I hope all my American readers had an amazing Thanksgiving yesterday! In case you want to get your mind off turkey, but are still in the mood for food, I have a treat for you. Lots of pictures of delicious Italian food.
I’ll admit it. Going to Pizza Express is a guilty pleasure. It’s not fine dining but the quality rarely ever disappoints. I got to preview the Christmas menu and I have to say: it’s an awesome deal. 3 courses and a glass of Prosecco for £19.95. (And it’s great tasting Prosecco as well!). We went to the Pizza Express in Dulwich Village, which is an absolutely precious part of London.
Sam started with the bruschetta originale, while I had the arancini provola. Sam’s bruschetta was delicious. It had a great balance of tomatoes, red onion, garlic, basil and pesto. Plus the dough itself was light, airy and nicely oiled. I kept sneaking bites of his. My arancini were nice. The risotto was mixes with spinach and provola cheese, but they were missing a bit of pizzazz. There just wasn’t quite enough flavour to make them sing. To be fair to Pizza Express, they had a long way to go in impressing me with their arancini. I love those little balls of risotto. They are one of my favourite things to eat and I’ve had some killer ones in my time.
We both felt like we really won with our mains. Sam ordered the Pollo ad Astra pizza and I had the Francesco Mazzei Calabrese. Both pizzas were phenomenal. I ordered the one I did because it was touted as the hottest on the menu. And I absolutely love a spicy kick, but more often than not, I’m a tad disappointed and think that the “extremely spicy” warnings are for nought. Not so in this case. It packed just the right amount of heat and I gorged myself on the entire thing. I wish I had leftovers. I guess it just means I’ll have to go back for it soon! Sam’s pizza had great Cajun spiced chicken and sweet peppers on it. I usually don’t like chicken on a pizza (despite my love for chicken) because I think the chicken gets too dry and I find the texture off-putting but Pizza Express nailed it in this instance.
For dessert I ordered the Christmas special “Chocolate Tartufo” while Sam ordered another of the specials, the “Mince Pie Cheesecake”. My tartufo was delicious. It was so rich, with a decadent chocolate shell and a praline mousse centre. It was balanced with some very plump blackberries. However after a few bites I decided that I was just too full for something so rich. I took a bit of Sam’s cheesecake. It had a crumbly biscuit based with clotted cream cheesecake and rum soaked fruit and I immediately wanted to eat all of it. Sam tentatively took a bite of my tartufo and immediately declared that we should swap. That way we both happily ended up with the desserts that we wanted and I was in cheesecake heaven.
If you were in the mood for a more festive pizza they had a special pulled duck pizza (Anatra Romana) as well as a delicious sounding brie and pine kernel pizza (Festiva Romana). This special menu is available from November 11 to January 5th.
Even though the special Christmas deal is from a set menu you’d have the option of ordering gluten-free alternatives as well.
The arancini.
Sam’s bruschetta.
The Francesco Mazzei Calabrese pizza.
The Pollo ad Astra pizza.
The Mince Pie Cheesecake.
The Chocolate Tartufo.
Our meal was free but my opinions are solely my own.
Do you feel the urge to go to Pizza Express anytime soon?
