Wollaton. Not only do you get the park of glory, equipped with a beautiful lake and deer friends, but there are a handful of pubs that stick two fingers up to the decline in local community culture by offering up tasty snap as well as somewhere to watch the footy over a pale one.
One of these places is The Wollaton. Part of Nottingham’s Moleface Pub Company, The Wollaton keeps up proper pub appearances with a splash of the upmarket. Like the atmosphere, their menu is busy and interesting, sure to cater to the fussiest as well as the more adventurous diners, with a specials menu to boot.
The gastropub is split into two sections, for diners and drinkers, and we didn’t hang about in getting settled into our dining booth with a glass of Pinot grigio and a Harvest Pale. Before we could say “I’m starving”, we were brought some lovely thick bread with olives, rapeseed oil and black treacle vinegar, as well as some marrowfat pea and mint hummus. All delicious. A bit too much in fact, as we ended up wolfing down one too many slices.
For starters, I had a feta cheese salad with pickled peaches and salted caramel hazelnuts (£6). There were some generous slabs of feta to balance out the tartness of the intriguing pickled peaches, and the combination of a forkful with the hazelnuts was a big hitter. Well thought out with a nostalgic hint of popcorn to tickle the tastebuds. My dining partner had roast chicken and stuffing terrine with green tomato chutney and toast (£6.50) which added to the bread overload, but worthily. Like a compressed Sunday dinner, but with beautiful chutney to give it a kick up the rear.
Choosing a main was difficult, but we went for the slow-cooked beef goulash with orzo pasta and sour cream (£12.50), and pan-fried sea bass with saffron potatoes, chorizo, red peppers and broad beans (£15). It was all as good as it sounds, especially the sea bass. With everything soaked in juicy chorizo oil, and the crispy outer layer of the fish linking arms with soft potato, it was definitely the winner.
That being said, the goulash was delicious, albeit a little heavy after the mountain of food we’d already eaten. The beef fell apart, but held a strong, salty flavour and sat perfectly with the pasta-rice hybrid.
It’s not very often I can’t manage a pud, but we were well and truly stuffed. With impeccable service, indulging was effortless and enjoyable. I’ll definitely return to attack that dessert menu with a vengeance.
Lambourne Drive, Wollaton, NG8 1GR. 0115 928 8610
molefacecompany.co.uk
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
