A few months ago, I was invited to try the winter menu at Pizza Express and I was lucky enough to be invited back for the spring. Needless to say, I was super excited. I’ve mentioned before that Pizza Express is one of the pinnacles of chain restaurant enjoyment to me. It might be a chain, but there’s zero reason to be snobby about it. You can get some delicious and well-priced food.
As a starter, I had the buffalo mozzerella and tomato salad (£5.45), which was a simple caprese salad without the balsamic vinegar essentially. I have to say, the mozzarella was soooooo creamy. I adored it. I clearly don’t splurge on mozzarella at my local grocery store. Sam had the risotto fresco (£5.75) which was a white wine risotto, with salmon and rocket. It had a nice clean taste, creamy but with the right citrus balance, and it was a good portion size for a starter. When Sam ordered risotto to start, I assumed the portion was going to be way bigger than your average starter, but it was quite reasonable. I cook risotto a bit less al dente than they cooked this one, but everyone has their own preferences.
From the new spring menu Sam had the “American Hottest” (£13.55) which consists of pepperoni, ‘nduja sausage, green peppers, roquito peppers, fresh red chilli, chilli oil and buffalo mozzarella. I usually order the American Hot, so I was super familiar with the flavour profile already and the menu certainly isn’t messing you around. When they warn you that it’s the hottest pizza on the menu, it really is. Sam and I both loved it, but we are huge fans of extra spicy foods. If you aren’t that used to a big dose of heat, or don’t eat spicy food often then I probably wouldn’t recommend this as the one for you. But if you love spice – go for it! I ordered the “Margherita Bufala” (£11.60) with buffalo mozzarella, basil, cherry tomatoes and garlic oil. It just tasted so fresh. (Especially compared to the heavy hit of Sam’s pizza). It was just classic, really.
I want to take my hat in hand now and apologise. The last time we tested a menu, I wasn’t blown away by dessert and said that it was nothing too special. This time I disagree. We tasted the tiramisu (£5.65) , the eton mess cheesecake (£5.65) and the tartufo limoncello (£5.65). Starting with the tiramisu, I thought to myself, this is good, but just like last time, it didn’t knock my socks off. The eton mess cheesecake had some lovely strawberry chunks and a great biscuit base; but it was the tartufo that stole the show! A lemon gelato with a liquid limoncello centre. It was tart, it was clean, it was creamy and most importantly, it was super satisfying. The ideal dessert for a summer day, just as Pizza Express intended.
Risotto fresco.
Mozzarella and tomato salad.
American Hottest.
Margherita Bufala.
Broccolini.
Polenta fries.
Eton mess cheesecake.
Tiramisu.
Tartufo limoncello.
I was a guest of my local Pizza Express in Dulwich Village, but check out the website to find yours.
We received our meals complimentary for the purposes of this review, but if I hadn’t genuinely enjoyed my meal, I wouldn’t be writing about it here.
