Eat Out to Help Out - Find out who is Offering 50% Discount in August 2020

Orangery Tea Room, Battle, East Sussex

Do you feel ready to join in with the Government's August scheme to help boost spending within the hospitality sector? From the friends I have spoken to, this scheme feels like a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they are keen to get out and have a meal, enjoying a sense of normality in this strange time, but on the other, they can be fearful that too much of a sense of normality is what will lead to a rise again in cases of coronavirus.

I've been out for a couple of meals since restaurants were allowed to re-open again at the beginning of July and personally I have found them to be fine. We booked for a time we knew would be less busy and found there is excellent distancing between the tables and considerate servers. So, for us, we will be joining in with this scheme and enjoy taking advantage of 50% off food and non-alcoholic drinks at participating businesses.

I felt it was apt to be organised, as all restaurants have less capacity than normal and booking is encouraged for most good restaurants, so I have booked for one night a week to try out a few new places and have some (hopefully) really enjoyable meals. My husband said to me to book for the ones that are normally more expensive and we might avoid, as this gives us an affordable way to try them out.

Review: Lunch at Jamie's Italian Trattoria, Tunbridge Wells

Our family love to go out together and enjoy some good food and it is always nice to try somewhere new and explore a new town too. So last Thursday we headed into Kent to Tunbridge Wells to have a browse and also lunch at Jamie's Italian Trattoria. Now obviously we all know the Jamie Oliver name but none of us were familiar with this restaurant concept so we were excited to try it out, especially as my twin girls really love pasta.

We were pleased to see that Jamie's Italian Trattoria is an easy walk from the train station in Tunbridge Wells. It is situated on the High Street between the main shopping mall and the more up-market Pantiles area. The high street is a great one to browse along as there are loads of very nice shops to both look in and also just window shop.

Jamie's Italian Trattoria was easy to find with double shop frontage and it looked very authentic Italian from outside, when you go inside it is heavily themed and very pleasant but we couldn't really put our finger on what style we thought they had gone for. There are exposed ceilings, paintings on walls made to look old, exposed pipe work and lots of sanded wood - my husband commented it looked almost Cuban and I could see where he was coming from.

Every Day is a Roast Day for this Family - Toby Carvery Review #ManicMumDay

We all know that Mums generally lead a busy life and let's be honest many dads do as well. Recent research commissioned by Toby Carvery showed that most mums do not get to sit down on an evening until 8.07pm and I think on average this is probably about right, although some nights it is closer to 9pm!

It is for this reason that Toby Carvery offered my family and I to go along to our local restaurant (which in our case is Willingdon Drove, Eastbourne) on a week night and enjoy a meal that is cooked for us and involves no washing or clearing up. Result!

We booked a table using the online booking system, which is super easy and I have to confess that I have no idea you could book a table for Toby nowadays, as you never used to be able to. I was very aware from the start that the email confirmation (and reminder emailed to me the day before the reservation) stated that the table would only be held for 10 minutes from the reservation time and thus we arrived promptly.

Messy fun with the kids at Pizza Express

All kids love to get their hands in some flour and get a bit messy, don't they?

Mine certainly do and cooking at home (especially with Daddy) is one of my kids favourite activities, bearing this in mind you won't be surprised to hear they had a ball at a London Pizza Express last Saturday, along with some other bloggers and their children making pizza from scratch.

Pizza Express are relacnching their new Piccolo menu on 30th April 2013. It has had its biggest refresh since its introduction seven years ago and I have to say I like the changes. I start with the bad news, well bad from the point of view of my 9 year old JJ - there are no more dough balls with Nutella available for dessert. Of course as a mother interested in good nutritious food then I am not too worried about that.  The super delicious (I kid you not) whole fruit raspberry sorbet more than makes up for it. Never did I think I would find myself typing that sorbet is super delicious but it really is very good.

Kids Pizza Parties
I found out that Pizza Express have a real passion for #GettingKidsCooking and they are interested to help young diners become enthusiastic about great quality fresh ingredients. Our children were briefed and coached by the Pizzaiolos (chefs) to stretch their own dough, cover it in just the right amount of delicious tomato sauce and then top it according to their taste. They had such fun that I found myself asking one of the Pizza Express staff why they do not offer children's parties where the kids can get their hands dirty and have some fun and the reply was that that they do - who knew! Just £9.95 per child and they get to eat a good meal and make their own pizza. Something for me to remember in the future.

New Children's Menu
The new Piccolo menu is being billed as one that appeals to 'kids who enjoy good food' and Pizza Express have been working with a nutritionist to ensure that what can be a high calorie 'treat' meal is as good as possible for our little people. They have reduced the amount of salt in their tomato sauce, mozzarella and also tried to limit sugar where possible (ie, by removing fudge and cakey bits from kids ice cream desserts). Something like their classic starter of dough ball which has always been offered with garlic butter as a side, now comes with the choice of garlic butter (for those like my kids who love it) and an alternate with healthy fats - Olive Oil and Balsamic Syrup.Choice is what it is all about and as parents we need to ensure our kids are informed and can make those good choices for the future.

Not only can you still choose from a range of pasta and pizza on the Piccolo menu, you can now allow your child to be in charge and create their own pizza and the real selling point is that it won't cost you a penny more than the inclusive price of £6.50 for 3 courses and a Bambinoccino. How about a pizza topped with cheese, tomato sauce, ham, olive, mushrooms, chargrilled vegetables and juicy santos tomatoes?

Gluten-Free Diet
Not that any of my children have issues but it was also good to see Pizza Express taking an interest in catering to those who need a gluten-free diet and isn't it good to see a company who are thinking about their smallest customers as well as the adults?

They now have a gluten-free pizza base dough for those who need it and it has been awarded Coeliac UK's NGCI accreditation. There is also a gluten-free brownie as one of the desserts on offer.

Small Appetite?
For those who have a small appetite Pizza Express have listened to customer feedback and you can now just purchase one of the childrens main courses alone for the price of £3.95.  They are keen not to try to encourage small eaters to eat more than is necessary for their needs.

I can honestly say that we have been customers with our children at Pizza Express for a number of years now.  This was the place that introduced them to Bambinoccinos and now they are a treat they ask for quite regulalry. The new menu is a good upgrade and we will continue to be customers.

Thanks Pizza Express for a fun day....

We were happy to review the new Piccolo menu. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

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