An ode to my festive pizza

I never thought I'd write a blog post about a pizza... this one really was that good.

I went to Bristol at the end of November to meet up with a few of my university friends. We did some Christmas shopping then went for lunch as soon as it was socially acceptable to do so. Food is one of our common interests as a group! 

We decided to go to Pizza Express as Amy had a few 2 for 1 vouchers, and we all love a bargain nearly as much as we love food. As soon as I glanced at the menu, the festive 'Maple-Glazed Gammon' Romana pizza caught my eye. 'How amazing does this pizza sound?' I exclaimed. I then realised that my excitement could only be shared with one member of the group as the other three are vegetarians and definitely wouldn't have fancied a maple-glazed gammon pizza. Fee and I didn't bother to look at the rest of the menu; the maple-glazed gammon pizza had to be ours! 

LOOK AT IT. 

Honestly, this is one of the best pizzas I've ever had. The big chunks of maple-glazed gammon were really tasty with just the right level of crispiness, and the goat's cheese (the only ingredient I was unsure about) was a great addition. However, the lumps of spiced apricot chutney were the best thing about this pizza. The sweet yet spicy flavour provided the perfect balance for the saltiness of the gammon and goat's cheese, and I only wish there'd been more of it! The garlic oil and Gran Milano cheese finished it off beautifully, and I was genuinely gutted when I eventually finished eating. I love Pizza Express which means I always have high expectations, but they've really outdone themselves with this beauty. 

Although this pizza was quite expensive at £14.60, it was massive and well worth every penny. If only it wasn't classed as 'festive' so that I could order it all year round! 

So there you have it... an ode to my festive pizza. Will you be rushing to Pizza Express as soon as you can to try it out? 

Restaurant Review: Tony's

Tony's is our 'go-to' restaurant. Midweek birthday? 'Let's go to Tony's'. Need to get out of the house for an hour on a Saturday evening? 'Let's go to Tony's'. Meeting up with friends? 'Let's go to Tony's'. You get the picture!

Tony's is situated on a little street in the middle of Penarth, so it's within walking distance or a five minute drive away from where we live.  The restaurant used to be in a different location and my husband remembers it fondly from his childhood/teenage years, but it closed for a few years and re-opened in the town centre. The first time I visited Tony's a couple of years ago, we were offered free starters as the manager wanted opinions on some of their signature dishes. I immediately knew it was my kind of restaurant! The starter was amazing, in case you were wondering... I'm salivating at the very thoughts of it.

I nearly always order the Combination pizza for my main meal which comes with ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions and mixed peppers. I'm not even going to try to describe how good it tastes (I'd be a terrible food blogger), except to say that it's just as good as all the authentic Italian pizzas I've ever had! Praise indeed, I hear you say. I did stray from my trusty pizza and ordered a bolognese on one occasion, which was also really delicious and a very hefty portion. However, I did slightly regret not ordering the Combination as I love it so much. The dough is amazing, the crucial cheese to tomato ratio is always perfect, and the combination of toppings is just spectacular.

We usually have a Diet Coke each when we go to Tony's, but I have been known to splash out on a cocktail or a glass of wine on a couple of special occasions. Everything is very reasonably priced, including my fully loaded pizza which is one of the more expensive items on the menu at £12.50. A meal for two easily comes in under £35 which is a great price for such an authentic and good quality experience. We're nearly always served by the same staff members, and they're equally as polite and attentive every time. Although we usually book a table if we're going with a group of people, we tend to just walk in when we go on a weeknight or early on a Saturday evening as the restaurant is generally quiet at those times. I'd expect a little restaurant of this quality to be packed all the time, but I'm not complaining as it allows us to be spontaneous and pop in at short notice.

Have you ever visited Tony's? Make sure you give it a try next time you're in/near Penarth!

Restaurant Review: Romeo's by the Sea

It's been a while since I've written a restaurant review so I thought it was about time I rectified this situation! Penarth has some lovely independent Italian restaurants, one of which I blogged about many moons ago (Villa Napoli), so I thought I'd focus on another one of these restaurants for my first review of 2017.

Romeo's by the Sea is situated a stone's throw away from Penarth Pier which means it's conveniently within walking distance of our house. We visited for the first time last August to celebrate our second wedding anniversary and we've been twice since then with my parents.

The picturesque location of Romeo's by the Sea means it has a perfect seaside view if you're lucky enough to bag a table by the window. We've managed this on two out of our three visits so those are pretty good odds! The restaurant has plenty of external seating as well as ample seating indoors and I would recommend that you book a table if you'd like to try it out, particularly if you're visiting over the weekend. 

Romeo's has a very extensive menu and offers something for everyone, whatever your tastes. There are lots of vegetarian and/or gluten free options, as well as a hefty fish and seafood offering. I've tried the Penne Spezzatino, Penne Amatriciana and Tagliatelle Chef and I can very highly recommend all three! We also treated ourselves to starters and a bottle of wine on our first visit to Romeo's which were just as tasty as the mains.  

You'll be pleasantly surprised when you look at the prices on the menu, particularly as the portions are always very generous. I love restaurants where you get plenty of food on your plate and Romeo's certainly ticks that box. Just to give you a rough idea, a meal for four with soft drinks, main courses and two sides cost £54 which I think you'll agree is very reasonable considering the quality of food and those massive portion sizes. 

The staff members are all so friendly at Romeo's and, although the service is always quick and efficient, you never feel as if you're being rushed out of the door to free up a table. We've dealt with lots of different staff members during our three visits and they're always very eager to help and to make us feel welcome. 

Have you ever been to Romeo's by the Sea? Will you be adding it to your 'must-do' list after reading this post? 

Restaurant Review: Cafe Citta

Cardiff's Cafe Citta has been on our 'restaurants we must visit' list for a long time and I'm pleased to announce that we finally got around to booking a table there last weekend.

I actually visited Cafe Citta for a business lunch a few months ago which prompted me to book a table for me and my husband to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our first date. Two main reasons for the haste in visiting again - the food was amazing and I was gutted that I didn't get to take a photo of it the first time around! Taking photos of your food isn't really appropriate when you're out on a business lunch (or so I'm told).

Cafe Citta is rated the 5th best restaurant in Cardiff on Trip Advisor and it's got an excellent reputation across the city and beyond. It's a tiny little restaurant on Church Street which could quite easily be overlooked, although the deliciously authentic Italian smell seeping out of there does give it away somewhat. It's a very popular restaurant so I would definitely recommend booking a table beforehand, particularly if you're visiting over the weekend.

We got the bus into town last weekend so that we could enjoy a few drinks throughout the day. I ordered a glass of Prosecco as soon as we got to Cafe Citta as it was the same price as a glass of wine... I love it when that happens! Each table is adorned with a candle and fresh flowers so I obviously had to include those in my first picture. An aesthetically pleasing table is always a good place to start!

We decided to go for starters as well as our mains just to make sure we sampled a wide range of dishes, so I chose the salami starter with spinach, garlic and chilli. It was ridiculously tasty and smelt divine... I could have eaten about three bowls of it! It's worth noting that we were sitting very close to the kitchen area so had a good view of the various starters being served to all the other customers. I can confirm that they all looked/smelt just as spectacular as this one. 

I decided to go for a pizza for my main meal this time around as I had pasta the first time I visited. Cafe Citta's pizzas are legendary so I was almost bouncing up and down on my seat in anticipation. I chose the Pizza Padana which came with salami, red onion and parmesan. In all seriousness, it's the best pizza I've ever had outside of Italy. The quantities of each ingredient were just right and of a very high quality, and the pizza dough itself was really thin and flavoursome. I can certainly see why these pizzas have earned their legend status! 

Our meal came to £39 which included a glass of Prosecco, a bottle of beer, two starters and two mains. I thought this was very reasonable considering the quality of the food and the overall enjoyable experience. We dealt with three different members of staff at various points throughout the meal and they were all friendly and attentive. I love the authenticity of this restaurant and the decor is unique and captivating... unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the interior itself due to the low lighting and fairly close proximity to other tables. 

So, to conclude, would I recommend Cafe Citta? A thousand times, yes! 

Date night at Prezzo

My husband and I still enjoy having date nights every few weeks or so, mostly because it's a good excuse to go out for a nice meal and our love for food knows no bounds. I thought I'd blog about our most recent date night...

Neil (my husband) recently received a voucher for a free bottle of Prosecco from Prezzo so we decided to take the opportunity to try our new local restaurant in Penarth. Prezzo will always be special to us as it's where we went for our first date nearly five years ago, so we were very excited when we found out that there was a branch opening just a mile or so away from where we live.

It was a beautiful day so we decided to walk into town rather than getting the bus or driving. The free bottle of Prosecco would have been slightly redundant if one of us had to drive, and it also meant we could avoid parking stress!

I wore some of my new Ted Baker jewellery and one of the dresses I bought in Toronto's Aeropostale store as I wanted to make the most of our evening out. Although I love relaxing in my hoodies, jeans and Ugg boots, I do really enjoy getting dressed up for special occasions. And I'll happily take every opportunity to wear my beloved jewellery!

Our table was booked for 5:30pm so we started out from our house at a leisurely pace at 4:45pm as we're a fair distance away from the centre of town. We took the scenic route down the old railway track which is always lovely and quiet (apart from a few excited dogs and their frazzled walkers).

We got to Prezzo ten minutes early and were seated straight away. The first thing we ordered was our free Prosecco (obviously) which should have cost £25! We love a bargain and, to be totally honest, we also begrudge paying £25 for something we can get for £6 in Tesco. It was a really tasty variety of Prosecco and went down far too easily. 

We decided to go all out and ordered a starter to share. I must admit that I had a big part in choosing the starter as I can't get enough of a good old mozzarella and balsamic onion pizza bread! This one was beautifully cheesy, garlicky and balsamic-y and I could have eaten a whole one to myself... sad but true. 

After finishing our delicious starter, our mains came along shortly afterwards. I chose the asparagus and mascarpone panciotti and it was REALLY good. Although the portion looks quite small by my usual standards, the parcels were packed full of the delicious spinach, lemon and bella lodi cheese filling. Note to self - I must eat more asparagus as I always forget how much I enjoy it. 

After telling ourselves we probably wouldn't have dessert while we were walking to the restaurant, we (I) promptly changed our minds when we saw what was on offer on the dessert menu. I had the Nutella and banana mini calzones with vanilla ice cream... the whole thing was stunningly amazing. I'll definitely be sampling these again on our next visit!

After feeling suitably full and paying our bill, minus £25 for our free Prosecco, we walked home as the weather was still dry and sunny. As we were home by 8pm due to our early start, we still managed to have a cosy night in with Suits (our current series of choice) as well as a meal out... perfect date night!

Have you been to Prezzo yet? Can you recommend any other venues in the Penarth/Cardiff area for our date nights? Let me know!

Food, glorious food (and drink) - Honeymoon style #1

We ate a LOT of food on honeymoon (that's a massive understatement). As I've mentioned in previous posts, it was so nice to be able to eat whatever I wanted for two weeks without worrying about having to fit in to my wedding dress. It's safe to say that I more than made up for my strict dieting in the few months before the wedding!

I managed to take photos of most of my meals and snacks, much to my husband's amusement and/or embarrassment. After sorting through my photos, I thought I'd document the food I ate in each Italian location in a separate blog post due to the sheer volume of it. It'll definitely make me feel less ashamed of my gluttony if it's spread over three posts... I think.

We also drank more alcohol on this holiday than we usually would as it was such a special occasion and we wanted it to be as relaxing as possible. We didn't go overboard as no one wants a hangover when they're on on honeymoon (or ever, in fact), so we just had a glass of wine or two in the evenings and a few cocktails along the way.

So here goes... here's what I ate (and drank) in Rome! Get ready to be amazed/disgusted.

Fruit plate and a bottle of Prosecco on arrival at the hotel

Meat and cheese starter on our first evening

Fancy ravioli!

Good old apple crumble and ice cream

My first Italian hot chocolate

My first Italian pizza!

Possibly the best gelato of the holiday

Vegetables in breadcrumbs... tasted much more exotic than it sounds! 

Bolognese... just can't go wrong with this dish

The hotel's amazing breakfast (don't worry, I had more plates after this one)

Chocolate croissant for breakfast! 

Pasta and pesto. My favourite!

Pepperoni pizza slices in the Vatican City 

Glass of Prosecco on our private terrace

Spaghetti Carbonara

A nice glass of wine!

There were also a couple of meals/desserts I didn't get a decent photograph of... please don't judge me. Actually, judge away, I loved every morsel of it. 

As you can see, we had a nice mixture of fancy meals indoors, casual meals outdoors, and street food. We found that the prices in Rome were very reasonable and our most expensive meal was the one on our first evening at our hotel, which was to be expected as it was a fairly upmarket hotel. 

Check back on the blog in a few days to find out what I ate and drank in Malcesine. I'm already salivating!

My hen weekend!

It was my hen weekend last weekend... I don't think I've ever eaten that much food outside of America. I had a really lovely weekend and I was very touched that everyone put in so much effort so I thought I'd try to summarise it in a blog post!

On a side note, as well as being my hen weekend, it's the weekend I finally mastered the art of applying eyeliner (subtly). It only took me 28 years!

I decided to stay in Cardiff for my hen weekend as it's somewhere we all know and, very importantly, we know all the good places to eat. Amy, Kirsty, Laura and Liz arrived on Friday evening so we went to the Gatekeeper for some food and a few cocktail pitchers. Can't go wrong with a good old Wetherspoons panini! The cocktail pitchers were also of a surprisingly high quality and much better than I remember, particularly the Mojito.

After finishing our food and drinks and chatting for a few hours, we walked back to our hotel. We stayed in the Nos Da budget hotel/hostel near the Millennium Stadium and I'd highly recommend it if you're planning a group trip to Cardiff. It was very reasonable, immaculate, spacious and in a fantastic central location. It was certainly much cleaner than any Travelodge I've ever stayed in, and even nicer than some higher end chain hotels I've been to. We had two rooms next to each other between the seven of us. How's this for a hotel room view...?

Nos Da serves a free breakfast every morning until 10am so we made the most of that before walking in to town. Again, the breakfast was much better than I expected with toast, a vast choice of spreads, lots of different cereals, tea, coffee and orange juice. We were all already extremely impressed, and the weekend had hardly started by this point!

We walked into town and went to a few shops to finish off our fancy dress costumes for the evening before meeting Fee, Jenna, Nicola, Sian and Sarah for the next leg of the weekend. Liz had booked afternoon tea at Pettigrew Tea Rooms for 3pm and I was VERY excited about this, to put it mildly. Believe it or not, I've never been for a proper afternoon tea! Very civilized for a hen weekend, but it's something I really wanted to do. 

We all got a bit dressed up before walking over the tea rooms, and I was given a personalised pink hen weekend sash with 'Beth's Disney Hen Do' emblazoned on it. Perfect! 

I'll be writing a separate blog post on Pettigrew Tea Rooms so I won't go into too much detail in this post, but let it be known that it was AMAZING. Liz had bought lots of Disney princess goodies such as tiaras, wands and confetti which meant the experience was extra personal and special, and the staff made us all feel very welcome. Does anyone else feel like a real Disney princess when they're wearing a pretty dress and a tiara? No? Just me?

Here are a few photos to whet your appetite before the more detailed blog post on our experience at Pettigrew Tea Rooms... my hot chocolate felt like a meal in itself! 

We stayed in the tea rooms for three hours and had such a lovely time. I really thought I'd have to be rolled out because I'd eaten so much, but I somehow managed to get myself down the stairs and out of the building. Even in my (small) heels!

We had a quick drink at the Nos Da bar before going upstairs to get ready for the evening celebrations. Their bar has an outdoor seating area which was perfect for such a sunny day. 

The theme for the evening was... you guessed it, Disney fancy dress! I decided to go as Minnie Mouse as I thought she was a very appropriate character for the bride-to-be. We also had a few princesses in the group (Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White), Russell from Up (best costume ever), Esmerelda, Neytiri from Avatar and a character from the Incredibles. Again, everyone put in lots of effort and I genuinely loved being Minnie Mouse for a few hours. My only regret is that I didn't take enough photos!

We'd booked a table in Bella Italia for 8pm... in hindsight, we should either have booked the table for much later or just had something light. Although I never thought I'd be too full for an evening meal, I was still pretty full from the colossal afternoon tea so I didn't manage to finish my spaghetti meatballs. It was still a very tasty meal and my two glasses of Prosecco also went down very nicely! 

Before we left Bella Italia, we played a game of 'Mr and Mrs' which Fee had prepared by secretly asking Neil to answer a few questions in the lead-up to the weekend. I loved this idea! I also did quite well with the questions and didn't get too many wrong, so I think this definitely proves that Neil and I are a good match. Obviously I'd have had to re-think everything if the game had gone badly. To ensure continuation of the Disney theme, I was given a Disney tattoo for every question I got wrong... 

Bella Italia is always a great place to eat and this time was no exception. The staff were accommodating as always and the food was up to its usual high standard. A great meal (and drinks) was had by all! 

After leaving Bella Italia, we got accosted by a few overly enthusiastic people who seemed extremely desperate to get us into their tiny and/or dodgy clubs... I started to get fed up of hearing 'free fish bowl for the hen!' I didn't want to go somewhere too loud and cramped where we couldn't sit down and have a chat (how old am I?), so we went to Charlie Browns for a few hours and played a lengthy game of 'I have never', among other things. A classic drinking game, I think you'll agree. I don't see my university friends very often and it was also the first time this particular group of people had all been together so I wanted to make sure we made the most of the opportunity to catch up (and embarrass each other during the drinking game). 

We were back at the hotel by 1:30am so it wasn't a wild night by any means, but I don't think it's important what time you stay out until on your hen night as long as you have a good time, make the most of the opportunity to catch up with people and laugh a lot. I did all these things so I was very happy!

We all had breakfast again on Sunday morning, checked out of our rooms, then sat outside the hotel bar until it was time for people to catch their various modes of transport. I had such a lovely weekend and just wish it hadn't flown by so quickly. Thank you to everyone for coming to Cardiff and for making it such a fantastic weekend (I hope you're all reading this)... see you all at the wedding!

I'm now mentally preparing for round two... my work hen night. Watch this space!