Carluccio's!

I've never been to Carluccos's before but I was expecting to be much like any other Italian. I was right, it was, but in a very good way. You can't beat a good Italian! So sit back, relax, and read on to see what I went for.

I always judge how good a restaurant is on how well they make a lasagne so, because I'd never been here before, I had to get the lasagne. I was very impressed. It looked a bit strange when it came, as you can see in the picture it looks a bit sloppy and like it was just dumped in the bowl, but that didn't effect how amazing it tasted. There was the perfect ratio of white sauce to bolognese and it was really tasty. The portion size was perfect and the pasta was a nice thickness, because believe it or not I've had some very thick lasagne pasta in my time! I'd definitely order this lasagne again, which is a very high compliment coming from me.

I really fancied a dessert that wasn't too filling but that was a little more than just ice cream so I went for tiramisu. I liked this but I felt that there was a little bit too much alcohol in the sponge, especially the sponge at the bottom, making it very hard to stomach. The cream was delicious though and I just ended up scraping it off and just eating that, although I did eat a fair bit of the sponge. It was very tasty but I think that the alcohol was the main problem.

Pizza Express!

Pizza Express is one of those places where I've been a few times but not one that I think about when I think of places to eat. Weird I know. I've been a couple times and never really rated it but this visit was surprisingly very nice! I'd choose a different thing to have for main but other than that it was a very enjoyable visit! Let's get into it.

For starter we all shared a portion of calamari, doughballs with cheese and brushed. They were all delicious and if I was to go back I'd happily have all of these again. The calamari was Bella Italia good, and if you know me then you'll know nothing beats BI calamari but this is definitely a close second. They were nicely breaded and perfectly seasoned with a great texture that wasn't awful and chewy that can sometimes happen to squid. The dip was great, I have no idea what it was but it went really nicely with the squid. I've had the doughballs before and liked them but the addition of the cheese really made a difference. It was a little strange in the fact that there was more cheese on the plate than stuck to the dough but with a bit of tactical dipping and sticking it was delicious. The garlic butter was nice and soft as well but there could of done with a little more of it. Last but not least is the brushetta. Slightly different to a normal brushetta it was on a giant doughball and was covered in onions, tomato and pesto. Everything was delicious. The dough was soft, the tomatoes were fresh and the pesto was really tasty and brought everything together. An all round fantastic starter!

For my main I decided to go out of my comfort zone so I chose the Autumno pizza which had chorizo, butternut squash, spinach and goats cheese on it. I came to the conclusion that I hate goats cheese, hate it. It tastes really weird and infects everything it touches. So it's safe to say this wasn't a great thing for me to eat but there were elements that were nice. The butternut squash was soft and sweet and the chorizo added a nice meaty flavour. The only other thing I'd say about this pizza was that there was a bit too much base and it was all a bit doughy but other than that it was nice.

Zizzi's (Take Two)

It's happening! Back to Nottingham means back to eating out and I LOVE eating out (in fact as I'm writing this I'm going to Nando's tomorrow, YES!). Hopefully there will be more Nottingham related food outings but as the bank balance is low there may be few and far between so have your fingers crossed that I win the lottery or come into some cash! Without further ado let's get into it.

I plumped for a calzone with chicken, ham and spinach in a creamy mushroom sauce. I was totally won over by the sauce on the menu as I fancied something soft and creamy and I wasn't disappointed. It was hard to cut at first as the edges on the bottom were crispier than the rest of the dough but this dish was a dream. The chicken was so moist and cooked beautifully and went really nicely with the creamy sauce. It was the perfect size and unusually the ratio of dough to filling was on point, normally there's much more dough. The only problem I found with this was that there was a lot of cheese inside, and I'm not a big fan of cheese, and sometimes that flavour was a little overwhelming and wet due to the sauce. But overall it's the best calzone I've ever had, I loved it.

I still had a little room left when it got to dessert so I went for the chocolate melt, which is basically exactly what it sounds like. It was sickly but in a good way. The portion size was perfect for something that packed quite a chocolate punch and the ice cream was a nice, cooling touch. The middle melted which is what it was meant to do and I'd happily have it again. I also had a cheeky try of the vanilla pannacotta and that was delicious so I may need to go back and have the full size of that.