Address: Bolton Road, Abbey Village, Chorley, PR6 8DA.

Phone number: 01254 831220.

The Bolton News review by Gayle McBain from March 4, 2010.

IF you love Italian food then you are sure to enjoy Parmesan and Pepper in Abbey Village.

This charming little restaurant does a roaring trade in pizza and pasta, and it is not hard to see why.

The meals are cooked beautifully and, if you order before 6.30pm, all pizzas and pastas on the menu are only £3.95.

We picked a snowy Saturday evening to walk to Parmesan and Pepper and booked for 6pm, which meant we could take advantage of the cut-price offer.

There were only two other diners in the restaurant — not many people would be daft enough to venture out on a night when snow-ploughs were much in demand — but by the time we left a few other tables had been occupied.

The menu is extensive and there was a blackboard filled with fish dish specials and two specials menus with starters and meat dishes on them.

As vegetarian it makes choosing from such a large menu fairly simple. I just look out for the dishes with a “(v)” next to them.

Thankfully Parmesan and Pepper caters well for vegetarians and I did have plenty to choose from.

For my starter, I picked baked goats cheese served on spinach — from the specials menu — which was £5.95.

My husband, who is not vegetarian, opted for the haggis special — a tower of haggis and potato (£5.95).

Both starters were polished off in expert fashion (the walk helped our appetites). They looked and tasted delicious.

For our main courses we chose lasagne and vegetarian penne — both were tasty.

Meat and fish dishes on the menu include steak in a variety of sauces, chicken (again in a multitude of sauces), swordfish steak, scampi and shellfish.

There are many pastas and pizzas to choose from and the list of starters is as long as some main course menus in other restaurants.

We had Tuscan bread with our meal — small nuggets of bread in a delicious garlic sauce — and drinks from the bar, which were reasonably priced.

We had eaten more than enough, but the dessert menu at Parmesan and Pepper is as inviting as the main menu, so it would have been rude to refuse.

We opted for a three-in-one sharing dessert (£9.95), which comprised three full-size desserts — creme brule, banoffee pie and tiramisu — a home-made shortbread biscuit, ice-cream and cream.

There was far too much for two to eat — but we managed it.

The bill came to just over £37, which we felt represented excellent value for money.

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