out restaurant spy

O mw ane evans undercover Which high-street chains offer the best quality and value? O puts 10 through their paces to find the perfect pizza in a town near you chains Words TONY NAYLOR (left) and TIM HAYWARD (right) on trial -j : sarah W ine recommendations NEWS. EVENING FOORD, ROMAS PHOTOGRAPHS:

O O 80 september 2009 september 2009 81 eat out restaurant spy HOW WE DID IT O‘s undercover agents, Tony Naylor and Tim Hayward, visited all PICCOLINO restaurants anonymously and paid for all food and drinks. They tried ‘From our organic bread to our ice a classic margherita and the most expensive pizza on each menu for cream, we make it here,’ the menu trills. fair comparison, and rated the restaurants on atmosphere and service Certainly, the Manchester Piccolino to find out which chain really offers the best value overall to customers. (an attractive, retro-modern space – ask for a table under the atrium in the lower section) knows its way around a pizza punch, a strong tomatoey flavour base. The Margherita (£6.25) topping and proper seasoning. is a little stingy, and I’ve had better At the waitress’s suggestion, the mozzarella, but the base is excellent – Margherita (£5.90) is vastly improved authentically thin, with the slices easily by a good sprinkling of fresh-grated folding in two. It also has a nice chew parmesan, while the surprise addition and elasticity to it, reassuring air pockets ASK of fresh rosemary to the Four Seasons OLIVE PRESS that show it has been worked properly, Ask’s website promises exciting venues helps lift its spirits despite the traditional The Bolton outpost of local chef, Paul and plenty of delicious stone-baked char all over the country but the branch presence of slimy, tasteless mushrooms Heathcote’s Med-inspired Olive Press beneath. Better still, the Rustica (£9.75), I visit in North ’s Belsize Park and strange bullet-like, stoned-black chain has some nice touches while pricey for a vegetarian pizza, – a conversion from a private house with olives. TH – interiors are rustic Italian meets is an interesting platter of tart-sweet a large glass conservatory – has a rather BRANCHES 119 restaurants nationwide. contemporary urban chic (wine bottles, flavours: marinated aubergine and neglected feel. But friendly staff work Branch visited: 216 Haverstock Hill, raffia lightshades, artfully distressed peppers, rich, crumbly goat’s cheese, hard and the food is well executed. Our London NW3 (020 7433 3896; plasterwork), while bright, zippy staff are basil, rocket and parmesan. server apologises at the outset for being askrestaurants.com). on the ball. , however, lack pizazz. Niggles? There are only five pizzas but out of one ingredient (the artichokes) on BEST VALUE WINES Valpolicella, At £9.95, the Pescatore is hardly even more annoyingly, while the staff lay the Four Seasons (£8.45) but offers Sartori, Veneto £3.95 (175ml), £14.75; overwhelmed with briny treats and what on the buonasera! ciao! Italiano! theatrics substitutions at no extra charge. Bases Sauvignon Blanc, Grigolli, Trentino seafood there is is lacklustre: slivers of thick, our waiter is utterly mechanical, (30cm) are crisp with a really elastic £4.35 (175ml), £15.95. smoked salmon have been given a salty even brusque. Olives and breads are chewiness and an appealing hand-formed cure but the squid is tasteless, prawns pushed in rapid-fire style and plates rusticity. Ask’s tomato sauce stands above MARGHERITA 3/5 laughably small and the mussels vaguely are whipped away within seconds most of its competitors with good, acidic OVERALL EXPERIENCE 3/5 fishy nuggets of mush. The Margherita of the last mouthful. TN a sunny garden, but the staff are just as (£6) is better but the mozzarella lacks BRANCHES 23 restaurants across charming as the setting. Pizza crusts are creaminess or elasticity and tastes like England. Branch visited: 8 Clarence chewy with a shatteringly crisp perimeter generic (possibly Danish) catering Street, Manchester (0161 835 9860; (29cm), while toppings are exceptionally mozzarella, rather than the good Italian piccolinorestaurants.co.uk). high quality. The mozzarella, according to stuff. In both cases, stone-baked bases BEST VALUE WINES Sangiovese 2006, a refreshingly honest waitress ‘comes in a lack char and are dry and brittle at the Roccamora, Sicily £3.95 (175ml), big block,’ and is ‘scattered over the top in outer-edges – the latter is typical of dough £14.70; Grecanico 2006, Roccamora, Prezzo often sites its restaurants cubes’. Be that as it may, it is definitely the taken out of a fridge and not allowed to Sicily £3.95 (175ml), £14.70. in historic buildings, and the winner best tasting cheese I’ve tried. The prove for long enough. The highlight? branch in sleepy Christchurch, Margherita is a classic, executed brilliantly A bottle of Black Sheep ale (£3.95). TN MARGHERITA 3/5 Dorset is no exception. It’s a conversion and the Quattro Stagioni (£8.95) features BRANCHES Eight restaurants in the OVERALL EXPERIENCE 3/5 from three Georgian cottages featuring mushrooms which, unusually, have clearly north of England: Preston, Manchester, been recently sliced, rather than lurking , , Bolton, Cheadle in a tin. Artichokes, prosciutto and Hulme, Clitheroe. Branch visited: 28 pepperoni are good enough to stand Nelson Square, Bolton (01204 521007; alone as antipasti. TH heathcotes.co.uk). BRANCHES 125 restaurants nationwide. BEST VALUE WINES Barbera 2007, Branch visited: 3 Bridge Street, Araldica, Piemonte £3.95 (175ml), Christchurch, Dorset (01202 496100; £15.95; Cortese 2008, Araldica, prezzoplc.co.uk) Piemonte £15.75. BEST VALUE WINES Barbera d’Asti, £13.95; Grecanico, Sicily £14.50. MARGHERITA 1.5/5 OVERALL EXPERIENCE 2/5 MARGHERITA 5/5 OVERALL EXPERIENCE 5/5

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argue that you should never put Peking duck on a pizza, but the most expensive pie, the Anatra (£7.75), is better than expected. The duck is a little dry, but the hoisin sauce has JOINT CROMA a smoky tang, and its sweetness is offset PIZZA GUSTO RUNNer UP Essentially a slightly more sophisticated by a liberal scattering of fresh coriander, EXPRESS The Alderley Edge branch take on Pizza Express, Manchester cucumber and spring onion. Try the Founded by in 1965, Pizza of this eight-strong chain is large, smart loves Croma. It has three branches Flatbac (£3.95), a pale ale brewed Express was one of the first pizza chains and faintly reminiscent of modern, in the city and a fourth, bizarrely, by Salford brewery, Brazens, as in the UK. Through four decades of not urbane Spain, with a pretty tiled floor, in Boston, Massachusetts. The buzzy an alternative to Peroni. TN being broken, the company has done huge centrepiece bar and lots of light. We flagship site on Clarence Street still BRANCHES Three restaurants across little fixing, retaining the same slightly sit outside on comfy padded chairs in the cuts it: the understated design (white- the north of England: Manchester, clinical interiors – clean tiles and bright midday sun watching Porsches purr past. washed walls, dark wood, trailing Chorlton, Preston (plus one in Boston, Owned by the same company as Ask, primary colours, with an undercurrent Gusto makes a big play of its 12in foliage) is timeless; the lighting intimate USA). Branch visited: 1 Clarence Zizzi is clearly targeting a more upmarket of blandly smooth jazz. The menu has (30.5cm) pizzas. The dough recipe comes (it’s a good first-date venue), and the Street, Manchester (0161 237 9799; punter. Slinky black furniture, naked become such a cultural touchstone from a Tuscan monk (it’s a long story), staff efficient. croma.biz). brickwork and wall-sized, moody black (American Hot for you, Sir? And made fresh on-site; the tomato sauce Pizza connoisseurs may take issue BEST VALUE WINES Cantine and white photography all demonstrate a La Reine for the lady?), that there is homemade, and the finished product with Croma’s bases, which are a touch Settesoli Rosso, Sicily, £3.45 (glass size attention to design. Oversized polished was public outcry when new corporate arrives on an attractive wooden platter thick and non-charred, but the dough not specified), £12.45; Prosecco ‘Jeio’, wine glasses, linen napery and friendly, owners began experimenting with the with its own pizza cutter. Taste-wise, they is fresh, springy and full-of-life. Spumante Rose £4.60 (125ml), £18.75. well-trained staff show they’re trying hard menu around 2002. don’t disappoint. The bases – not Likewise, a Margherita (£4.85) is lifted on the service, too. In a change from the Pizza bases (26cm) are crisp and particularly charred, but properly by well-seasoned passata, oregano and MARGHERITA 3.5/5 coma-inducing jazz that seems to be well-cooked through, and tomato sauce blast-cooked at a high temperature – are creamy mozzarella. Purists might also OVERALL EXPERIENCE 3.5/5 standard in pizzerias, the Highgate Zizzi is lavishly applied, if uninspiring. The combination, along with crème crisp without, paper-thin in the centre plays a bafflingly frenetic Ibiza club mix, Margherita (£5.90) is enlivened slightly fraîche and near-raw grated courgette, and have a fresh, bready flavour. The selected, according to the waiter, with a rough sprinkling of dried isn’t great. TH mozzarella on the Margherita (£5.95) by someone at head office. oregano but mozzarella adds only BRANCHES 300+ across the UK and is decent quality, and that sweet, herby, The Woodstone ovens trumpeted a textural note rather than any flavour. Ireland. Branch visited: 85 Parkway, fragrant tomato sauce contains reassuring on the menus are sadly not wood-fired The most expensive pizza is the Camden Town, London NW1 (020 bits of tomato pulp and skin. The most – it’s a trade name for a regular gas Gamberettini (£10.95) – part of 7267 2600; .com). expensive pizza (£9.50) is another Peking operated unit – and do nothing to a specially designed set of pizzas by top BEST VALUE WINES Montepulciano duck, but the meat is juicy and enhance the floury, rather bland flavour Italian chef Theo Randall. It’s oblong d’Abruzzo, Moncaro, Abruzzo £4.10, flavoursome, the sauce pleasantly of the bases. The Margherita’s (£6.50) (33x21cm) and comes on a slab of slate £15.15; Verdicchio Classico, Moncaro, plummy and, crucially, you get crisp thin and crisp base (30cm) is well cooked with a slice of lemon and your own Marche £4.25 (175ml), £15.75. shards of duck skin. Head-to-head, but topped with insipid tomato sauce and cutting wheel. The shrimp are it beats Croma’s. From an unusually bland mozzarella. abundant, with an assertive fishiness MARGHERITA 3/5 interesting beer list, try the surprisingly The most expensive choice is the that all but drown everything else. The OVERALL EXPERIENCE 2/5 good Brazilian pils, Palma Louca Trentino (£9.50). According to our (£3.35). TN server, it was ‘discovered by our head BRANCHES Eight restaurants across honcho while on holiday in the Italian North England and Scotland: Cheshire Alps.’ Topped with punchy mountain (Alderley Edge and Knutsford), Leeds ham, rocket, Santos tomatoes and (Cookridge), Manchester (Didsbury), Grana Padano, it definitely livens Scotland (), Merseyside up the rather dull basics. TH (Heswall), Liverpool, Newcastle. Branch BRANCHES 100 restaurants nationwide. visited: 75 London Road, Alderley Edge, Branch visited: 1 Hampstead Lane, Cheshire (01625 583993; Highgate, London N6 (0871 075 0907; gustorestaurants.uk.com). zizzi.co.uk). BEST VALUE WINES Valpolicella BEST VALUE WINE Valpolicella, Classico, Bolla, Veneto, £5.40 (175ml), Sartori, Veneto £3.95 (small glass), £22; Di Montefascione, Luigi Bigi, £14.75; Fiano, Settesoli, Sicily £4.50 Lazio £16.95. (small glass), £15.95. MARGHERITA 4/5 MARGHERITA 3/5 OVERALL EXPERIENCE 4/5 OVERALL EXPERIENCE 4/5

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SAN CARLO Manchester United winger Ronaldo is sat a few tables away. Next door, four Women, spray-tanned to a dark mahogany, eat pasta, while a girl totters by, clutching a Chanel handbag. Welcome, not to an episode of Footballer’s Wives, but San Carlo, the Italian restaurant where Manchester goes to see and be seen. ‘Handmade and freshly prepared on the premises’, the pizzas are huge (around 30cm) and insipid – bases are fresh and well-cooked, if lacking char, but the toppings are terrible. The Margherita’s (£5.95) tomato base tastes of almost nothing, while the vivid orange ‘cheese’ (that’s as specific as the menu gets) has an oddly processed consistency. The BEST VALUE WINES Merlot del Veneto, Joint RUNNer Marina (£10.95) is marginally better – Strada comes a respectable UP Minini, £3.70 (175ml), £14.50; robustly-brined tuna at least tastes joint-second in this race. The Verdicchio Classico, Ruviano, Monte of something, plus there are two meaty, interior is low-lit with dark wood Schiavo, Marche £3.90 (175ml), £16. if bland, king prawns on there, too. The furniture and a painfully tasteful, other prawns are inconsequentially small, sludgy paint job. Unquestionably the MARGHERITA 4/5 and the advertised chilli nonexistent. Both best part of Strada is the smell of OVERALL EXPERIENCE 4/5 pizzas are left unfinished. Chuck in burning wood from the oak-fuelled half-pints of Peroni at £3.20-a-pop, oven in the open kitchen. A few, though unsmiling service and the oppressively sadly not all Stradas, have these ovens, noisy room, and it’s pretty dismal. TN which give everything a gorgeous, extra BRANCHES Four restaurants across dimension of smokiness. England: , Bristol, Leicester, Strada’s bases are some of the best Manchester. Branch visited: 40-42 King I’ve tasted. As in most of the restaurants Street West, Manchester (0161 834 6226; visited, Strada’s dough is brought THE RESULTS sancarlo.co.uk). in frozen from a central production Restaurant Margherita Overall total BEST VALUE WINES Merlot Grave del kitchen, but here it manages to retain score Friuli, £17.95; Verdicchio Classico dei a beery, yeasty quality. Stretched very Castelli di Jesi, £18.50. thin, it’s cooked so the outside is brittle Prezzo 5/5 5/5 10/10 and crisp but the centre remains almost MARGHERITA 1/5 wet… my favourite combination. Strada 4/5 4/5 8/10 OVERALL experience 1/5 Tomato sauce is spread generously but lacks depth. Buffalo mozzarella, on the Gusto 4/5 4/5 8/10 other hand, is the real deal – strongly flavoured and beautifully creamy. Zizzi 3/5 4/5 7/10 Three fresh basil leaves on top of the Margherita (£6.95) look stylish but Croma 3.5/5 3.5/5 7/10 would have been better used in flavouring the sauce rather than as Ask 3/5 3/5 6/10 a spot garnish. Fresh tomatoes on the delicious Parma (£9.95) compensate for Piccolino 3/5 3/5 6/10 the weak sauce, and ham and rocket add Pizza Express 3/5 2/5 5/10 clean, punchy flavours. TH BRANCHES 67 restaurants across Olive Press 1.5/5 2/5 3.5/10 England and Wales. Branch visited: 40 Parkway, Camden, London NW1 San Carlo 1/5 1/5 2/10 (020 7428 9653; strada.co.uk).

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