Restaurant-Guide.com
hand picked restaurants

Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for.

Pizza Express has gone even more Roman, and following the success of that particular example of listening to their public have introduced Romana pizzas, including the scorching Etna and the hearty Siciliana.

These pizzas are now thinner, bigger and crispier, and if that sounds like a marketing line, it is. However, unlike many such lines, this one is true, and their quality is always consistent, though cleverly they have still managed to retain a homemade feel to their pizzas.

As an alternative to pizza, try their pollo pesto - cavatappi pasta with torn chicken breast, mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella in a creamy gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce and finished with grana padano - or the niçoise salad with mixed leaves, yellowfin tuna, free range egg, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes with olives, anchovies, capers and house dressing.

Many of the big chains have come a long way, and Pizza Express is certainly amongst them. One of the first to be quoted on the Stock Exchange - in 1993 - Pizza Express is not a franchise operation and retains tight control through its own staff.

Their wine list - though short - contains some surprisingly good offerings, especially their intense Australian Chardonnay, and a big, full-bodied Merlot from Cusumano, Sicilia.

Round the corner from the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Ashoka - West End in Argyle Street has a full range of Indian favourites for curry aficionados. Cosy interiors with soft lighting give guests a feeling of warm hospitality. The restaurant offers a takeaway menu as well as home delivery.

Ashoka-West End's pre theatre menu features dishes like chicken pakora, fried fillet of white fish, pan fried potato cakes, lamb cooked on the bone with onions, tomatoes, green chillies, ginger and garlic, chicken in a light creamy sauce and jalfrezi with almonds, cashewnuts, sultanas and lashings of coconut cream. For a regular lunch or dinner, there's choice of haggis pakora, tandoori salmon, chicken chaat, korma, garlic chilli, karahi bhoona and rogan josh. The tandoori mixed platter offers diners a medley of tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, seekh kebab, lamb tikka and barbequed king prawn. Choice of naan bread and pilau completes the selection.

A warm and cosy restaurant, Osteria Piero may remind you of the traditional rustic Italian places that quickly become favourites a bit too often. Perfect for a casual business lunch or a romantic evening dinner, its interior is mostly done up in wood and the well stocked bar is a great haunt for a sip, before or after a meal.

Using the freshest ingredients the kitchen can lay its hands on, a truly Italian cuisine is brought to the table. Whilst it's a good idea to watch the chef prepare a tagliatelle al funghi in a parmesan wheel, the excellent pasta dishes are not to be missed. Traditional pizzas come with the classic tomato toppings, garlic, mozzarella cheese and extra virgin olive oil.

Homemade desserts are as much a treat to the eyes as they are to the appetite. Expect rich preparations and combinations such as sponge cake made with Chantilly cream and chocolate and meringue served with fresh fruit salad and ice cream.