For my regular lunch date with a former colleague (FC), we chose one of our favourites, “Pizza Express”:https://www.pizzaexpress.com/the-strand-trafalgar-square/our-food/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu/copy-of-restaurant-menu-section?section=a7865042-2208-464f-89e9-26674b35503e on The Strand in London. Because I’m retired, I had time to check out the offers (well worth doing) and downloaded a voucher for 30% off our food bill. I was pleased I had, as it’s some time since we’d been and the prices seem to have gone up – interesting pizzas (i.e. not margarita) ranged from £12 to £15 which I do think is a little extortionate.
FC arrived first, promptly at noon have escaped the office early and had already ordered the wine (Pinot Grigio at a reasonable £20.45) and a buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad for us to nibble on. At £5.95 was it worth it? To be honest no. The mozzarella was a generous portion but bland and the tomatoes lacked flavour and could have been riper.
There were no complaints about my lasagne which was piping hot and was a good, but manageable portion. FCs American Hot Romano Pizza just about defeated him and I was able to finish off one or two of his crusts (and the chillies which definitely defeated him).
Despite being rather full, we opted for a shared pudding. Normally we’d choose the honeycomb cream slice (a bit like a cheesecake with a crunchie bar) but today, we went for something different – a chocolate glory described as ‘vanilla gelato, chocolate sauce, chunks of chocolate fudge cake and a chocolate straw’. We didn’t realise it came served like a knickerbocker glory and it proved a rather messy, gooey dessert to share and very quickly we had chocolate sauce over us, the table and serviettes. FC said it was the sort of dessert you had if you were a child or an adult having an affair (and we were neither)! Fortunately, I had a glass of water on the table and used it as a finger bowl whilst FC gallantly produced a pressed, clean handkerchief to dry our hands!
This branch of Pizza Express has both a ground level room and one in the basement reached by spiral staircase. Whilst upstairs is lighter, it does get busy with children and so we always head down to avoid them.
Pizza Express is a long established chain with good service, lots of choice and I do like the fact they have lighter meals if you’re on a diet – you can tell we’re not!
However, unless you have vouchers, it can turn out to be an expensive treat – I got £11 off.
