In the build up to Christmas, I’ve teamed up to Intu Derby to show you guys what festvities they have to offer over the most wonderful time of the year!
The Christmas decorations are in full swing and they make you feel that bit more festive when crazy present shopping.
For our night, we chose to take a trip up to Pizza Express on level 3 to try their new festive menu and because it’s one of our favourite places.
The 8th of December marks mine and Kane’s anniversary and we’ve been together three years this month, so what better way to celebrate than with some quality time shared over some delicious food.
After taking our seats, we quickly flitted over the menu and selected our drinks and mains.
I chose a Belvoir Raspberry Lemonade and Kane, his favourite, a bottle of Peroni.
For our mains, we chose from the Christmas specials: Kane had a Porchetta Natale which had pulled seasoned hog roast with soft herb stuffing, pancetta, mozzarella, fresh rosemary, toasted pine kernels, tomato and garlic oil.
Although I really wanted this too, I wanted to try something different so I went ahead with the Cauliflower Cheese.
For toppings, this had roasted cauliflower florets, Pecorino cheese and garlic oil on a tomato base (the original has a creamy cheese and mustard base) with pink Tropea onions, pine kernels and parsley with fresh Gran Milano cheese grated on top.
This sounds super cheesy but it was absolutely perfect!
Not only were these pizzas wonderful but they tasted very Christmassy and are just perfect for feeling light on your tummy.
After seriously destroying these angels, we were ready for dessert. I wanted something indulgent and chocolate flavoured. But then I saw their specials…
They had a marmalade and chocolate chip Panettone Cheesecake served with ice cream which tugged on my heart strings a little.
The slice was rather generous and was very creamy and soft. The bread of the panettone was perfect with the buried chocolate chips and slithers of marmalade embedded – made even better with ice cream.
Kane had the Jaffa Profiteroles which sounded like such a treat.
They were chocolate covered pastry balls, filled with cream and an orange jelly, just like a (sort of) jaffa cake!
I managed to pinch one from him and they were lovely but very rich – I couldn’t manage any more.
After clearing up with bill and finishing our drinks, we made our way up to the Showcase Cinema De Lux which is open all across the holidays apart from Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
Perfect to catch that Christmas cartoon or the eagerly anticipated Passengers movie.
We decided to catch the new Potter – related movie: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.
I had been waiting for this film to come out for months and I was not disappointed! It was funny, dark, very cute in parts and left you feeling happy and content.
After a long and lovely night together, we decided to go home for a good sleep.
I had the most wonderful night with Kane all thanks to the brilliant staff at both Pizza Express and the Showcase Cinema. They’re both the perfect excuse to relax after long days shopping or just a treat for the family during the holidays.
Personally, I can’t wait to finish all my Christmas shopping and be able to spend some time with the family and eat lots of festive foods.
Thank you for reading and be sure to check out my second night of #TwilightThursdays post later in the week!
Where do you love to do within Intu? Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?
*Twilight Thursdays is part of a three week blog post series and both the meal and cinema tickets were paid for by Intu. Yay free date night!
Comic Books & Yellow Ducks 