One of Nottingham's Best Eateries' - We Went to Check out Bar Gigi
To get to the point rather quickly, we are lucky to have a restaurant like Bar Gigi in Nottingham, and I feel I've wasted a lot of time not wining and dining here as much as I should have. However, that is about to change, because I’ve stumbled across a true gem.
In fact, in my humble opinion, I’d go as far as to say that this is one of Nottingham's best eateries, and it's smoothly slotted into one of my top favourite restaurants to visit in the city. This Italian-style bar and restaurant is set in an impressive 14th century building in Flying Horse Walk, housed above luxury clothing boutique Gigi Bottega. Inspired by a trip to Milan Fashion Week, the concept is inspired by the cosmopolitan Milanese way of living. I can get on board with that.
As you come up the stairs of the listed building you are greeted with a display of fashion magazine covers, as well as, rather surprisingly, a lime green original 1958 Fiat 500 - a nod to Italy’s iconic car. How they got that in there, I will never know.
The premises is also home to a wine cave and cellar – afterall, it wouldn’t be Nottingham without a little cave action, now would it? Cantine Dell’Angelo, which was found by a fortuitous accident during repairs and later restored to a wine cellar, is available for group bookings with the cave spanning to a hundred metres with the capacity to hold up to 80, 000 bottles of wine. Yes please.
The premises is also home to a wine cave and cellar – afterall, it wouldn’t be Nottingham without a little cave action, now would it?
The menu offering isn’t your typical fare of pizza and pasta; the menu serves modern Italian small plates with a few options of bigger plates for mains. They recommended two or three small plates per person, however, I noticed that the portion sizes were quite generous, and we ended up over-ordering again - but nothing new there.
It's been some time since a restaurant's food has left me awestruck. I'm a lover of vegetarian food so I mainly stuck with veggie plates, and each perfect dish ticked all the boxes. Our rather hefty order to share consisted of fried courgette flowers filled with ricotta and honey, artichoke with cannellini beans, as well as a giant, show-stopping scamorza arancini. We also indulged in a rich and decadent butternut and gorgonzola risotto, and for the meat-eater: chicken Milanese with ‘nduja ketchup. And if you don’t include a portion of the celebrated parmesan pillows you will be doing yourself a disservice.
If you're after top notch service in town, it must be noted that Bar Gigi excels in this too and is not to be missed.
Find them at 1st Floor, 15 Flying Horse Walk, Nottingham NG1 2HN
For bookings visit bargigi.co.uk
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