Great pizza (plus basil)

I was extremely good last week and only ate out once, before I went to see Wizard of Oz in London. My friend, Lara, recommended an intriguing sounding place called Vapiano, which she told me had basil plants sat on the tables to add to your food. I love basil so it sounded good to me.

It is not far from the Oxford Circus station in Great Portland Street- just look for the basil plants outside.

First of all you find a bench- it’s a huge place. And then you order your food at the food sections and they give you a card, which you scan each time you order, and you pay at the end at the door. They give you a buzzer for when your food is ready, which is a great idea although it makes you jump as you quickly forget about it.

I went for Diavolo pizza, which is spicy Italian sausage, peppers, red onions, tomatoes and mozzarella. The pizzas are BIG and there are loads of toppings. Sometimes pizza restaurants can skimp on the toppings but not here. It was only £8.75 and pizzas start from £6.75. The sausage was really spicy but a good level of spice. I had a lovely glass of red wine (Il Meridione Catarratto from Italy). It was only £3.50 and whilst we were waiting for the pizza we had a bowl of olives which were really good.

The yummy olives!

My meal came to under £15 and it was all lovely- much better than any of the well known pizza chains and as all I can talk about is basil I will mention it again- the fresh basil leaves were great on my pizza! I would definitely recommend this place if you are ever in Oxford Circus.

The rest of the week I cooked salmon with pesto on top and wrapped in foil, which was really good. For lunch I had bulgur wheat as an alternative to bread with vegetables and meat. This doesn’t make you feel bloated, like bread sometimes can, and is quite healthy.

I also made my version of spaghetti Bolognese. I fry onions and garlic and then add minced beef. Then to this I add tomato sauce, a tin of plum tomatoes (apparently these are better than chopped as they keep the flavour), a bit of beef stock and then I simmer it. I also add a bit of red wine vinegar. Then a bit of Lea and Perrins and dried oregano and basil and lots of fresh pepper! How do you make yours?