Chains changed: Zizzi prepare Spring 2009 menu

Dropped by Zizzi yesterday, and caught them in the shift from the Winter to Spring menus.

The most obvious sign of this was the brutalisation of the mighty garlic cheese bread with caramalised onion. Hitherto, this has arrived on a plate, the size of a pizza.

Yesterday - although the new menu hasn't even started yet - it came out on a rectangular piece of wood, ready cut and assembled in a pile. Now, there are two possible reasons for this.

One might be that Zizzi has decided it's an exciting and attractive new way of presenting the dish.

The other, would be that Zizzi have realised you might not notice that the pizza bread has shrunk in size, but not in price if it comes in a different shape.

Number two would be the winner.

They've also added rosemary to the recipe, which adds nothing in terms of flavour. Well, actually, it adds a lot in terms of flavour, but nothing that sits well with the onions.

The staff told us that the pizzas are going to be presented in this manner, too, when the new menu kicks in. I don't know what the cost of equipping the chain with these new wooden platters would be, but presumably the savings made by shrinking the portions will help pay for that?

Chains changed: Pizza Express

The Pizza Express in Milton Keynes mall is trialling the new spring menus - and... well, the news isn't great. The concept is "lighter", which means they've had to come up with a cute way of making the pizzas less calorific.

How have the done it?

By, erm, cutting out most of the centre of the pizza and dumping a salad in the middle of it. (And also making the pizza smaller in the first place.)

It's a pity, as the toppings sound great - asparagus and peppers, a really fresh-sounding margherita. But half your pizza replaced by lettuce? What sort of a half-assed concept is that?

Chains changed: Pizza Hut

Oh, poor Pizza Hut, still struggling to find a role, pulled between the chundering hell of being a kiddie's canteen and the desire to move upmarket. It doesn't have any new ideas this time round, except adding the word "fantastico" to some menu items.

Some of the upmarketesque flourishes have survived - the goats cheese still lurks on the menu, like a bizarre misprint, and, on the back to the sticky, laminated card touting the (usually broken, never very-hygenic-looking) Ice Cream Factory some not-bad desserts are on offer. The salad bar seems to have changed again, but it was impossible to tell when we went yesterday lunchtime what had been dropped and what had merely run out and left unfilled, but there was some insulting couscous sitting in one of the tubs.

The horrific dip-cheese-stuffed-crust in fondue thing is still there - and surprisingly popular - but the quesadilla starter has been foofed up with the pointless addition of ham. (Or reformed ham containing water, as the menu fesses up in small print.)

When Little Chef finally folds, the tolling bell will be calling for the Hut.

Chains changed: TGI

The summer TGI Fridays menu suggests a chain looking to reign in costs - probably to pay the price of what seems to be about the fourth revamp of the interiors in a about a month. They have started using a nice shade of blue as an accent colour, though, which we wouldn't mind having in our bedroom.

Gone, though, from the menu is a number of their burger options - in particular, the ranch-and-mushroom topping (about the only vegetarian burger addition that had been on offer) has gone; the range of dishes sloshed over with Jack Daniels-flavoured sauces seems to have been taken in hand, too.

The theme this season is 'East Meets West' - because, of course, if you're looking for food with an Eastern theme, where better to go than, erm, an American-themed restaurant. The special two course menu - which edges up in price with every iteration - offers a range of food which it claims is typically American alongside food which is supposedly Eastern. Point to note: There is absolutely no point in even looking at this menu if you're vegetarian. There are no mains for you to choose.

The new menu does offer one surprise: Mac and Cheese bites, which is macaroni cheese in breadcrumbs and surprisingly morish. It's not sophisticated, but then you if you want sophistication, you're not going to to choose a restaurant which blares Sky Sports News over your head, are you?

Chains changed: Pizza Express

The chain restaurants have shed their skins (and wings) and launched their new menus.

At Pizza Express, the Northern Italy themed offering has gone, replaced by Rome - it's all nicely done and well thought-out (the menus are tricked out like busy, snatched holiday snaps) but the pizzas aren't as nice as the Northern ones - the loss of the Funghi Di Bosco is a bit of a blow, especially as the replacement vegetarian offering is one of those "bits of everything" lobbed on which ends up being a bit of an unsatisfying mess.

It would also be nice to see a themed pasta dish on the the menu, too. If you hadn't seen Northern Italy, this would have seemed appealing, but Rome can't compete with the tales of truffle-hunting pigs and donkey festivals. The big city just doesn't have the charm.