Casa Blanca

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2009 – in the shops now or buy online.

The first thing that might distinguish Casa Blanca from other takeaways is its pneumatic pizza base maker, which can cause childlike fascination and distract one from the business of deciding what to order. Not that that isn’t hard enough - there are also pastas, burgers, hot dogs, baked potatoes and even salads on the menu. Pizzas are made to order with a few toppings not found in any old takeaway such as artichoke, Parma ham, or Moroccan-style spicy chicken. Pasta dishes stand out too - sun dried tomatoes and peppers are, again, cooked to order before being added and tasting better for it. A little accompanying tub of Parmesan is a nice touch, as are the decorative oils and the posters of Bogart and Bergman. That sort of stuff, along with the food (and the pizza machine), makes Casa Blanca a popular choice.

• High point: The speciality pizzas
• Low point: No longer doing curries