Carlton, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Always a real treat to visit” – this well-established local institution is to be found near the castle in the atmospheric surrounds of the seventeenth century Newdigate House (also home to networking haunt the Nottingham Club), and – especially in summer when its terrace comes into its own – provides “a calm escape from the city streets”. Its rather ambitious food has proved “consistently good” over many years (and even “fabulous” on a good night) and reports this year suggest that it has attained a more consistent standard of late.

“There is a real buzz to this serious foodie venue near central Nottingham” where an “energetic team of chefs deliver a top gastronomic experience” with a “high, Michelin-starred standard of innovation and flavour”. Occupying a converted former Victorian coach house on the Park Estate with brick-vaulted rooms: “once inside, it has a cellar-like vibe that certainly distinguishes it from other culinary destinations in the area”. Sat Bains alumnus Alex Bond focuses on a tasting menu format with five courses for £95 per person and seven courses for £120 per person: “the selection is long on interesting ingredients, and the wine pairings very diverse and excellent”.

“Still at the top of its game” and “very much worth the trip” – Sat & Amanda Bains’s converted motel remains Nottingham’s flagship destination, even if its location leaves a little to be desired (just off a large dual carriageway, next to an industrial estate, beside a National Grid pylon and the concrete banks of the River Trent). Once inside, the stylish interior lives up to the high ambitions of the extensive tasting menus: either ten courses for £195 per person; or blow out with the 15-course option at £275 per person. In either case, reports say “the flavours are so well-crafted that you want to give each mouthful plenty of time, and before you know it you are well into your third hour”. One or two reporters find it hard to get over the “extortionate price tag”, but even they describe the cooking as “outstanding”. (Aside from the main dining room, which seats 28, other options for a meal include the Tasting Room for 4-6 diners, and the kitchen Tasting Bench for 4 people).

2022 Review: A “long-standing favourite”, this “brisk and friendly” red-brick late-Victorian boozer serves a “splendid range of beers” and a solid food menu[e]. One great fan and regular, though, feels “the dining room feels utilitarian and a little underwhelming compared to the bar”.

This famous country-house “continues to be a great location for special occasions” – more than 40 years after the late Imogen Skirving converted it from her family home. Long-serving exec chef Gary Booth pursued the seasonal and local route – including game from the nearby Belvoir estate – long before it became a bandwagon and continues to win solidly good ratings for his cuisine. The venue still has the personality of a family-run estate, with Imogen’s granddaughter Lila Arora nowadays at the helm.

2023 Review: With its untreated oak tables, black granite surfaces and antler candelabras, chef-patron Nick Gillespie’s unusual and “very quiet” venue makes an appropriate showcase for his distinctive modern British cooking, which provided some reporters’ best meal of the year. “Staff cannot do enough for you.”

Now a restaurant with rooms, thanks to two bedrooms added during the covid-enforced closure, this former village forge has offered “consistently good, high-quality” cuisine for more than 20 years under the ownership of former Savoy chef Danny Jimminson and his wife Sandra. It’s a “relaxed, really enjoyable” venue, with a range of menus from two to seven courses.

“A very welcome addition to Nottingham’s foodie scene” that is attached to the upcoming Island Quarter regeneration project, and thus is “somewhat stranded on a ring road”, but with “great views of the canal” and a superb waterside setting in compensation. ‘MasterChef: The Professionals’ winner Laurence Henry masterminds the “very accomplished and tasty food” (two- or three-course lunch £37/£47 per person, dinner £75 per person), while there’s also praise for the impressive interior – “upscale without being too grand”.