Can the oven also go in a smaller garden in the centre of Grobbendonk?

Usually, yes. We need a level spot of three by three metres and a passage 2.5 metres wide. If the only way to the back garden runs through the house, we will go through your photos and see whether the driveway or front lawn serves better.

How long will you be at a garden party in Bouwel?

Pizzas come out for roughly two hours, sometimes a touch longer. We get there about ninety minutes ahead so the oven can reach its full heat, and once the last pizza has gone we clear the place, bins and all.

What if it rains by the Nete that day?

Then we bake under a party tent or an open shelter. The oven burns wood and needs free air extraction, so we never put it inside a closed space. We agree beforehand which covered spot you have in reserve.

Is there a minimum number of guests?

No. An intimate dinner for twenty works just as well as a big party. Up to around one hundred and fifty guests we work with a single oven; for more people we add a second baking station alongside it.

Pizza catering by Prestigio in Grobbendonk

Pizza catering in Grobbendonk

Where the Aa flows into the Kleine Nete, plenty of summer evenings end in a garden full of friends. Our pizza catering brings a blazing wood-fired oven to the party and keeps baking until the last guest leans back, content.

Gardens by the water

Many plots in Grobbendonk and Bouwel slope down to a stream or a wet meadow. Together we look for the driest, flattest spot for the oven.

Rounds to share

Pizzas reach the table in slices, each round a different flavour. Everyone tastes everything, and there is no single big buffet moment.

Slow-risen dough

Our sourdough gets two to three days to prove. That makes the crust airy and easy to digest, even after the fourth slice.

An evening that moves with the sun

A party in Grobbendonk usually starts in the late afternoon. The first guests arrive on foot or by bike along the towpath of the Albert Canal, the rest park in the street. By then the oven is already glowing and focaccia is waiting, so nobody walks into the garden on an empty stomach.

After that the evening finds its own pace. Bruschetta and antipasti disappear, the first pizzas come out of the oven and are cut into slices at once. There is no set moment to sit down: guests grab a slice, carry on talking and come back for the next flavour. That rhythm suits a garden party where people like to wander.

From Bouwel to the village centre: what we check beforehand

Grobbendonk is a municipality of contrasts. Around the village centre you find terraced houses with narrow town gardens, while Bouwel and the road towards Vorselaar have roomy farms and villa gardens. For the oven that makes little difference, as long as you can clear a level square of 3×3 or 4×4 metres and the route to it stays at least 2.5 metres wide for our cart of equipment.

Close to the Aa and the Nete the ground is often soft in spring. Feel free to send a few photos of where you picture the oven, and we will tell you whether a wooden floor or a different set-up is smarter. If a shower rolls over the Nete valley, the oven moves under a party tent or the canopy of a carport; as long as the smoke can escape upwards, it keeps baking.

The menu, matched to your guests

A birthday with thirty friends calls for something different from a family party with three generations. For the first, pizza à volonté, with a spread of six to ten kinds, is usually plenty. For the second, many people choose the full experience: aperitivo on arrival, pizzas throughout the evening and, to finish, tiramisu and cannoli that are easy to eat standing up.

Vegetarian pizzas are always part of the rounds. If vegan or gluten-free pizzas are needed, mention it in your request. In our set-up those pizzas get their own corner and their own utensils, and the allergen list is in your inbox weeks before the party. Nobody has to gamble at the table.