An Ode to Christmas Pizza!

When faced with a difficult decision, you need a friend who will support you 100%, especially, as it turned out… when it comes to deciding which Christmas pizza to order…

I fully well realise I haven’t blogged in nearly a month.

I didn’t mentioned it because, quite honestly, I didn’t plan it!

Instead, since mid November I managed to badly injure my back (which thankfully is almost back to working order), spent a lot of time running around like a blue-arsed fly for work, and tried to focus on enjoying the festive cheer. Christmas is a glorious season right?!

One person I have spent a fair amount of time with this month is my lovely friend Emily who blogs at May to October. We’ve done Christmas afternoon tea, seen each other in the evening, Adam and I laughed along at her hilarious local Panto, and, because she’s a lucky little sausage, I invited her along as my +1 to review the newly refurbished Pizza Express in Truro.

We had a lovely stroll around some shops before hand (which actually involved a lot of Black Friday returns on my part), and worked up an appetite getting a few bits of last minute Christmas shopping before heading for a late lunch in Pizza Express.

First of all, it’s a smaller restaurant than some of their others, but I think that adds to the atmosphere and it sits in a beautiful old building right in the centre of town where the road splits either side. You could not get a more convenient location!

Secondly, and this really made the whole experience, the staff were fantastic! As soon as we walked in we were treated like old friends, shown to a great table and served so quickly, despite the restaurant being reasonably busy still for a later afternoon booking.

The Christmas menu specials were launched at the end of November and are available until the beginning of January, and if you have time this weekend or in the Christmas lull I would highly recommend planning a visit!

Rather than going for the tomato soup or pate, I opted for my favourite starter of all time – calamari, which was cooked to tip top perfection, and Emily had the world renowned dough balls. You just can’t beat a garlicky buttery ball ehh? Cheeky.

The mains however, were the star of this show for me as I struggled to choose between the two meaty Christmas specials – Maple-glazed gammon, spiced apricot chutney and goat’s cheese finished with fresh parsley, or Pulled beef & horseradish, garlic roasted potato, rosemary and red onion, finished with parsley and Gran Milano cheese.

I know, a decision trickier than choosing which of your two siblings you prefer, right?!

Luckily for me, Emily offered to let me try a slice of the gammon, so I could go for the beef. And WHAT a decision. Can I just say that slices of crispy garlic potato on a pizza, in the words of Peter Kay – are a TASTE SENSATION.

No pizza-sans-potato will ever quite live up to it.

Definitely one I’m going to try and replicate.

Though, as I had already spotted a pud I knew I had to have, I did manage to restrain myself and only eat half (only to get home and polish off the other half almost as soon as I stepped through the door…!).

From the sample of the gammon pizza I was given, it too was delicious, especially with that apricot chutney and goats cheese, and Emily seemed to make very appreciative munching noises.

For dessert she went for the Italian classic tiramisu, which under all normal circumstances would be my pud of choice, but having seen the pear and caramel gelato on the menu, I couldn’t get the thought of it out of mind. Creamy caramel & cinnamon gelato with pear pieces, served with salted caramel sauce and a Lotus Biscoff biscuit.

Verdict? I would buy that gelato by the bucket load if I could…!!

The pear was in satisfying pieces that it didn’t get lost in the flavour of it and the sauce was the right level of sweet without being sickly. Even after demolishing the previous two courses, I didn’t feel too overwhelmed by the portion and enjoyed every single mouthful (perhaps going a bit OTT scraping the last bits out of the glass!).

Throughout our meal the staff were chatty and friendly, and the atmosphere was cheery. My only mild criticism is that I’d have liked to see more Christmas decorations -they did have festive lights on the table and a Christmas tree, but there could have been even more sparkle! We had such a lovely leisurely lunch, spending a good two hours just enjoying the food and the chatter.

Quite honestly though, I’ll be going back before the new year simply just for that delightful Christmas pizza….

 

To find your nearest Pizza Express and book a table click here!

 

***Our meal was complimentary in exchange for an honest review, but all opinions are my own***