Having lately eaten in the Edinburgh branch of Zizzi, I skipped with delight when I found out it was coming to Hull.
The Italian opened in St Stephen’s Shopping Centre last month and it has already won rave reviews so we decided to check it out for ourselves.
The interior of the restaurant edges on industrial elegance – wooden walls, shadeless lamps, wooden boxes with flowers etc.
The staff were delightful from the start, fetching my mum a free glass of Prosecco because it was her birthday.
The rest of us chose a stunning bottle of wine and swiftly got to selecting our food.
With the aromas of Italian food drifting through the air I was voracious, and the great thing about Zizzi is that there is more on offer than just pizza and pasta.
To start we went for calamari as well as butterflied king prawns pan-fried in garlic butter, smoky pepper pesto and white wine, served with watercress and fresh “little souls” breads.
The calamari were just how I liked them – not oily and not tough. With token coating to them you really got the taste of the squid, and the complementary lemon aioli was heavenly.
The prawns were served soft but the star of the entrees was the smoky sauce they were smothered in. Garlicky, nourishing and flavoursome, it was hurriedly mopped up with the warm bread rolls.
I ordered the classic Italian hot on a rustica base. It’s incredible and if you haven’t tried Nduja sausage yet then you basically have not lived.
The rest of the group chose chianti shoulder of lamb, slow-roasted with garlic & rosemary, and pan-fried seabass fillets with zingy lemon & herb salsa verde.
The best thing about Zizzi is if you are watching your weight, you can get all the taste for lower than 600 calories.
When you go for the mixed tomato summer salad instead of potatoes your meal is guaranteed to be under 600 calories, and you can add the option of a skinny pizza.
The salads were beautiful and you get excellent helpings, but nothing could stop me eating those rosemary potatoes. There were so many we unapologetically took them home and had them for dinner the next night.
Zizzi was a genuine pleasure, and I look forward to going back.
The atmosphere makes you so relaxed and the staff are so helpful.
It is great that Hull is beginning to get better restaurants and Zizzi is a place to go for lunch, a light bite, or a full-on feast.
Where we were sitting in the restaurant we could watch the deserts being created, and if I hadn’t eaten myself silly I would have demolished the mini banana and white chocolate sweet calzone.
As well as salted caramel brownies, gelato, sticky chocolate & praline torte and raspberry, white chocolate & pecan blondie, you also have the option to get vegan puddings or a nice coffee to finish.
