Food

Fillet of salmon with minted Tuscan potatoes

Italian vegetarian platter with halloumi chips

Sticky toffee pudding (extra £1)

Vanilla Italian ice cream

£10.95 per person

Drinks

4 x Strawberry Collins cocktails

£5.95 each

Total £45.70

“WHAT took you so long?” asked the Moll as I entered Tec Towers after a long day at work. “We are going to miss the show.”

Toots and I had tickets for the theatre and as usual we were cutting it pretty close with our time.

“Relax” I said as I poured myself a scotch, “we still have time to head into town and grab a bite to eat before it starts”.

We had pre-booked a table at the popular authentic Italian restaurant, Cafe Antipasti, which was advertising a very reasonable pre theatre menu.

We jumped in the Buick and headed into the City Centre. We arrived early and were warmly welcomed by the staff who set us up nicely with a drink.

You could tell that the joint was going to be heaving as the night continued and staff were in for a busy night. We were right.

Toots opted for a Strawberry Collins cocktail with gin, lime juice, syrup and strawberry purée.

Curious at what this melody tasted like, I decided to try one myself. While sipping our cocktails we began to look at our dinner options.

Normally we would go for a starter and a main course but The Moll clearly had a sweet tooth that night.

“I’m not really in the mood for anything from the starters menu” she pointed out. I was but it was best not to argue with her as she clearly had her eye on dessert.

For our main course Toots settled for the oven roasted fillet of salmon with minted Tuscan potatoes and green beans.

Still giving meat free Mondays a bash, I opted for the Italian vegetarian platter with halloumi chips, red pesto mayonnaise, spinach and ricotta ravioli and butternut squash lasagne.

The platter was delicious and I couldn’t get over how many dishes were included in one course.

Slightly envious of my food Toots was very keen to try a pudding and order another cocktail.

“I could have easily made that at home” she said.

We ordered another two Strawberry Collins and asked to see the dessert menu. Dollface asked for the sticky toffee pudding while I, still stuffed after my main course, went for a subdued Italian vanilla ice cream.

We were still waiting on our drinks by the time we had finished and had to ask the waitress where they were as we were still in a rush to see the show.

Eventually they arrived and we made it for curtain up.