Ask Italian, Southend on Sea: Predictable and HOT food.

A visit to the old folk on Boxing Day. The traditional thing is to go out for lunch, and we have tried several possibilities in the past, mostly approved by the family. To keep things simple, and because we need somewhere with a ground floor disabled toilet (many establishments did not meet this criterion well enough), and to not go back to East or somewhere we have used a lot, a table was booked at Ask Italian, near the top of the High Street. We have eaten there before, and it is a known quantity. In fact the Ask chain is a very known quantity, providing predictable middle of the road fare at a realistic price. There was the added bonus of not being forced to eat off a Christmas Menu (I am not a traditionalist here), and I found a voucher for 25% off non-special or set menu food. Vouchers for Ask are frequently available, and whilst not always giving you a deal worth having, they should be inspected for their potential. There is no identity or signing of vouchers, so it does not mean you will be flooded with spam emails for months afterwards. Ask (pizza and pasta)  became Ask Italian, and ramped up the contemporary inside feel, and allegedly the menu. I think they have done a great job in creating a family friendly, appealing to most tastes chain, and I have never come away disappointed, today included.

This branch looked and felt clean and airy. Admittedly, for early on Boxing day afternoon it was not busy, and I have been there on a Saturday night when it is packed. There are attractive contemporary place settings including better than usual cutlery and glasses. It makes you feel a bit valued.

For starter, I had the special soup: butternut squash, chestnut and pancetta. 

This was a fair sized bowl of tasty soup with croutons and bits of bacon in it. There is no bread or sticks provided as cover (no cover charge), but this was not really missed. The big thing was this was really really hot, and scored 10/10 on the CHOF scale. It did not taste like a run of the mill squash soup, and the added ingredients gave it a slightly unusual taste - you might not have been able to identify the species of soup without the menu.

To follow, I had  RIGATONI AL MANZO PICCANTE which was

"baked rigatoni pasta with ragù, chopped beef meatballs, green chillies, fire-roasted red peppers, white wine and caramelised onions. Topped with mozzarella and Grana Padano cheese; served with a side salad". The cheese topping was not very generous, and I welcomed the offered parmesan. I was warned by the waiting staff that is was hot, and it scored another 10/10 for hotness. This is praise indeed, and in retrospect, it does seem to be one of the places that ensures that food was really hot. It may have been that there was not a long transit period between cooking and table. Despite the place being desperately understaffed for the number of diners, they seem to have got away with it. There was just the manager and one waiter for the entire place, and all things considered, they coped well with good grace. If you don't like pizza and pasta, it is possible to get chicken or salad or fish, but the choice is not enormous. Check out their menu on http://www.askitalian.co.uk/#!/menus/main-menu . They aspire to Italian-ness, but it is what it is. I noticed an Ask Italian Cookbook on sale, but there is nothing really rocket science about what they are doing and it is probably a concept to move them up a notch nearer to Carluccio.