Belly Logical

Pizzeria Chirico, 26-28 Mabel Road, Bedford, MK42 9JD, 01234 270214
Open: Wed – Sun 17:00 – 23:00

A week night... A night when really I shouldn't be thinking about pizza. Today
Is supposed to be one of my “diet days” but the coffee flowed today and then there was cake!
Well, since there's already been cake then I don’t suppose pizza is going to hurt any more than the cake has...

In fact I'm now ...convinced it will actually compliment the cake eating from earlier today.
And so, it may be done!

There is another reason to order pizza. Mrs Belly has been set free from the shackles of a dairy free diet! Those lactose free, tasteless, disgusting, cowless (much like most of the country’s current beef supply) chains lay broken and strewn across the floor, RUN! RUN TO THE DAIRY!!!

"Oh sweetheart that’s awesome. I know how much you’ve missed it so if you're allowed dairy then just for you I will sacrifice my diet day and order you in a full on cheese pizza...just for you."

And so, it may be done.

But where to go?

We had a menu come through the other day and it was a place I heard about but never ordered from so I thought we should give it a go. It's run by Italians and was recommended by an Italian friend of mine and in my world Italian recommendation + Italian food place = good eats.

Unfortunately (and I say this with not an ounce of truth in the word "unfortunately") the menu we had only displayed prices & listings for tray pizzas (approx. 30 x 18 inches… oh what a shame). Yes, there is the logical side to the argument which may say “well you could have just asked for the prices over the phone” and to this argument I say “Go **** yourself, I’m hungry!”

-cool as a cucumber

I (as you may well have guessed by now) did not ask how much regular pizzas were over the phone but I did do the next best thing however, and that was order a tray pizza AND a menu that contained the listings and prices for the regular sized pizzas (Belly logic WINS).

And so, it was done! Mwahahahahahahahahahaha.

It didn’t take long for the tray to come and we very quickly dug in. On first taste I wouldn't say there was anything special going on but with each bite the flavours really came alive. The tomato flavours became more and more intense and there was plenty of it too. The pepperoni was good quality and very tasty indeed but a little sparse (but I am a greedy bugger so perhaps there was enough for the average person). Plenty of good quality cheese, crispy base and cooked all the way through (I have had some trays in the past that have been sub-par on all fronts. The base is a Neapolitan style base which is thicker than more traditional pizza bases and the dough was nice and crispy on the bottom which helped. Had it have been any thicker then we may have been entering Andrea’s territory but then again the taste and quality of the dough far exceeds the crap that come out of Bedford’s oldest fast food shop.

All in all it was good quality eats and now we have the regular menu we’ll be trying them out again and I will report back when the deed has been done…. And it will be done!

In the meantime, if you have a family gathering or a bunch of drunk people round your house (I don’t mean this as in a home invasion of pissheads more invited guests that you have allowed in to your home despite their lack of sobriety) then you couldn't go wrong with a tray from Chirico.

Call In The Carvery!

The Tavistock, 117 Tavistock Street, Bedford, Beds, MK40 2SB 01234 219595

 

Ah, Sunday’s. Potential hangovers, long lay in’s, big old fried breakfast and home cooked Sunday lunch, bloody marvellous.

Back to reality: Oh Sunday, no lay in, changing a shitty nappy (I am well aware that food reviews don’t normally start with descriptions of someone elbow deep in little packets full of shit and piss as ...these things can tend to put some off of their food but in the cold light of life it happens), watching Cbeebies at 7:30am, no hangover, no breakfast, no home cooked Sunday roast…. But, there is hope.

TAVISTOCK CARVERY!

We knew it was going to happen of course, the table had been booked some days before. Do you hear that Toby? THE TABLE HAD BEEN BOOKED!!!!!!! We were guaranteed a table without the hassle of struggling to find somewhere to park only to get inside and find that there won’t be a table ready for at least two hours:

“Can we reserve one?”
“No you can’t”
“Then good day to you, I shall spend my money elsewhere… besides your roast is crap anyway so nah!”

Tavistock Street isn’t the prettiest road in the word and has got a pretty seedy reputation (well sex shops and brothels tend to do that for an area) and I’d been across the road in the Tasty Tuck looking over at it but not giving it a 2nd thought due to its location. I thought it was just another alcoholic’s hideaway, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

When you enter the pub you’ll see just how great it looks, very modern all round. It’s not too tightly packed either, yes it was busy but when you sat down you didn’t feel as though you had “guests” at your table.

We were seated reasonably quickly although there did seem to be a bit of a pile up as more and more people came in after us, we weren’t seen to our table immediately although several members of staff did look over to see the mountain of bodies now climbing on top of one another.

Once we were at our table though everything was just perfect. We got Baby Belly in to here high chair and although there were quite few folks in the pub the queue for the carvery wasn’t very long at all. There are other options on et menu but we knew why we were there, our eyes could see the meat glistening under the hot lamp, the roast spuds teasing us from afar, the Yorkshire pudding large and fluffy drawing us in… I gotta go, I gotta get up there!

ZOOM!

We’re in line! There were a few meats on offer, Turkey, Pork, Chicken & Gammon. You can either choose just one or have a little of each, I went for Beef and Gammon. The beef wasn’t daintily sliced either, there were some good bloody chunks being sliced of that bad boy. You’re given a Yorkshire and stuff and then left to your own devices when it comes to spuds & veg etc.

I grabbed myself some roast spuds, mash, red cabbage and carrots. I would like to make special mention of the red cabbage, it was pretty amazing stuff. I’m not sure if they’d done it with balsamic vinegar but it tasted as though it had been. Everything else was really goo too, spuds were crispy out & fluffy in, meat was perfectly cooked and you couldn’t fault the mash or other veg. I’m not a massive fan of gravy but I was informed that it was good also very good.

 If I had to compare this to Toby then Tavistock Carvery wins hands down, in fact I will even go as far to say that compared to the Tavistock Carvery eating a Toby is like sucking shit out of an old boot (I really mean that… although I have never actually sucked shit out of an old boot but you get my point).

We needed some hot water to warm a bottle for Baby Belly, it came almost instantly. Apart from the hiccup at the door the service here was fast and friendly. I don’t think anything was particularly overpriced either, everything seemed pretty reasonable.

I’ll definitely be going back there again and I think I need to take a few friends with me next time and introduce them to it. Seriously, if you’re in Bedford and you want a really good roast then you’re not going to go wrong with The Tavistock Carvery. If possible book ahead first but it is well worth a visit.