Quality Italian food 20% off - saving sanity priceless

I am writing this review in bed with the alarm clock set for 5.00am after quite possibly one of the worst days of my life.

You see I’m going on holiday in the morning, theoretically leaving Chiswick for sunnier climes though the weather in Gascony is supposedly much the same as it is here. Although that is not what has irked me most.

It started this morning when the car chose to give up on life the very same day our trusted mechanic decided to take his annual vacation.

Then the fraud department from my bank called to enquire if I had recently been to Greece (I had not) because someone had spent vast amounts of Euros on heavens knows what and they would have to cancel my card.

Shortly after the supermarket called to say that they could not accept the aforementioned card and did I have an alternative method of payment or else they could not deliver the three week's worth of camping essentials I had ordered on-line? No I do not as I am quite possibly the only person I know that doesn’t own a credit card.

Surely that was it? Surely I had had my three things and the day would now turn a corner? No because it was at this point in my morning that our lovely, loyal and devoted nanny who had been with us for the past six years chose to announce that she felt it was time she moved onto bigger and better things.

Whilst I realise that none of these episodes are earth shattering or in fact of any consequence to anyone other than myself, I’m sure that we’ve all had days when nothing’s gone right and all you want is for someone else to take control and make everything ok again?

Which brings me to the point of this review. Feeling like I couldn’t go on i.e. being a melodramatic drama queen, I called Mr B and told him I’d had enough, I was refusing to cook and that he was to find a solution, preferably a local one as we still had no car. Being one with a nose for a bargain and prone to the odd moment of genius, he announced that we were going to take up Frankie’s 20% discount offer thus pleasing his family and his pocket all in one go.

Although he and I had been a few times, it was the children’s first outing to Frankie’s and they were suitably impressed. Ben thought it amusing to have glitter disco balls in a restaurant (wouldn’t it be funny if they fell on your head mummy!), Issy thought the whole décor terribly sophisticated especially the smoky mirrors that line the walls and Phoebe found the bins in the toilet great entertainment – everyone was happy!

The children ordered Spaghetti Bolongnese and Chicken Piccata from the kids menu (£8.50 a head for two courses) and, after being vocal in their distain having to wait until their parents had shared their starter of Carpaccio of Beef (£7.50), they found their dishes were as generous as their were tasty.

The adults both went for burgers; he opting for Blue Cheese on top and me for Cheese and Onion at £7.95 each. The burgers were well executed and flavoursome accompanied by a considerably sized watercress, chive and spinach leaf salad however, we had to order two portions of fries at £1.95 each as they weren’t included.

For dessert the children chose chocolate and mousse and vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce and I chose to use copious amounts of emotional blackmail to ensure that I got to share as much of all three as possible (apparently the calories don’t count if eaten from someone else’s plate!)

To drink the children had diet cokes and a lemonade at £1.80 each, the adults a pleasant bottle of Argentinean Malbec at £15.95. Two jugs of tap water, five spotless plates and three even more sparkling dessert dishes later the bill came to £68.59 including 12.50% service.

Using the ChiswickW4.com 20% offer we managed to save a significant £14.83 although I’m certain that my family would agree that restoring my sanity was priceless.

Emma Brophy

September 11, 2008