As a lactose intolerant, I try and avoid dairy
as much as humanely possible. Of course, I have my bad days and the worst
culprit for me ditching the dairy ban is most definitely pizza/any other cheese
related food type. When the PR Consultant at Pizza Express got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to try out
the menu at the brand new Formby branch,
I jumped at the opportunity to be treated to complimentary pizza and to get a
taste of the brand.
Confession time: I have never been to Pizza
Express before. I think in this day and age, this is pretty much a travesty and
one that needed rectifying ASAP. Best pal in tow, we got the short train-ride
from Liverpool to Formby and wandered on over to the restaurant to take
advantage of their menu.
When we arrived, we were greeted immediately
and had our choice of table: the restaurant opened on the Monday and we visited
on the Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t overly busy, which definitely benefited
us as it allowed our waitress, Megan, to spend some time with us explaining all
about the different things on offer. We ordered a few drinks to start us off (a
gin and tonic for me and a wine for Catrin) and then had a proper peruse at the
menu.
There were a LOT of different choices: to be
honest, the vastness of the menu was a little bit overwhelming to the Pizza
Express virgin over here but I took it in my stride and eventually narrowed it down
to two different pizzas: one of the specials, the Etna Romana and the Diavolo.
However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves: we treated ourselves to a few
starters off the menu first of all. Catrin requested that we get some of the famous
Pizza Express dough balls, with the doppio dips, and I chose the Calamari,
which was served with an absolutely incredible Caesar dressing. I think I fell
in love with the Pizza Express garlic butter over the course of the meal: I’ll
be stocking up on that, without a shadow of a doubt. The calamari was cooked to
perfection, incredibly moreish and I’ll definitely be ordering that again on a
return visit. Pizza choices made, I eventually decided on the Etna Romana,
which is part of the winter specials menu: it’s made up of pancetta, nduja
sausage, roquito peppers and covered in Gran Milano cheese, which I believe is
a vegetarian parmesan cheese, although don’t quote me on that! Catrin chose the
American Hot, pepperoni with peppers. We both bit off a little more than we
could chew on the peppers front: even Catrin and her normally unbreakable taste
buds felt the heat!
Of course, we could go (all the way) to Formby
and not have dessert. At this point, as well as feeling the heat I was also
feeling the bloat, so I decided to go for a dessert that came in bite sized
chunks: the salted caramel profiteroles. Whilst incredibly bad for my digestive
system, these little goodies were absolutely TO DIE FOR and if my body didn’t
hate dairy so much, I would have devoured a hundred of them. Catrin went for
the Honeycomb Cream Slice with a scoop of mascarpone and she seemed to really
enjoy that, as well!
The service at the Formby branch of Pizza
Express was fantastic: Megan was ridiculously attentive and made sure that we
had everything we needed whilst we were in the restaurant, as did the rest of
the staff. The restaurant itself was very nicely positioned in the town and had
a really suave, almost nautical layout within. I was really impressed by the
food: I went with an open mind which I definitely think was a good thing and I
wasn’t disappointed by the reality. I’ll definitely be going back to Pizza
Express and taking advantage of the offers they have on!
Thanks so much to Pizza Express Formby for welcoming
us and letting us try out the menu! As always, all views are my own and I have
not been influenced in any way.
