It was as famous for pizzas as much as the celebs who visited the place, and local legend has it that one of Leeds’ best-known eateries, Italiano extraordinaire, the Flying Pizza on Street Lane, also reserved its front apron for only the flashiest cars in West Yorkshire!

You could always be guaranteed a quick glimpse of a Ferrari, Lamborghini, or some other four-wheeled equivalent if you passed what is now San Carlo’s Flying Pizza just down the road from Moortown Corner.

Nearby, posh gent’s retailer, Brills, was a worthy neighbour, along with Share Jewellers and, collectively, they had more style than Burlington Bertie from Beau!

So, feeling something of a fraud, I donned my best bib and tucker to attend the restaurant’s Winter Menu launch, mindful that I needed to park my Ford Ka down the road and ‘walk in’ lest I be rejected as an upstart or undesirable!

But, I needn’t have worried, the welcome was warm on a somewhat chilly night and, before long, the eatery’s winter warmers were doing their job.

These days the Flying Pizza is part of the family-run Italian restaurant group San Carlo and is currently steeling itself for the soon to arrive November winds, by dishing out a range of comforting culinary treats as summer gives way to autumn, and regular diners jettison al fresco dining in favour of indoor heating!

So, whilst you can still get those salad favourites, the winter menu includes a delicious variety of carne (meat), pesci (fish), and dolci (sweet) dishes, as well as new starters and pastas, with offerings varying slightly between San Carlo’s 25 UK sites, also in Manchester, London, Leicester, Birmingham, and Bristol.

The group is renowned for its wide selection of authentic Italian pasta dishes, and the new additions to the winter menu this year are no exception.

First up was Vallutata di Lenticchie or, by any other name, lentil and vegetable soup. Me and Mrs H have been trying to eat less meat so the veggie starter, albeit soup, seemed like a good choice. Delicious, as was the Caserecce con Ragu di Polpette: lamb meatballs in tomato sauce.

My good intentions had just gone out of the window!

Opposite, my sister-in-law Jamille, visiting from Manila, was in ecstasy, silently confessing that this was one of the best meals she had ever had.

We let her to choose the sweet, which we all dived into with three spoons: frangipane alla pesca, peach and almond cake with vanilla ice cream.

It was a chilled night in a chilled environment, something the restaurant prides itself on.

The San Carlo story begins in Sicily, the birthplace of chairman Carlo Distefano. A tale of entrepreneurial success, Carlo arrived in Britain in 1962 aged 17, with £12 in his pocket, a work permit and the promise of a job at a barbershop.

A self-confessed workaholic, by the age of 20, Carlo opened his first joint business venture, a hairdressing salon in Leeds; he also had interests in a coffee bar and disco. But food was always his passion and in 1992 Carlo opened his first restaurant in Birmingham followed by Bristol, Leicester and Manchester.

Still defiantly independent the company now employs more than 1,000 people across the globe and has won in excess of 30 industry and consumer awards.

So, if there’s a chill in the air and you feel like something hot for a change, then pop along to the Flying Pizza on Street Lane. You're guaranteed a warm, winter welcome and, remember, a Lamborghini is not a prerequisite…..anyway you can always park up the road and ‘walk in’!

Details here