IF David Beckham is the ambassador of sport for England, then I am taking up the mantle of the ambassador for credit crunch dining in the north west.
Me and ‘money saving expert’ Martin Lewis have become great friends over the last 18 months as he has helped me maintain my once luxurious lifestyle throughout these gloomy economic climes.
Another treasured companion of mine is Prezzo, at Cheshire Oaks, Ellesmere Port.
Much like one of its competitors, Prezzo has teamed up with The Times on a number of occasions to offer price-busting meal vouchers, as well as email two-for-one offers to my inbox.
Lucky for recessionistas such as me, Prezzo not only offers bargain deals, but a chic, continental atmosphere, stunning, authentic food and top notch service – no matter which branch you eat at.
On this occasion, my health conscious partner and I headed to Cheshire Oaks, putting aside the diet for a day and vowed to try something new, no matter what the calorie count and take up the two courses for £10 deal.
The light and airy restaurant has a truly chic, continental feel and when we walked in our fellow diners were chatting at full volume with smiling faces and the food looked promising.
We decided to sample the starters and a main. As usual, minestrone soup, bruschetta and grilled goat’s cheese were the typical Italian choices, and with greedy eyes, we opted for something we could both share.
Caprese, or tricolour as it is better known (buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes,herbs and balsamic glaze) was a fresh accompaniment to our mozzarella garlic bread and the grilled goats cheese bruchetta.
Our Italian waitress was friendly and astute, and we both opted for the offering of freshly ground black pepper and a bottle of chilli oil for drizzling.
For our mains we decided to go all out and choose a calzone meal each.
Every time I had visited Prezzo in the past I had chosen chilli prawn pasta dishes or a pizza from their delicious list of Italian classic, but on the night, I decided to go for the seafood calzone, Di mare, with oak roasted salmon, tiger prawns, broccoli, pomodoro sauce and a blend of cheeses.
Although the salmon was a little on the dry side, the sauce inside the folded over pizza was flavoursome and delicious and made up for what the seafood lacked.
As I had never had a calzone before I was expecting a pizza folded in half, but when it came there appeared to be more dough holding it all together and it was a little under-cooked for my liking.
My meat-loving partner scraped every last piece of his Carne Piccante off the plate.
His half folded pizza came with a stuffing of seasoned chicken, meatballs, field mushrooms and crushed chillies with bolognese sauce and a blend of cheeses.
The chicken was succulent and the spicy filling supplied just enough sauce for the pizza base that he managed to completely devour.
I couldn’t even finish my plate, so a desert was out of the question and my companion joined me in a ice cold Peroni beer to round off the meal.
Despite its setting in a bleak car park on the edge of the busy retail park, Prezzo manages to supply that little taste of Italy without breaking the bank.
When we were given our receipt we were delighted to find that nearly £9 has been shaved off our bill, under the two course for £10 deal.
Next time I’m in search of a credit crunch busting delicious meal Prezzo will be top list.
The Bill:
Grilled goats cheese bruschetta: £4.95
Caprese: £4.75
Mozzarella garlic bread: £3.05
Calzone Di Mare: £9.95
Calzone Piccante: £9.25
Drinks: x2 66cl Peroni £11.90
TOTAL: £24.65 (with discount)