It's getting to that festive time of year!
Many restaurants now have their set Christmas menu out!
The restaurants I'm talking about today are Zizzi's and Carluccio's, this was actually our first time going to Zizzi's and we really enjoyed it! Carluccio's is a place that Aaron and I go often on a date night as that's the place we went to on our first date, so it holds a sentimental value to us and the food is always AMAZING.
First, I'm going to talk about Zizzi's, since that's where we went first, we didn't go to these restaurants on the same day, they're just over a week apart.
The only reason we adventured over to Zizzi's, was because at the time Carluccio's hadn't brought their Christmas menu out yet, I get excited about Carluccio's Christmas menu, last year's Christmas menu at Carluccio's was also really good ( I actually prefer last year's starter.)
Zizzi's
Zizzi's has two different set Christmas menu's, one at £19.95 and one at £25.95, the difference between them is that the £25.95 one comes with a glass of prosecco and has more options.
I went for the £19.95 menu as the meal I wanted was on that one and I wasn't all too bothered about the prosecco, Aaron chose from the standard menu.
Both set menus are for 3 courses, starter, main and dessert.
Starter
For my starter, I went for the mixed platter, which contains, Tomato pesto bread, Calamari, Cured Meats, Mixed olives and Garlic bread with mozzarella & caramelised balsamic onions.
I requested for them to remove the Cured meats and Olives from my starter since I only eat chicken and fish and I don't really care for olives, they were more than happy to do this.
The food was super delicious, loved the pesto, the caramelised onions, and the crispy calamari!
My starter also arrived on a wooden board, which was also very nice.
Aaron had Fritto Misto, which is basically a variation of battered fish and calamari, it also contained fried vegetables.
Both portion sizes were massive.
Main
For my main course, I had King Prawn Linguine.
The linguine was in a tomato, white wine, and lobster sauce, it also had chili in it, which added a kick to it, but was not spicy, tasted amazing!
Aaron didn't enjoy 50% of his main, purely due to the fact he doesn't like those kinds of potato's, doesn't matter where they're from or who did them, he just doesn't like them.
He had Chianti Shoulder of Lamb, which came with new potato's and green beans, he loved the lamb as it fell straight off the bone.
We also shared garlic bread together as a side.
Cocktail Break!
Before ordering our desserts, we ordered cocktails! These cocktails are not on the set menu but are apart of their Christmas selection.
I had a White Christmas, which contained, Bailey's & Salted caramel Kahlua coffee liqueur £6.25.
Aaron had Raspberry & Prosecco Mojito, which contained, Captin Morgan spiced rum, raspberry & mint puree & Prosecco £6.25.
Dessert
For dessert I had a Chocolate melt with vanilla ice cream, it was the gooiest chocolate melt I've ever had! It was very delicious!
Aaron had a Salted caramel brownie with vanilla ice cream, which was also amazing with the salted caramel in the middle!
I would 100% recommend Zizzi's! Affordable, delicious food, presented wonderfully and had an amazing staff!
At the end of the night when we paid the bill, the lady who served us just stood and talked to us for a little bit, told us about where she was from, she had a business degree from Manchester Uni, she plans on getting her Masters at Sheffield Uni, she was such a sweet girl to talk to, I love genuine people like that.
Carluccio's
I do think I am a little biased when it comes to Carluccio's based on the good memories that come with it and the fact we go there so often.
Carluccio's Christmas menu was £20.95 for a 3-course meal or £25.95 for a three-course meal, a glass of prosecco and a cracker, the menu is the same for both options, which are rather limited compared to Zizzi's.
I went for the £20.95 option, same reason as last time, wasn't all that bothered about a glass of prosecco or a cracker.
Starter
I had Crostini al Funghi,
'Warm mushrooms served with kale, chilli, and garlic on toasted ciabatta.'
Basically, mushrooms on toast. Which were so good, especially since I love mushrooms!
Aaron had Plin in Brodo,
'a traditional dish from Piemonte. Pinched pasta stuffed with beef and pork, served in chicken broth.'
Mains
Aaron and I had the same main course, we both went for the Lobster and Crab Lasagna.
'lasagna of lobster, crab and crayfish with layers of spinach, ricotta and tomato sauce. Topped with garlic breadcrumbs.'
The lasagna was so delicious!!! The little pieces of crayfish! I love lasagna, but I obviously no longer eat your standard lasagna, one of the very few things I miss about red meat, but I don't miss it enough to eat it. But, this is so much better than mince lasagna!
We also had a side of garlic bread with this, the garlic bread wasn't all that special, the butter wasn't even melted properly, Zizzi's win on the garlic bread.
Dessert
Just like mine and Aaron's first date together, we ordered two desserts and shared them both! Which I still think is really cute and would 100% recommend that you do that on a first date!
We had Torta al Cioccolato,
'Rich chocolate torte served with raspberry coulis and a dusting of icing sugar.'
This was very rich, a little too rich for me, the raspberry coulis was very much needed to take the edge off! Aaron also enjoyed this one!
We also had Coppa di Limoncello Mascarpone,
'Mascarpone limoncello cream drizzled with limoncello syrup and served with raspberries, crumbled amaretti biscuits and mint.'
This was 100% the preferred dessert, Aaron and I really enjoyed the taste of this dessert, a lot lighter than the chocolate torte.
Overall, I really enjoyed both of these restaurants, I will definitely be going back to both of them in the future!
If you go to either these restaurants, let me know what you usually order and why you order it, I'm one of those people that get scared to adventure on to a different main choice after I've found one I love!
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