What Is It
Pizza Express‘ new Winter and Autumn Menu for 2014-15
Where is it
At your local Pizza Express and every other Pizza Express in the country (unless you live on the Shetlands/Orkney/Scilly or something you probably have one near you)
Why Does It Exist?
Now that it’s getting colder and everybody(?)’s looking for heavy winter food/higher levels of bodyfat as insulation/a change/an excuse – Pizza Express have introduced some new dishes to their menu.
They are, on the whole, suited to the colder weather, which, lest we forget, is actually a thing in Italy, especially the further north you go!
What Did We Try?
All of the following, which are new editions to the menu…
Noci
Caramelly, sweet – more nutty than you’d expect. A bit like a deconstructed nut cake, sans the nuts. Much better than I expected. One of those ‘crack like snack foods’ that people aren’t even aware that they’ve inhaled. Bravo, Pizza Express!
Leggara Gamberetti Piccante
Definitely tastes ‘healthy’ (and I suppose be, full of vegetables and under AAA calories). The fiery tomato sauce hides tiny tomatoes, some of them green, along with something leafy that I think is spinach.
The prawns are average. I have a ‘slightly spicier than average white man’ palette, and this is a pretty hot dish. You gots to eat it slowly. Unless you are a fire eater or an Indian/Thai/Chinese person from Guangzhou.
Not bad/sure beats dough balls!
(lol balls)
Etna Pizza
This is the pizza I choose. As meat pizzas go, it’s OK, but not quite as good as some of Pizza Express’ other offerings. Generous drizzles of oil and chilli interspersed with a variety of dried meats sit on the (mostly crispy) surface, and that’s about it. It’s like baked meat minimalism!
Not bad but not as good as I was hoping. Needs more variety, perhaps some more vegetables, or more kinds of meat to break up the uh….monomeat?
Carbonara Pizza
So someone basically took a really good carbonara pasta, took the pasta out and put it on a pizza. I am told this has been done before but it’s news to me. Imagine a carbonara on a thin crust pizza base and well…that’s it.
Though Greta, my +1, ordered this one, I basically consumed half of her portion because it is very super delicious and she’d maxed out earlier on the Noci (which once you’ve tasted Noci is kinda understandable).
Honeycomb Cake
I quote verbatim: “…the cake was the cheesecake equivalent of paradise flowing ‘with milk and honey.” Greta’s opinion is corroborated by the manager, who tells us that they’ve had to ration these out amongst their stores since they tend to run out real fast.
Verdict
This is Pizza Express, so don’t expect reinvention of the wheel (or should I say pizza?) – do however expect consistency, kinda authentic Italian style baking and good thin crust pizza with lots of variety. Though I claim no pizza connoisseurship, this is good enough for me!
Also if Greta’s multitudinous facial expressions are anything to go by, you may want to try and get some of the honeycomb cake before the rest of the country does.
Thankyou Pizza Express, for demonstrating that Carbonara pizza is a thing. Life shall never be the same…