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Sunday 23 August 2015

OAKS Nottingham

Review OAKS (Nottingham)

The venue is stunning, the smell of the grill and food cooking over burning wood embers excites the senses as you walk in. It's not just a restaurant, but also a really great bar with a good section of cocktails, spirits and craft beers. While we were eating a live singer was setting up and there was also going to be a DJ until 2.00a.m.



From speaking to the staff you can see how passionate they are about the OAKS concept, and food and drinks. They care about the provenance of the produce and the recipes The grill is custom made and they even get the logs sourced locally form the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

To start we had nibbles and cocktails.

We ordered the baked olives, garlic & rosemary. They were divine and I'd go as far as to say the best olives I have ever had! When I asked about them I was told they are marinated and baked for 24 hours.


My wife had a version of the Chilli cooler (I think, we asked the bartender to surprise us) We said no alcohol as she was driving but she liked something like a Mojito and likes ginger beer. I think the mocktail included chilli, agave nectar, lime, mint and ginger beer. The heat from the chilli gave the drink a warming background heat. We both recommend this!



I had the Cuban affair – Havana 7 rum, charred pineapple, fresh ginger, ginger ale. I could have drank these all night.



Mains

When it came to the mains, It was between the Angus beef and bone marrow burger and the softshell crab burger for me. They serve the burgers pink in the middle just as they should be. I went for the softshell crab in tempura & wasabi (as it was something different) with a side of Hand-cut chips. I had a Freedom organic lager to go with it. The burger was amazing. The tempura was so light and crispy and the wasabi had enough zing to let you know it was there, but was not overpowering.  I can't wait to have the Angus and bone marrow burger next time.



My wife went for the Chicken, asparagus, ricotta, sage, lemon zest sausage with a pretzel bun. and a side of hand cut chips. She says it was "really good and really different, would never think of those flavours in a sausage". I had her leftovers as it's a big portion. So So good! The waitress said the chef's actually mix the ingredients in-house and then a local butcher makes the sausages. My wife also says they are the best chips she's ever had.



Homemade sauces. Okay these homemade sauces are so good they get their own paragraph. Mustard and Horseradish, Burnt Tomato Ketchup and Smoked Chilli Brown Sauce. I normally don't even like brown sauce, but this was delectable. They should sell these by the bottle!



We were so full by the end of the meal, but had to try the Bluebell Farm ice cream, we went for the Carrot cake flavour. This like all Bluebell ice creams I have had was amazing. I will have to pick up a tub when I am next in Spondon.

This place gets the ThatFatFoodGuy thumbs up. You have to eat here!

As I dad, I have to say the kids menu is superb value. I know my eldest would love it and I'm my youngest will to when he starts weening.

What They say:

The unique new dining concept on Bromley Place is serving up a signature range of flavoursome handmade sausages created to the chef’s own recipes, with taste sensations ranging from chicken, asparagus, ricotta, sage and lemon zest to wild boar, purple broccoli and smoked mozzarella served with mashed potato.


OAKS is bringing something a little bit different to the city with diners able to watch chefs as they prepare food on the smoking hot grill, using a cooking technique currently only seen in a handful of restaurants in the UK.

I have to use one the venues pictures to show you the #GrillEnvy and some of the Chef's and Staff that made our evening great.


4 comments:

  1. Great review - look forward to trying it out. Cheers

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  2. Cocktails look great, can't wait to try this place.

    Kerry dishydelishy.com

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Great piece of information ! Thanks for all this
    RetailEscaper

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