Happy Birthday @ Pizza Express

Daisy is a city girl through and through. She hates dirt and mud, and has learnt to sit still in a restaurant for an unusually long length of time for a 2 year old. Yes 2 year’s old; it’s her birthday today! So to celebrate, yesterday, we took her to Pizza Express* as a treat.

Pizza and pasta are two of her favourite items to eat. So we were greeted with a clapping of hands and squeal of delight when she saw what was in store for her.

I remember a time Pizza Express were being villainized in the press for the calorie content of their salad dressing. But today, they’ve cleaned up their act. There’s a fantastic children’s menu, “Piccolo” which comes with “healthy” and treat options alike. At £6.95 for 3 courses, it is very affordable. Their famous dough ball starter comes with a salad of red peppers, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. For pudding, kids can opt to indulge in a Chocolate Brownie or Sundae or have a 100% Organic Fruit Lolly, with no added sugar or nasties. For adults there their Leggera, reduced calorie, menu and several gluten-free options.

On arrival Daisy and Dr. Husband spent sometime colouring and working on the Ice Age sheet. This was a great way to keep her bottom glued to the high chair before the food arrived. There’s a chance to win a trip to Hollywood and lots of other fun prizes, if you enter your drawing of your favourite character with a pizza. But, I’m afraid Daisy’s artwork isn’t quite up to that yet.

Daisy is a good eater, but still very young so we decided to miss out the starter and go straight for the Napolenta pasta, a creamy tomato with fresh basil. As you can see she dived straight in before I even had a chance add some parmesan!

Dr. husband and I shared starters of Calamari and the new! Prosciutto e Melone. My father always says Calamari tastes like a cooked hot water bottle, but this was cooked to perfection and came with a yummy Caesar dressing. The Prosciutto e Melone was wonderfully refreshing on a hot day, and Daisy managed to sneak some of our ham onto her plate. Cheeky monkey.

For the main course I tried the new! Risotto Fresco, it’s a salmon fillet in a creamy white wine risotto with tomatoes, red onion and Gran Milano Cheese. It was delicious. I normally avoid risotto in restaurants as the rice can just turn to mush and it can end up being a flavourless meal, but this was light, beautifully cooked with fresh, summer flavours. In contrast Dr. Husband opted for the pizza Pollo Forza, with chicken in smoked chilli and Roquito peppers. To say it was hot was an understatement. I’m just thankful he wasn’t tempted to add any chilli oil. But he is a complete chilli addict this was right up his street.

By the time we got to pudding we were pretty full, and so were grateful for their Dolcetti option, a mini pudding with a cup of coffee or tea. Dr. Husband went for the Lemon Posset Crunch and for me a Chocolate Brownie. Daisy, however, had no problem getting through her Chocolate Brownie, attempting at first to get the entire cake into her mouth at once.

We had a lovely meal and it was a great way to celebrate our little ladies birthday. It was so nice to be able to go somewhere so family friendly, and where the standard of food is consistently good. Even Giles Coren has now been converted, and if it’s good enough for him, well then it’s good enough for us.

*The meal was courtesy of Pizza Express, but all opinions are my own.

With thanks to the staff at the Muswell Hill branch of Pizza Express who made our visit so enjoyable.