Nottingham has an incredible array of places to eat. From the finest Michelin-starred restaurants to a humble chippy, offering an inordinate variety of fish, there is something to please all tastes and budgets.
Unique, exquisite and beautifully crafted dishes feature in tasting menus at acclaimed restaurants which attract food lovers from far and wide. Some are small and unassuming, hidden away down side streets and alleyways, but their reputations have rocketed once word got out just how good they are.
Here's our our round-up of the best spots in town.
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Restaurant Sat Bains
There's only six counties with a two Michelin-starred restaurant outside London, and Nottinghamshire is one of them. No one has put the city on the foodie map more than chef Sat Bains and his dedicated team.
The restaurant, which downsized to 28 covers this year, offers a unique experience where imaginative flavours, textures and temperatures take the diner by surprise. It's out of this world say those who've challenged their taste buds, and sometimes stepped outside their comfort zone.
Never standing on their laurels, the menu constantly changes and evolves. Latest dishes on the ten-course tasting menu, priced at £195 a head, include Chou-Farci, which is oxtail, duck liver, truffle, sweetbread and Sauce Périgueux. Local produce doesn't get more local than the honey from the restaurant's own beehives which is used in one of the desserts.
Location: Lenton Lane, Nottingham, NG7 2SA
Cleaver & Wake
Nottingham's newest fine dining restaurant is headed up by Laurence Henry, the winner of MasterChef: The Professionals 2018. It won't be long before this stylish 85-seater restaurant starts winning accolades.
The restaurant stands above Binks Yard, the new casual dining and entertainment space at the £1billion Island Quarter - and both are proving a welcome addition at what was once wasteland. Unique cocktails such as the vivid green Rewilding come with complex flavours and layers and layers of taste - the perfect way to tease your taste buds about what's to come.
Ring-side seats overlooking the open kitchen allow diners to watch chefs in action as they turn out dishes such as oxtail, with black garlic, ox tongue, mustard emulsion and onion consommé and middle white pork belly with pickled fennel and burnt apple puree.
The triple cooked chips are great but the silky, buttery pomme purée is perfection. Desserts are picture-perfect but more importantly taste delicious. Chocolate, hazelnut, blackberry and cep is an unusual take on Black Forest. Expect to pay around £100 each for three courses and drinks.
Location: The Island Quarter, 1a The Great Northern Close, Nottingham, NG2 3BJ
Alchemilla
Alex Bond's restaurant was awarded a Michelin star for 2020 and the chef has become a recognisable face on TV cookery programmes such as the Great British Menu, Snackmasters and most recently joining the judges on MasterChef: The Professionals.
Since opening in 2017, the fine dining restaurant has wowed food lovers in the stunning surroundings of a red-brick building where carriages were stored in the 19th century for a former coach house. Also ranking 14th in the Harden's Top 100, the restaurant serves five, seven and ten-course tasting menus featuring dishes where planted-based ingredients are often the star of the show.
Expect to experience BBQ lobster with spiced squash, burnt lemon, yuzu and kimchi and kombu ice cream with vanilla oil, 20-year-old mirin and Wiltshire Truffles.
Location: 192 Derby Rd, Nottingham, NG7 1NF
Kushi-ya
What a phenomenal year it has been for the tiny Japanese-inspired restaurant that's tucked away at the bottom of an alleyway, off Long Row. First, restaurant critic Jay Raynor hailed it his 'restaurant of the year' in his review in October, although we're surprised it's taken until now as we've been championing Kushi-ya ever since crowning it best newcomer in the 2019 Nottinghamshire Food and Drink Awards.
There was more to come when the intimate restaurant received a Michelin recommendation just a few days later, leading to lunchtime queues as diners were keen to sample it for themselves. The menu consists of skewers of meat and vegetables, cooked over a charcoal grill, snacks, small plates and specials such as tuna tartare with Avruga caviar, edamame and rice crackers - all served from a compact open kitchen.
No meal is complete without one of the delicious desserts with a Japanese twist such as matcha cheesecake, black sugar parfait, sesame crisp or Tira-miso. Best of all, a visit to Kushi-ya won't break the bank.
Location: 1A Cannon Court, Nottingham, NG1 6JE
Bar Gigi
The Italian restaurant has it all: mouth-watering food, beautiful surroundings and friendly service. It's located on the first floor within one of Nottingham's most iconic buildings, Flying Horse Walk, where parts of the architecture date back to the 14th century.
But there's nothing remotely old and stuffy about the restaurant, with its modern dynamic vibe, neon signs and even a classic Italian Fiat 500 on display. The menu never stands still which is just want regulars want. Dishes include burrata with roasted golden beets, pork belly rib with apricot ketchup, and octopus with oregano cream.
Sides of parmesan pillows and panzanella salad with fresh juicy tomatoes are a firm favourite.
Location: 15 Flying Horse Walk, Nottingham, NG1 2HN
Mesa
Small plates designed for sharing or bigger plates that you'll want to keep all to yourself make up the menu at Mesa. The buzzing Hockley restaurant sprang onto the food and drink scene in May 2021 in a former Pizza Express.
It has been wowing diners ever since with its ever-changing line-up of fusion cuisine. The aged beef cheeseburger has been hailed 'a thing of absolute wonder' and other standout dishes include pastrami cured salmon, charred tenderstem broccoli with yuzu flavoured shallots and hoisin and black garlic lamb ribs.
The man behind the menu is Marcus Lewsley, who left his job as helicopter engineer during the pandemic to follow his passion for cooking.
Location: 24-26 Goose Gate, Nottingham, NG1 1FF
Everyday People
Another MasterChef success story, Pete Hewitt, branched out as Asian street food trader Home Boys after reaching the finals of the TV cookery show in 2015. Last year he opened his own restaurant, tucked away down a side street, which specialises in ramen and small plates.
Dishes packed full of flavour are served in fuss-free surroundings - simple white topped tables, burgundy tiling, yellow pillars and white walls. A cacophony of chatter, background music and clank of cooking pans create a bustling Asian-style canteen atmosphere.
A couple of snacks such as pickles and prawn crackers are a good way to kick off before getting down to the serious business of small plates of corn dogs brought to life with gochujang, kewpie and honey mustard, and bao buns with pink Creedy Carver duck breast, or ramen bowls with duck, pork belly and kombu dashi and roasted vegetables.
Keep your eye on the specials board too. Recent offering have included a duck donut, Guinness braised beef shin with an Asian twist and Taiwanese fried chicken sandwiches.
Location: 12 Byard Lane, Nottingham, NG1 2GJ
Bar Iberico
On a wet midweek night when other restaurants are quiet, you will always find this award-winning tapas bar buzzing. In summer, the street terrace is a major draw for alfresco dining.
In casual, laid-back, surroundings, small plates for sharing are served, with a twist to the usual Spanish flavours. Tapas, pinchos, charcuterie and cheese boards, and wood-fired flatbreads are on the menu, which changes every so often. Currently you'll find flat iron steak, with mushroom, black garlic butter and tarragon, and salt-baked beetroot carpaccio.
But there's one favourite that you can always rely on. Expect outrage if the crispy chicken with spicy Jerez sauce was ever taken off, or the veggie cauliflower alternative.
Anyone looking for a special deal, the menu rapido offers sourdough and two dishes from the tapas or Josper Grill section for £14.95.
Location: 17-19 Carlton Street, Nottingham, NG1 1NL
MemSaab
Nottingham is blessed with many award-winning Indian restaurants and one of the finest is MemSaab. Regional specialities are served in opulent surroundings with ornate pillars and colourful modern artwork.
It's no surprise that it is popular with India's cricket team when they visit Trent Bridge and celebrities such as Nottingham's own Vicky McClure and Cliff Richard. Impeccable service combined with excellent food keep customers returning - and recommending it.
One of the most unusual dishes on the menu is tandoori ostrich, flavoured with garlic and red chilli. You won't find that at any other local curry houses. Other standout starters are Lahori lamb chops and paneer achari shashlik.
Whether you're a meat eater, fish lover or vegetarian looking for a spicy hit or something milder you'll find a main you'll enjoy. Butter chicken, the jumbo king prawns in the sigri jhingha or Goan vegetable curry, will leave you satisfied.
Location: 12-14 Maid Marian Way, Nottingham, NG1 6HS
The Lobster Pot
Behind the modest blue frontage awaits a seafood lovers dream. It's a bonus if you're into Thai food as the menu combines both. The chefs were recently in the spotlight when they won Come Dine With Me: The Professionals on Channel 4, in which they competed against three other Nottingham restaurants.
The showstopper dish is lobster served with garlic butter or cheese sauce but there's so much more with mussels, oysters, a range of king prawn dishes, sea bass, salmon and swordfish. The ultimate treat is a shellfish platter for £79.95 with lobster, scallops, oysters, crevettes, mussels, crab and prawns, served with two sides.
The Thai twist comes in dishes such as Thai green curry mussels and spicy king prawn ga pow. There's even more Thai-influenced dishes at its sister restaurant in Beeston.
Location: 199 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FS
The Cod's Scallops
The award-winning chippy elevates the humble takeaway with a dining in experience at restaurants in Wollaton, Carrington and West Bridgford (plus Long Eaton in Derbyshire). Around 20 species of fish can be cooked fresh to order - not just battered but also grilled or 'naked.'
As well as the standard cod and haddock, choose from sea bass, hake, scampi, salmon and monkfish. Whelks, cockles and mussels bring a taste of the seaside inland.
Homemade pies, sausages, battered halloumi and black pudding fritters are other favourites at the licensed restaurants where customers can enjoy a glass of wine or The Cod's Scallops own branded ale or lager. Completing the picture are mouth-watering puddings such as lemon mousse, raspberry and ginger, sticky toffee pudding and banoffee toffee popcorn sundaes.
Location: 170 Bramcote Lane, Wollaton NG8 2QP/311-313 Mansfield Road, Carrington NG5 2DA/Wilford Lane Retail Park, West Bridgford NG2 7BS
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