Watching what you eat? An honest guide to our Dumfries menu

We can't tell you how many calories, or how much protein, is in any dish at Ivano's Italiano, the Italian takeaway at 11 Whitesands in Dumfries, because our dishes have never been lab-tested or nutritionally analysed. What we can tell you is exactly what goes into each one. So if you're watching what you eat, this guide shows the choices our menu gives you: dishes built around chicken or fish, salads, tomato sauces instead of cream, smaller pizzas, and sharing.

Why there are no numbers on our menu

People search for a "healthy takeaway in Dumfries", a "high-protein takeaway" or a "low-calorie takeaway", and we understand why. But in the UK, words like "low calorie", "light", "source of protein" and "high protein" are nutrition claims with legal conditions. A dish can only be called "high protein", for example, if at least 20% of its energy comes from protein, and there's a set limit for "low energy" too. General words like "healthy" can only be used alongside a specific approved health claim. The government's guidance is clear that this covers menus, leaflets and websites, not just packaged food.

To use any of those words honestly we'd need measured nutrition figures for each dish, and we don't have them. So we don't use them, and we won't guess. What follows is a description of ingredients, not a nutrition claim.

Dishes built around chicken or fish

Our ten pollo (chicken) dishes are chicken fillets, sliced or in pieces, finished in a sauce, with no pasta or bread in the dish. Three of them use a tomato sauce with no cream, going by our recipes and our allergen table:

• Pollo Cacciatora: chicken in arrabbiata (spicy tomato) sauce with black olives, fresh basil and chilli flakes.
• Pollo Funghi Piccante: chicken and mushrooms in arrabbiata.
• Pollo Verdure: chicken in Italian tomato sauce with mushrooms, sweetcorn, onions and peppers.

Six are made with double cream or a cheese sauce, and the menu says so: the Funghetto, Al Creama, Parmigiano, Salsa Rosa, Diavola and the Creamy Coconut Chicken Curry. The tenth, the Chicken Curry, is chicken in our homemade curry sauce.

Elsewhere on the menu, you can:

• Add sliced chicken fillets to any pizza or pasta dish as an add-on.
• Choose a pasta dish with tuna, prawns or mussels: the Al Tonno, Gamberetti Chilli and Marinara are all tomato-based.
• Have the Chilli Con Carne, made in the shop with kidney beans, garlic, chilli and cumin, with boiled rice.

There's more on these in our guide to chicken dishes and risotto.

Salads

We have a Caprese Salad: sliced beef tomatoes layered with buffalo mozzarella, finished with olive oil, oregano and basil. It works as a starter, or next to a pizza that two people share.

Tomato sauce or cream

Our pasta sauces fall into two families, and the menu tells you which is which:

• Tomato-based, no cream: Arrabbiata, Amatriciana, Al Ivanos, Al Tonno, Gamberetti Chilli, Marinara, Pollo Arrabbiata, Vegetariana, Funghi Piccante, Speciale Al Pomodoro, Diavola and Bolognese.
• Made with cream or cheese: the Imperiale family, Carbonara, Boscaiola, Campagnola, Cardinale, the Quattro Formaggi dishes, Al Creama, Funghetto and Macaroni Cheese, among others.

If you'd rather not have cream, the first list is the place to look. If you're not sure about a dish, ask us: we'd rather tell you what's in it than have you guess.

Pizza: size, toppings and cheese

Our pizzas are Romana style, with a thin, crisp base rather than a deep pan. A few things you can control:

• Size. Most pizzas come in 10-inch and 12-inch. The 10-inch is about 30% smaller in area than the 12-inch.
• Toppings. Vegetable toppings (mushrooms, peppers, onions, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes and more) can be added one by one, so you can build a pizza around vegetables rather than cured meats.
• Cheese. You can choose no cheese on any classic pizza at no extra charge, or swap to vegan mozzarella.
• Extra cheese is an add-on, so if you don't want it, it isn't there.

More about the style in our article on Romana thin-crust pizza.

Share, and keep the rest

Two people sharing one 12-inch pizza and a Caprese salad is a simple order. So is one pasta dish shared with a side. Our pasta and chicken dishes are made as single meals, so sharing one is your call, not ours. If there's some left, our guide to storing and reheating leftovers has Food Standards Scotland's advice.

Fried food, and what to have instead

Everything from our fryers, the chips, onion rings, panzanelle, fish and so on, is deep-fried in beef dripping. If you'd rather avoid deep-fried food, boiled rice from the sides goes with any chicken dish or the chilli, and the Caprese salad goes with anything.

Drinks

As well as the full-sugar drinks, we have Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, still water and San Pellegrino sparkling water.

Ordering

Once we reopen, Thursday to Sunday, 4pm to 10pm, order at ivanos.uk for collection from 11 Whitesands, Dumfries DG1 2RR, or delivery across most of the town.

Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, Annex (nutrition claims and their conditions), as it applies in Great Britain
• Department of Health and Social Care, Nutrition and health claims: guidance to compliance with Regulation (EC) 1924/2006, updated 10 November 2021
• Food Standards Scotland, guidance to compliance with Regulation (EC) 1924/2006

All opened on 3 October 2026.

Have an allergy? Please read our allergen information and tell us before you order.

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