I was recently invited to visit my local Pizza Express to try out their new Seasonal Specials menu.
I have only been to Pizza Express once before and that was for takeout food, so I was looking forward to trying it out properly as I hear a lot of positive talk about it from friends.
Our nearest Pizza Express is in Torquay, so that's where we headed....we decided to go just after lunch time, which meant the restaurant was very quiet - there were only 2 or 3 other tables filled, and by the time our meal was over we were the only people in there - very relaxing!
The staff were extremely friendly on arrival, I wish I had got the waiters name (he had a west midlands accent if that helps!) as he was very friendly and accommodating.
I was immediately struck with the decor of the restaurant - I particularly loved the rather unusual & funky chairs dotted along the walls going up the stairs!
The menu was pretty extensive and I had a hard time deciding what to have...in the end I asked the staff for advice as I simply couldn't decide between pasta or pizza, but they suggested the pizza and - given that this IS Pizza Express after all - I decided that's what I would go with!
Our starters arrived very quickly....the kitchen is very open plan and you can see the chef working away, so I knew our main courses wouldn't be far behind as I could see him preparing them as we tucked in to our starters!
I ordered the Bruschetta Con Funghi which is chestnut & closed-cup mushrooms served in a creamy bechamel sauce with red onions & balsamic vinegar served on baked dough.
The mushrooms were beautiful and complimented so well by the delicious sauce which was creamy without being too rich, the crusty-on-the-outside but soft-on-the-inside dough was a welcome change from the classic bruschetta and the balsamic vinegar was the perfect finishing touch.
I would absolutely order this again.
Jon ordered the Dough Balls Speciale - which are dough balls baked with a Gran Moravia cheese center served with garlic butter.
I of course had to try one for review purposes! They were absolutely to die for! I could literally eat them all day long - the cheese was gooey and delicious but not overpowering, and the garlic butter dip...oh my word. You could dip anything in that and it would taste divine.
Next up were the main courses....
Jon ordered the Cippolini pizza which is a little different from your standard pizza as it has a sweet potato base!It's topped with spinach, red onion, sweet baby onions, garlic oil and rosemary and lashings of Gran Moravia cheese.
The sweet baby onions were a really lovely touch - I wasn't sure they'd work on a pizza but the sweetness complimented the cheese very well.The sweet potato base was an unusual taste and perhaps an acquired one - personally I missed the traditional tomato base, but it is certainly worth trying if you fancy something different.
I ordered the Polpette Bolognese pizza - which was beef meatballs, spiced bolognese sauce, roquito peppers, gran moravia cheese and rocket.
I thought it was perhaps slightly light on the cheese, but other than this it was pretty delicious - the meatballs were perfect (and I am very fussy with meatballs, any sign of gristle or fatty bits and I do not want to know...) and the bolognese sauce had a real spicy kick to it which worked really well.
Finally it was time for dessert - I went for the Chocolate Glory which was vanilla ice cream, pieces of chocolate brownie, chocolate flakes and chocolate sauce.
The ice cream was lovely, but I have to say I didn't really enjoy the cake - it tasted a little stale though I suspect this may be the effect of it being sandwiched among layers of ice cream - it's unusual for me to not enjoy chocolate cake though, so I did find that a little disappointing.
Jon ordered the Lemon Torte which was pretty huge! He said it was very zingy and creamy, and that he enjoyed it.
All in all, I enjoyed our meal at Pizza Express - I was pretty pleased to see that they do offer takeaways and will be sure to take advantage of this service when a babysitter isn't possible - it's worth a trip for the starters alone but the pizza is pretty fantastic too!
I'm looking forward to trying the pasta menu next time we visit.
Are you a Pizza Express fan? As always, I'd love to hear from you!
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