PizzaExpress  

Booked a table at tablemap, quite convenient and easy to use.
Got a confirmation call from the restaurant beforehand.

Luckily we booked the table, otherwise, we couldnt get a table even walk in.
So nice to have free unlimited lemon drinks!

Everything is nice including the Four seasons pizza and the pasta (芝士菠菜面卷Cannelloni), but the cheese is a little bit heavy and too much!

Finally, we would like to check the bill before 1245pm, however, we just noticed that they made the early bird earlier to 1230pm for checking the bill. Hope they can update the information at website later.

Intended to have a cosy dinner with my wife but our two kids insisted coming along as well as soon as they heard we wanted pizza.

Gotta give it to pizza express - the whole chain is professionally run. The moment we sat down their waiters bought out two sketch books, crayons, stickers and kid friendly wooden spoons/ forks for our kids.

When we ordered a salad and dough balls the waiter told us that the salad comes with dough balls so we should really order something else in its place. He also reminded us that the "Peking Duck" pizza we ordered was spicy and asked whether the kids could tolerate spiciness.

My ice tea was refilled promptly every time without asking and the waiters asked between every course whether there were any issues with the food.

Food was solid and consistent as usual and you just can't seem to go wrong at this joint.

Conclusion: Simple food that is exactly what you expect it to be. Reasonably priced and great great service. Bravo!

As a last minute dinner arrangement I suggested Pizza Express at Star St which I was impressed by during the summer. It was very cool this night and we stuck to hearty food.
M, B and I shared a starter, pizza and pasta:

"Crema di Funghi" ($54)
Creamy wild mushrooms, onion, garlic, grana padano cheese and balsamic glaze served with fresh baked bread
This thick creamy dip was very aromatic and delicious and the assorted mushroom pieces were very enjoyable, even though slightly too salty. The bread got slightly hard after it cooled down in the cold weather but that was okay. My mushroom-loving friend M mopped up this dish!

"Parma" ($133)
Prosciutto ham, ricotta, parmesan on a parmesan, rosemary and polenta base
I asked for the thin and crispy Roman base instead of the Neapolitan. I loved the chunks of ricotta with the salty prosciutto and was a very enjoyable pizza just as I remembered from summer. M and B also liked the pizza.

"Pollo al Marsala" ($99)
Penne with chicken, portabella mushrooms in a creamy marsala wine and thyme sauce,, finished with flakes of grana padano cheese
Originally we were going to order the Fusilli in mushroom sauce, but thought it was too similar to the appetizer so we opted for this new option with some protein in it. The penne was cooked perfectly al dente, and the sauce was very tasty, though I thought it could've been slightly less thick. The chicken was not the Italian marsala chicken dish, but simply breast pieces chopped up and mixed into the sauce. Not sophisticated, but sometimes simple is good!

For a no-frills pizza/pasta place, Pizza Express on Star St really delivers (I have issues with the TST and Soho branches so I can't vouch for those), and is comfort food at a high level.

For original post: http://gastronomerr.blogspot.com/2011/01/pizza-express.html

My family loves pizza express. Whenever we crave some descent pizza, we head over to the wanchai restaurant for some tasty indulgence.The base is thin, crunchy and yummy. With a great variety of toppings, hong kong is blessed with this popular pizza chain which came from UK. I can tell you as a londoner, the pizza at Pizza express is far superior than the ones in london, for less the price!Highly recommended! While you are at it, order a salad to go with it to make you feel less guilty of the heavy carb meal.Plus the service while I dined at the restaurant was often professional, which made it even a better choice for your next dine out destination.

A group of us came here for a work lunch, and luckily we had reservations, since the restaurant was completely full during peak lunch hours.

I didn't get to take any pictures of the food, but they did look very palatable.

Between four people, we ordered the following to share:
Baked Dough Balls ($49)
I never thought they were great from previous visits where it came on the side of salads, but this time it arrived hot, toasty and with three condiments - butter (not garlic butter, as said on the menu), pesto genovese and pesto rosso.
Whilst pesto genovese is your standard basil-salt-garlic-olive oil mix, the pesto rosso is a red pesto made with puree of sundried tomatoes, herbs and olive oil. Both the pesto sauces were very good - just enough salt and very flavourful. 7/10

Antipasto ($89)
The antipasto was a platter with salami (sausage), prosciutto (dry-cured ham, same as parma ham), mortadella (sliced Italian cured sausage), coppa (dry-cured pork neck/shoulder), rocket and a couple of marinated sun-dried tomatoes and sweet peppers. Good variety, and although I didn't try the salami (too salty, never liked it), the other selections were fresh, tasty and the whole plate was really colourful. 7/10

Nostrana Salad ($106)
I would've gone for caesar but I wasn't doing the ordering. This had potatoes, sliced chicken, green beans, avocado, chopped boiled egg and dressed in a creamy white dressing ('signature dressing"). The dressing was really good - nothing too rich as just enough was given and nothing too salty etc., salad would be better without the potatoes + avocado and more mesclun mix for me! =P 6.5/10

Parma Pizza (Changed from Neapolitan to Roman base) ($131)
I've never had 'roman' base here before - turns out it was a really thin crispy base that was honestly really good! The toppings included dollops of ricotta cheese, generous amount of prosciutto and hint of rosemary on a tomato pizza sauce base, and has no mozzarella but parmesan instead. The last time I went to Pizza Express I tried the Salmon Leggera (real bad) at Soho and before that, a Trifolata (mushroom) on Neapolitan pizza base at Ashley Rd which was cold and lacked any toppings. Although this Roman pizza was smaller than the average Neapolitan size (think it was about 12-inches?), the abundance of toppings and crust made me forget any minor issues. 8.5/10

Mushroom Pasta (aka Fusilli al Funghi) ($105)
This never made it to our table since they messed up our orders (they served us a pizza and pasta dish which belonged to the table next to us, but didn't put this down when we ordered)

Iced Lemon Tea each ($35)
unlimited refill (if people ever drink so much in one sitting which is a good deal, but I wanted to mention this because it didn't taste like your standard Ceylon Tea...it was much better and unique! I am still wondering what tea it was.

Star Street's Pizza Express doesn't do lunch sets, which I think they should - multi-courses and smaller portions of dishes from their a la carte menu so tables for two may enjoy their own choices rather than resorting to share. The prices could also be a tad lower, after all the servings were all pretty small to justify its price. Service this lunch was also rather slow - ratio of diners: cooks/waitresses was not very balanced, and they kept messing things up...Nonetheless, way better food than Ashley rd + Soho branches!

Spaghetti ai Frutti di Mare ($105) – Tiger prawns, clams, mussels and squid in a spiced pomodoro sauce, tossed with spaghetti pasta
[very sour, but lots of prawns and mussels!]
Parma ($130) – Prosciutto ham, ricotta, parmesan on a parmesan, rosemary and polenta base
[the Parma ham is really good! Yummy! However, it is not enough for the pizza, haha!]
Tartufo ($130) – Luxurious truffle sauce, wild mushrooms, ham, aubergine and parmesan, finished with a drizzle of truffle oil
[I love the mushrooms very much, it looks baked!]
Trifolata ($125) – Wild mushrooms, Portobello and button mushrooms, truffle oil, rosemary and garlic
[Wow, so delicious, but a little bit oily!]
Caprina Salad ($108)—Tangy goat’s cheese baked with tomatos, on a mixed leaf salad tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette, roasted aubergines, courgettes and peppers, walnuts, rustica tomatos, finished with a drizzle of honey
[I love the cheese so much! It is so soft and creamy, and the tomato is very fresh too! Vegetables are much too~]

Lemon Iced Tea x 4 (Refillable)
[But it turned to be bitter while non-stopping drinking and refilling]

Since all the pizzas are made once ordered, therefore, all of them are fresh & hot! So great! Thank you boss for treating us a nice lunch during boring weather.