Excellent pizza at Paesano, Glasgow

Mmmmm Pizza ....

We have recently been to Paesano Pizza (http://paesanopizza.co.uk) for Napolitan pizza on Miller Street, Glasgow.  All I can say is, Mmmmmm Pizza....

The restaurant is quite airy, a bit canteen like feel, yet not too cold in decor, providing very relaxing atomosphre. There are bags of pizza flours stuck up against the wall toward the back of the restaurant, beyond that you see chefs making pizzas.

According to them, their wood fired pizza ovens have been built by Gianni Acunto of Naples (http://www.acunto.it/en.html), who have been making traditional ovens for four generations. Their pizza is a hybrid yeast and sourdough proofed for over 48 hours and cooked at an intense heat of 500 degrees, resulting a moist, light, soft, digestible crust which is aromatic and delicious.

They also say that their mozzarella is fresh Fior di Latte from Teano in Campania, approximately 30 km northwest from Rome. Their creamy Mozzarella di Bufala is from Mondragone in Campania, the capital of buffalo mozzarella. They use only Strianese San Marzano tomatoes from Sarno in Campania that provides stronger, sweeter and less acidic tastes. Their extra virgin olive oil is from Lanciano in Abruzzo, and they only use Caputo "00" flour from Naples. According to an internet, the flour is made with high quality and elastic gluten that provides extraordinary taste, perfect for pizza making.

Wow .... just learning where all ingredients are coming from already transport me to Naples in my head!

So we consult with the menu ... This is the pizza restaurant and, apart from some selections of nibbles on the side, pizzas are all they do.

So, what shall we try ....?

They also had specials, which sound great ....

You notice that the price is good, the most expensive is £8 and the cheapest basic one (without cheese) is £5. 

My husband ordered a pizza with capers, olives and anchovies. I ordered pizza with artichoke, mushroom and sun blush tomatoes from the special menu and Maria spicy chorizo from the special too. Can't wait for our pizzas ....

While waiting for our pizzas, we were nibbling artichokes and sun blush tomatoes. I got to tell you. These are seriously good marinated artichokes and sun blush tomatoes ... big size chunks of artichokes. I can just eat these all day with nice vino. I love artichokes. 

Before we finished off artichokes, our pizzas already arrived!

This is Maria's spicy chorizo pizza. 

This is my husband's capers, olives and anchovies pizza ...

and this is my pizza with artichokes, mushrooms and sun blush tomatoes ... this pizza is phenomenal!

On each pizza, there were lots of toppings on top and underneath melted mozzarella. Cant' believe this is only £8!!

And, unless your pizza is already spicy, you should also drizzle this chilis oils on your pizza....

After the pizza, even though I was already more than full, I just wanted to try soft ice cream cone as I had seen ones on Instagram.

My husband kept explaining, repeatedly in fact, that I need to get the cone but I kept thinking soft ice cream as I could not understand why I had to pay extra  £2 just for a[n empty] cone on top of soft ice cream, so I ordered soft ice cream.  And look what happened....  I got soft ice cream, literally, hahaha.

And it was a huge heap ... had I ordered 'the cone' as my husband kept repeatedly saying, I would have had a soft ice cream with cone and would have been .50p cheaper. What was I thinking???

The heap was too big and I am afraid that I had to give up halfway through. Thinking about it now, I want the rest of the ice cream now ....

Anyway, after that, we [especially me] behaved like a tourist, taking picture of their Paesano neon sign on the wall and also went to the toilet for toilet check. [They passed.]

It was such a great pizza experience, my husband and I have gone back again for lunch today, hahaha.

We both ordered the special pizza with artichokes, mushrooms and sun blush tomatoes again and also ordered marinated olives to nibble whilst waiting for our pizzas.  Olives were really big and meaty!

We were impressed that our pizza came fairly quickly.

 The pizza was gorgeous as last time. It was such a big pizza but I even managed to eat 2/3 of mine.

We arrive there around one pm on Sunday afternoon and the place was quiet, however by the time we were leaving the place was getting busier. I heard that people cue to get in when it is busy. I can understand that.

I checked on internet - paesano means countryman, fellow Italian or friend, usually from the same neighbourhood, city or region.  Well, you come to this pizza place to be transported to Naples in your mind and be a Paesano for a few hours whilst eating their wonderful pizza!

That's all forks!

Easter Sunday Lunch at Hotel Colessio, Stirling

On Easter Sunday, we spent time with family. This year we decided to have a lunch at Hotel Colessio (http://www.hotelcolessio.com) in Stirling. The hotel opened in summer 2014.

We were wondering what this building was used to be. The building next door to this hotel, now Stirling Highland Hotel, was used to be a high school that my mother-in-law, Mary went when she was a teenager. So we asked her what this building used to be, to which she replied old Royal Infirmary.

Well, the building itself may be old, however you step inside and it is decorated modern. You immediately see the bar on the left and the restaurant on the right before you notice there is a check-in desk right in front of you.

Our table for 9 was booked for 12.30pm however we arrived too early so we decided to sit in the bar to have some drinks till the rest of our party arrived.

Craig, Emily's husband, kindly offered to drive for us so Emily and I had some cocktails to try. We checked the drink menu ...

I ordered Elderflower Cosmopolitan - vodka, shaken with elderflower, cranberry and lemon.  Emily ordered Scottish Mule - gin and ginger mixed with elderflower, fresh mint, topped with ginger beer.  Both were very refreshing and lovely cocktails.

Once everyone arrived, we moved to the restaurant - Grill Room - and were seated. There was Easter Sunday menu which we all tried. Everyone ordered different things ....

The restaurant was still quiet so we were served fairly quickly.

My husband and I tried Hot smoked salmon and Horseradish Tart.

  

Mary, Craig and Paul had Carrot and Coriander Soup, which I thought was really tasty.

Emily and Kaylee had Chicken Liver Pate..

 

For main course, I had Roasted Cod Loin (I asked without Parma Ham) with mushroom, spring risotto and rocket pesto.  Cod was quite a good size, cooked nicely - flaked easily but still moist and not dry. Risotto was actually Orzo pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice.

Some had Roasted Loin of Marmalade-glazed Smoked Gammon. They found it a bit salty but it looked nice.....

Some had Roasted Sirloin of Scottish Beef. Emily and Craig thought this was really lovely ...

My husband had Butternut Squash Ravioli with smoked Applewood garlic cream sauce. Unfortunately he found this to be over powered by far too much cheese sauce ...

After the main course most people decided not to have any desserts except Andrew, Emily, Craig and myself.  Andrew, Emily and Craig tried Creme Egg Ice Cream Sundae with fresh strawberry coulis. I forgot to ask them what it meant by 'Creme Egg' ice cream....

I tried Chocolate Mini Egg Cheesecake with vanilla ice cream.  Chocolate cheesecake was quite delicious, not too sweet with Cadburys' Mini Eggs on it. Chocolate Cheesecake egg was sitting on chocolate coconut, which was really hard to crack (no pun intended...). It would have been nicer if they were chocolate flakes instead.

Overall I enjoyed my lunch however it was hit or miss for some people. I have seen some photographs of their Afternoon Tea on Instagram and it looks nice. Perhaps we may come back for that to try before we make any judgement....  My mother-in-law Mary comes here for lunch with her friends as they also do weekday lunch menu.

Comfy seats in the bar ....

Well, it's always good to try different places, however most of all, it's lovely to get together as a family and have lunch on Easter Sunday. I certainly did have a lovely Sunday.

See you till next time ....? 

Where shall we try for next Easter Sunday ....? Still 51 weeks away to think about.

Hope you too have had a lovely Easter Sunday.

That's all forks.

Thai Afternoon Tea at Chaophraya, Glasgow

Last weekend, Emily and Maria took me to Chaophraya (http://chaophraya.co.uk/venues/chaophraya-glasgow/) for Mothers Day's Thai afternoon tea treat.

I had no idea what they planned for me on the day or where we were going, if we were going anywhere at all. I asked, 'What's the dress code?' They said, 'Smart casual'. So I gathered that we were going somewhere instead of staying at home.

They gave me a box of present and a bunch of Tulip which is one of my favourite flowers.

Yuki being nosy what's in the box .....

When I opened the box, there is a set of lovely teacup and saucer with my favourite Lindor chocolate. This was a clue ... we were going for an afternoon tea. Wonderful! Anything that involves food, that's me!

I still did not know where we were going at that stage. We got into Emily's car and headed toward Glasgow. I listed all possible afternoon tea places on Sunday in the city that we have not been in my head.  We parked the car, started walking on Buchanan Street. I was wondering if we were heading toward Princes Square. Next thing, Emily and Maria pointed at the entrance of Chaophraya. Here we were.

I did not expect this at all. What a lovely surprised and what Thai afternoon would be like!!!

We stepped inside. We checked in at the reception and were taken into our table.

Our table was in Palm Sugar bar lounge. The place was bustling with other Afternoon tea parties already.

A nice corner with my personal throne ....

 

 Table is all set and we were waiting for our food ...

The next thing, our afternoon tea stand arrived!!!

Instead of normal sections of sandwiches, you get Thai style spring rolls, satays and fritter and fish cakes, etc....

These are my vegetarian options....

I had these with a pot of Jasmin tea which went very well with these food... 

We then had scones with Thai infused jam ...

Then moved on to cakes too .... cup cakes, chocolate brownies with peanut butter and mini macaroons.

To be honest, by this time we were full and could not finish all the cakes. We asked for doggy bag ...

That was a lovely afternoon tea. We did not have any cocktails to go with it but we could if we wanted. Maybe next time...  I really enjoyed the afternoon tea.

It was a lovely Mother's Day present - Thank you Emily, Maria, Craig and Dale!!!

And I surely did have a lovely day!

You can also read my earlier blog about the lunch I had at Chaophraya ....

That's all forks!