. Shortly after meeting we were talking about ways we could work for ourselves, without having to open up our own place" Zoe tells me. 

While it might have seemed like they were putting the horse(box) before the cart, once they bought their venue, the rest fell into place. 

"Everything went at full speed; names, logos, designs all slotted into place" Zoe says. 

I ask, how did they decide that they would make pizzas though?

"Oisin had bought a pizza oven for the garden the summer before and we were making pizza quite a lot (all vegan of course) and we thought pizza on wheels could be a winning idea" Zoe explains. 

Dark Horse Pizza may be new kids on the block, but they have got some serious substance going on. Their pizzas begin with a sourdough base. "Oisin has perfected his sourdough starter, looking after it and feeding it, like it's another member of the family!" Zoe tells me. Quite frankly, anyone who treats sourdough like a family member has got their priorities spot on in my book. 

They then top their much cared for bases with a variety of delicious toppings. 

"Olive, Caper & Rocket (home grown and Zoe's personal favourite); Red Onion; Courgette & Dill and Margariita would be our classic [toppings]" Zoe says. 

In terms of underrated ingredients, Zoe has a clear favourite. "Capers! They are not what you would usually find on a pizza, but they are incredible."

They're also starting to make falafels with garlic flatbreads and they already have a selection of salad boxes on offer. 

As you may have noticed, their pizzas are fully vegan. As vegans themselves, Oisin and Zoe knew "how hard it is at festivals to find really good vegan food, so now we have one more vegan option out there!". She adds that their pizzas are loved "by the meatiest of meat eaters too" which I well believe. When your ingredients are this good, it's not hard to believe. 

Despite working for themselves, there's still a routine to every day. 

"Each day starts with a coffee on the sofa. We get out our whiteboard and write up our to do lists. At the moment because we're still so new at the game lots of the list is made up things we still need to get for the horsebox."

Along with that, "we're also always trying to come up with different ways to use the horsebox, not just at festivals. The latest being we're hosting a supper club evening at our house at the end of July."

I bite my tongue from asking "Can I come?". Oisin and Zoe clearly care about what they're doing and how they're doing - that passion combined with good food; can you blame me for wanting to gatecrash? Bet you do too. 

Speaking of good food, I can't but ask Zoe what's the worst meal they've ever had. 

"Oh that's a though question, there are lots to choose from.Possibly at an Italian restaurant in London. We went out for a meal with friends, we were starving and everybody was digging in to plates of creamy clam linguini and lobster and the vegan dish came...compiling of some cold oily aubergines and half a grilled pepper on a plate." Needless to say, they were quite hangry. 

So where can hangry vegans and non-vegans alike try their food? 

"We are going to be popping up all over the place, mostly in the Louth/Dublin area. We actually just spoke to the guys in The Spirit Store in Dundalk, it's a pretty cool pub that have a great music /comedy venue and we're going to start doing a regular weekly spot there on a Friday & Saturday nights."

"Apart from that, keep an eye on our Facebook for where we'll be next!"

Before we finish things off, I have to ask - how did they come up with the name? 

"Lots and lots of brain storming!" Zoe says. "We wrote down all sorts of combinations and finally Oisin came up with Dark Horse, which we think really suits, given the horsebox and what we are using it for is something slightly unexpected." 

Unexpected indeed, but totally tasty. 

You can keep up to date with Dark Horse Pizza on Facebook and they will be running more supper club evenings, so keep an eye out for those. 

All photos credit: Dark Horse Pizza