I absolutely love my food and lately I’ve been getting into the more Italian style cuisines, rather than the traditional spicy ones that I’m used to.
I had the pleasure of dining at fairly recently opened Pizza Express lately and in fact went to one within a new shopping complex in Northamptonshire which overlooked a beautiful lake and was surrounded by lovely high street and high-end shops.
With it being January and a new year, there’s always talk of eating healthy, detox and diet and something that Pizza Express is doing for the month of January Is that they are taking part in Veganuary. This means that every Tuesday in the month of January when you order any vegan dish off the main menu, you will be treated to a complementary portion of their fabulous tasting dough balls.
They do have a new menu out and I had the pleasure of tasting some of the delights and I have to say as I normally do go for dough-balls, this time I went to try something a little bit more exciting which was the Arrabiata Prawns. This little starter blew me away as it was it full of taste and they were very generous on the prawns and it was surrounded in a lovely spicy tomato pepper sauce and to my delight also had four dough balls on the side – I was super impressed with this dish and it was actually quite filling as well. Priced at £6.30, this seafood starter is definitely worth a pick!
The Calamari is also a top pick – the portion is a pretty good size and the calamari comes with a lemon wedge which in fact is the traditional way of enjoying calamari. The starter was cooked perfectly and came out looking lovely and bronze and served with a Ceasar dressing. The Calamari is priced at £6.30 and is the perfect accompaniment to a glass of Italy‘s finest Peroni beer.
Moving onto the main courses, the menu is quite extravagant and has a variety of dishes ranging from Pizzas to Al Forno dishes to Salads. I could not head to Pizza Express without trying something from their NEW collection. As delicious as it sounds, the chain has brought out a Carbonara Pizza and wow is it spot-on. It is full of flavour and actually baked to perfection so if you love your pasta dishes then honestly give this pizza a try and with its delicious bechamel sauce you can’t go wrong. Topped with thin and crispy pancetta strips and baked egg, I hope this stays around.
The Carbonara Pizza is priced at £13.95 and comes available on a Romana base which is the larger, thinner but crispier base.
Another dish that I cheekily got to taste was something that’s been on the menu for a while and I’ve always wondered what it was like…I can tell you, I tasted an iconic dish which was the Calabrese. This pizza isn’t your average round, circular pizza, it is in fact Rectangular and full of my favourite things- spice and meat! It might look deceiving when it comes out as I thought “oh am I still going to be hungry” but no-I was nowhere near hungry and in fact my tastebuds were 110% satisfied as well as my stomach. The calabrese has a delicious combination of soft spicy N’duja sausage and Calabrese sausage in red chilli. The pizza has roasted Peppers mozzarella and tomato and has a beautiful sprinkle of fresh rocket on top along with pesto and Gran Milano cheese.
This pizza will hit every sport and I would most definitely 100% order this again and recommend this to all my friends and family.
The Calabrese is priced at £14.20.
If you still have room for dessert which I think is always a must when you go out for a meal, then some deserts that caught my attention was the very delicious carrot cake and also something a little bit naughty which was the sticky toffee pudding. Both of these have to be new favourites for me as I tend to normally stick to the traditional Tiramisu BUT I’m glad I stepped out of the ordinary here. The carrot cake (Dairy-Free) was moist tasty and come served with a tea or coffee of your choice.
The Sticky Toffee Bundt Pudding was baked to perfection and is served with a scoop of salted caramel gelato ice cream. Perfect with a cup of tea.
Overall, the restaurant was absolutely lovely, it was very modern and sleek and had a really nice vibe to it. The service was excellent and the staff were very friendly. It’s nice to know that you can go and eat enjoy and relax and not be pestered every 10 minutes.
Five stars are given to Pizza Express and their fabulous team at Rushden Lakes.
