March 04, 2016

Tip Top of the Kid-friendly Restaurant Chains, Pizza Express Is a Firm Family Favourite

March 04, 2016/ Claire Spence

Pizza Express is a firm favourite of our's to visit on the weekend. When our family comprised of three we would often be found chowing down of a Saturday afternoon in their Lisburn Road branch restaurant.

You won't need your iPad- colour & puzzle while you wait

Since November 2014 it's just been myself & Smix, and we find ourselves more often in Yo Sushi! these days, but Pizza Express Bedford Street invited us both along to investigate their swanky refurb, and try out their seasonal menu, and we weren't about to turn down an offer like that!

Quiet when we arrived at 445pm- bustling by the time we left — Quiet when we arrived at 445pm
- bustling by the time we left

The city centre located branch now seats 185 and can be used for groups and parties. I tend to think of this restaurant as less full-on family packed than the Lisburn Road one, but you'll still find the full kids' menu, high chairs available and of course fun colouring in menu and stickers for every mini guest. Smix was particularly impressed that they supply Crayola twisty crayons- apparently they are big news in school right now, and very much vital to my report to you guys!

Smix always gets the same thing each visit. Dough Balls to start, with butter dip and veg. Pepperoni pizza as a main course, with tonnes of parmesan cheese on top. Chocolate brownie for dessert with bambinoccino (looks like an espresso, really is frothed milk, a very cool novelty to sip just like mum or dad).

The three courses are £6.45 altogether, but note this doesn't include a drink, but like most places tap water is free anyway. There are also pasta dishes if your children aren't in the mood for pizza.

Its also worth bookmarking Pizza Express's offers page and checking once in a while to see if there is an offer that suits your party size.

Another handy hint is to have a nosy at the Pizza Express online menu. If you haven't eaten at one of their restaurants before, then unlike the physical menu you get there, the online version has photos of each dish, so you've a better idea of what you are ordering. Great if you're really fussy about meals, and even better for family's with food allergy considerations, as every item is explained.

Pizza Express make traditional, Italian style pizzas. They are fresh, light & topped to perfection. I love this style of pizza, and I now can't remember the last time I even ate D*m*nos Pizza. Their heavy, doughy, thick based pizzas are hard on my stomach. Not to mention a waste as I can only eat two slices max.

But back to the pizzas in question, or more specifically my starter.

I had my eye on the Mac & Cheese, but then I noticed the calamari starter is back, so I had to get that. I had it years ago, but it went off the menu for a while. I'm glad it's back. The calamari is great quality, no chewy, elastic squid here. The batter is light and crunchy with no heavy greasiness. The Pizza Express House Sauce compliments this starter beautifully. If you haven't experienced Pizza Express's house sauce, then ask for a little pot even for dipping your pizza crusts. It's so tasty, and you can buy bottles of it from Tesco etc to give salads at home a bit of a kick.

If you want the full Pizza Express Experience however, then make sure at least one person in your party gets a starter of their famous dough balls. Again you can buy these in supermarkets to bake at home, but nothing beats the real thing.

On to the main course. As well as their delicious thin based pizzas, there are calzone, salad and pasta options.

My usual main course choice was the Nicoise salad. Egg, anchovies, tuna, lots of fresh salad greens and tomatoes.

However with us being invited along to try something new, I thought it would be more apt to order a pizza.

I chose the pollo leggera pizza. Leggera pizzas are a little bit of genius. It's a regular sized pizza, but they remove the centre and instead load it with lots of fresh salad. This means nutritionally each Leggera pizza comes in at under 525 calories. This makes Pizza Express even more family friendly- not only do you have kids' options, but you have just-as-delicious main course options for those dieting. It means even if you are on a diet, Pizza Express is somewhere you can chose to eat out at, without sabotaging your calorie counting.

Personally I'm not dieting as such at the moment, but Leggera pizzas fulfil a different angle for me.

You see I just can't eat three courses of food in one go. I want a starter because otherwise I would be sitting wanting to steal Smix's dough balls, and I want a dessert, but if I've eaten an entire pizza then I won't have room.

With the Leggera option I can have a starter, the Leggera, and a dessert without feeling so full that I want to crawl under the table and nap afterwards.

It also means I have a built in salad with my main, so I don't have to order a green salad as a side.

In the spirit of trying something new, I did however order their house coleslaw, a crunchy creamy delight with red cabbage and horseradish, which makes a perfect partner for the thin based pizza.

Smix was happy with his pepperoni main course pizza too. Gooey, yummy, stringy mozzarella with his own addition of Parmesan sprinkled on top.

On to dessert! I liked the look of the bombolini, but in the end I went for the seasonal treacle tart.

When I do get a dessert at Pizza Express I always pick the mascarpone with it rather than fresh cream or icecream. It's a little Italian twist, and would be delicious with the classic British treacle tart. Sadly the restaurant didn't have any for my dessert last night, but it was lovely with fresh cream all the same.

Smix chose the chocolate brownie, which comes with a steamed milk drink to match mum and dad's coffee.

Another stroke of genius from Pizza Express is their selection of mini desserts with companion coffee. If you don't have room for a large dessert but you still want something sweet, you can pick one of them. And why not give your coffee a little Irish kick with a splash of Baileys or whisky?

So thank you for having us, Pizza Express. A great Mother's Day lunch plan for this weekend, and a menu with something for everyone.

March 02, 2016

Say 'Aloha!' to Belfast's Freshest New Eating Experience & Try Something Different from the Kua 'Aina Lava Grill

March 02, 2016/ Claire Spence

Situationed on 2nd floor of Victoria Sq Belfast beside Nando's

I'll make you a wager: you'll have never tasted tuna any finer than the Lava Grilled tuna steaks on offer at Victoria Square's newest eaterie Kua 'Aina. Belfast is usually the last place that restaurant chains open up in, but thanks to Kua 'Aina being owned by two homegrown Northern Irish folks, we are privileged to be only the third branch to open, with the other two being London based.

We went along for a meal and met Harry for a chat. He usually runs the Carnaby Street branch, and he also mans the Kua 'Aina festival van (more on that later).

Harry explained that Kua 'Aina is actually the only restaurant in the complex who cook completely from fresh. The Hawaiian menu is a fabulous breath of fresh air indeed. I had peeked at the menu online before our visit, and initially had pictured it as another burger bar, and whilst they do a great burger, that's only part of the picture.

The menu offers traditional burgers, fish, veggie and chicken & turkey options. Then you choose whether you want it served as a burger, or hot sandwich, or bunless with salad. There are also very tempting 'Super Salads' , and the tuna & avocado caught my eye immediately. Sometimes when you are trying to diet especially at this time of year pre-summer, the salad option on the menu can feel like the booby prize. Your lettuce arrives and you longingly stare at everyone else's meal and decide you'll just buy a sarong for over that bikini and get something tasty next time. BUT- look at that salad!

Its an enviable rainbow of fresh, crunchy goodies. The ginger and soy dressing with the tuna and greens is to die for. The tuna fillet tastes like no tuna I've had before. I've had tuna at restaurants before which literally tasted of nothing, but the Kua 'Aina fillet it meaty, smoky and delicious.

Tuna & Avocado Super Salad includes a whole avocado! Hooray!

All the 'proteins' in the meals are cooked on the special lava grill. I asked Harry what this actually meant. He explained it's a Hawaiian way of low fat, healthy cooking, and it's what the George Foreman grill is based on.

The other food we went for was a Mahi Mahi & Monterey Jack sandwich, Spicy Huli Huli Chicken as a burger and a kid's meal of chicken strips and sweetcorn. If I did have a negative point about Kua 'Aina, it would be the kids' choices I'm afraid. The options aren't plentiful and the meal like a bit anemic beside our colourful offerings. I would love to see more Hawaiian options too, as kids are just as open as us to trying new things. I did totally love the glass Smix's apple juice came in however (top pic in this post) I want one myself!

When Kua 'Aina asked us along, they said I simply had to try the milkshake, so we had one each. Coconut and strawberry, in cute pint bottles. They are just as good as they tipped us off to, and they source the ice cream from Morellis locally. You can even make it dirty with spirits, and check the Kua 'Aina website for their signature cocktails and 2 for 1 offers on those.

Sweet potato fries (portion is bigger than it appears here!)

We also picked a couple of sides, although saying that, the main meals were plenty. We had sweet potato fries which rivalled the kings of the sweet potato next door (N**dos!), very crispy and delicious. The onion rings are comically large and made for sharing.

Chilli fries side would do as a main course £5.50

I couldn't resist the chilli fries, but a word of warning. They are HUGE. The portion could be a meal for one in itself. Fries with mince and cheese and jalapeños. I couldn't manage even a 1/4 but kindly they wrapped it up for me to take home. Incidentally you can order Kua 'Aina for delivery thanks to the Deliveroo service arriving in Belfast. Also while I mention it, the Kua 'Aina staff, I think we dealt with three local staff during our visit, are all really upbeat and friendly, which makes me think they must be nice to work for as well as eat in.

We adults were too full for dessert, but Smix used his special, child's 'dessert stomach' to fit in this freshly made, thick and fluffy American style pancake with maple syrup (icecream optional) .

So we had a lovely visit and most certainly shall be back. Sadly if you aren't in London or Belfast, it may be some time before you get a Kua 'Aina of your own. Why not petition them on their Facebook Page for a restaurant in your area?

As I mentioned earlier, they have a food truck that visits festivals. Not sure if this is last year's or this season coming's food truck calendar, but keep an eye out this summer!

January 07, 2016

Marks & Spencer's Enviously Delicious Clean Eating Ranges for a Fresh 2016

January 07, 2016/ Claire Spence

In the past if someone announced their eating clean intentions I'd think 'dead on. Rather you than me!'. Clean Eating involves removing preprocessed foods from your diet, or at least avoiding additives in what you do buy already made. That sounds like no fun at all.

When I arranged this latest blog post with my lovely contact for M&S, she suggested I look at the new juices they've brought out, and clean eating involving a stirfry offer (it's a really great offer, more on that below). I wondered would I find anything to my taste, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The fruit and veg section is an obvious place to start. All sorts of delicious fruit with some on a 2 for £3, mix and match offer.

As well as the classic favourite fruits, there are some I haven't even heard of! M&S are great like that, they'll have products you just can't get elsewhere.

Adventurous cooks will love the herb station. You can buy potted herb plants too.

These little salad bowls have been around for ages, but they've launched a few new versions for the year ahead. I noticed quite a lot of avocado products round the store, always a good thing. These pots are £3 for 2, can be mixed varieties or even included in the fruit and veg 2 for £3 too.

Here's that fabulous stirfry deal I mentioned. You get a meat, veg mix, noodle or rice and finally a sauce for £7. It's all mix and match so the different combinations seem endless. The meal serves two but you could easily bulk it up to feed two kids as well with an extra pack of noodles.

The meat options don't cut corners, as well as the chicken and beef you'd expect, there are exotic choices like duck breast, king prawn and salmon. I don't think Ive ever had salmon in a stir fry.

Here comes a really innovative range- vegetables that replace pasta in meals. Each of these cost £1 and could definitely be used to bulk up the stir fry like I mentioned. I havent seen these for sale anywhere else and I'm very curious to try them.

Those of you with brand new Nutribullets will love these smoothie packs. For £2.50, or two for £3, you get everything you need to whizz up the perfect healthy juice. You can even use the container as a cup.

The little veg and protein tubs, such as this beetroot, chicken and pecan nut one below are an interesting alternative to a snack of chocolate or crisps during the day.

Green tea can help your metabolism, so with it only being £1 for this box, I decided to give it a go.

M&S fresh soups, from the fridge department, are known for being rich and delicious. They've launched a few new recipes and you can try them by taking advantage of the current buy one, get one half price offer.

Also newly launched are these tea based drinks. They are £1.50 each. They'd make a delicious afternoon snack with one of the crispy Pink Lady apples.

Staying with healthy snacks, these baked pea snaps are £2 for bags of 5.

I also loved the package design of their instant noodles.

So you're set for your evening meal with the stirfry offer, but what can you pick up on the go, or for a working lunch?

These new open sandwiches and healthy wraps are mix and match with a drink & snack all for £4.

Here are a couple of combinations I chose. All £4 offers.

Smoked salmon and prawn. How cool are these carrot crisps?

Finally, your healthy eating breakfast- porridge, you can't beat it!

Coincidentally Sprucefield M&S have Fitbits. I bought one last week and I'm loving it. It tracks your steps, exercise, quality of sleep etc. If you're thinking of getting one you should pop along and play about with what they have there.