Review: Paulo Gianni's, Kendal (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Review: Paulo Gianni's, Kendal

7:20pm Thursday 14th June 2012 in Opinion By Emma Lidiard

I HAVE eaten at so many Italian restaurant in these last few months that I feel I can now claim to be a bit of expert in this type of dining.

Some places do the job brilliantly though others – often the ones run by people who have only a tenuous link to Italy – leave a lot to be desired because they add too much olive oil or make their pizza bases far too thick.

A bonus for having so many Italian restaurants in England, for the diner at least, is that there always tends to be some kind of offer on to see off competition.

Paulo Giannis' offer is that during ‘happy hour’, which actually lasts two hours, many meals can be brought for £3.99.

At Giannis' the staff are clearly Italian, which was a promising start. The eatery has recently been redecorated to make it very modern, with big black plants standing in large vases and the odd naked statue thrown in.

For my starter, I chose goats cheese on a beetroot salad finished with pine nuts (around £4.50). I love any dish with pine nuts in but this one in particular was delicious.

The melted cheese on top of the sharp beetroot taste was, I have to say, very ‘more-ish’.

My partner opted for the more mediterranean choice of a mozzarella salad which did look tempting on the menu. But after trying a sample of both starters I decided my choice was superior.

As a main I had a Hawaiian pizza adapted from ham to chilli. The base on this pizza was just right, not too thick with a nice crunchy crust.

On top there was a good amount of pineapple and chilli with a tasty rich tomato sauce.

Once I had finished both courses I did feel very cheesed out and could not manage a dessert, though they did look tempting.

The waiting staff were very friendly and were on constant stand-by to keep topping up my house red wine. Excellent all round.