Best restaurants in Nottingham Published 16 January 2025
Nottingham’s restaurants reflect the city’s vibrant and creative spirit, offering exceptional food in settings that range from modern fine dining to relaxed neighbourhood favourites. With a focus on seasonal ingredients and thoughtful cooking, these venues deliver dishes that leave a lasting impression.
Located in the heart of the East Midlands, Nottingham is home to restaurants that celebrate quality and creativity. Explore our guide to the best restaurants in Nottingham and discover where to enjoy a truly memorable meal.
A visit to Alex Bond's city-centre restaurant is a voyage of exploration in every sense. Alchemilla occupies the cellar of a Victorian coach-house; surrounded by worn brick walls, the interior is a fascinating blend of industrial … Read more
A visit to Alex Bond's city-centre restaurant is a voyage of exploration in every sense. Alchemilla occupies the cellar of a Victorian coach-house; surrounded by worn brick walls, the interior is a fascinating blend of industrial and ancient, with red-brick arches lit through concreted skylights and narrow-paned, misted windows. Smartly uniformed staff curate the experience with appreciable cheer, and most tables afford a view of the huge, busy kitchen. Initial nibbles are sensational, from a potato tortilla topped with Cheddar cream, shaved white truffle and sherry vinegar gel to a perfectly formed spherical doughnut filled with 'nduja XO jam, adorned with a sliver of cured scallop and dill mayo. The all-but-inescapable proliferation of east Asian ingredients and seasonings is mostly handled with dazzling panache, as is evident from an exhilarating course of lobster tail with kimchi purée, pickled squash and confit lemon, overliad with a garnish of fennel cress, basil and shiso. Not every dish registers as a ringing triumph, however: the meat course on the seven-course tasting menu, a small piece of pink venison with artichoke purée, glazed quince and a cheesy tartare, with a bitter chocolate smear, highlighted what can happen when individually fine elements are not sufficiently balanced against each other. Dessert compositions offer the most intriguing kind of challenge. A teacake with blackcurrant meringue and beetroot jam is a Proustian evocation of the Scottish Tunnock, while a savoury kombu ice cream covered in puffed rice with Japanese vinegar, anointed in vanilla oil, stops provocatively short of being sweet at all. The sourdough bread, with its wafer-thin crust and wholegrain crumb, may well be the best for miles around. An enterprising wine list, with terse flavour-wheel tasting descriptors, could do with a more extensive (and imaginative) by-the-glass selection, but there is an appreciable attempt to find interesting new flavours in its various territories.
Since relocating to this former Victorian banking hall not far from Market Square more than a decade ago, Delilah Fine Foods has cemented its reputation as a real asset for shoppers and a boon for foodies in Nottingham. Combining … Read more
Since relocating to this former Victorian banking hall not far from Market Square more than a decade ago, Delilah Fine Foods has cemented its reputation as a real asset for shoppers and a boon for foodies in Nottingham. Combining the virtues of a deli, café and all-purpose eatery under one roof, it allows customers to cosy up at the communal wooden bar or sit among the well-stocked aisles surrounded by shelves of comestibles. Fill up on breakfast until noon (think granola, sausage brioche rolls, big fry-ups and eggs every which way). After that, lunch brings a choice of platters, plus a swag-bag of global dishes ranging from bruschetta with wild mushrooms and cavolo nero to burgers with ‘posh pickle’ or lamb kofta with heritage carrots, bulgur wheat, chickpeas, spinach, pomegranate and tahini dressing. They even do fondues for two, as well as croques and deli-style sandwiches. If you crave something sweet, look no further than the splendid array of cakes, pastries, tray bakes and sweet breads. Drinks are all present and correct too, from single-origin coffees and loose-leaf teas to Old World wines and beers from Nottinghamshire breweries.
Skewers and small-plate thrills in a hot-ticket izakaya
Most izakaya restaurants in Japan are in tucked-away locations within the city, and Kushi-Ya, which moved to a new address in 2024, has found its own home along a gated walkway off a side-street in the centre of Nottingham. Blond … Read more
Most izakaya restaurants in Japan are in tucked-away locations within the city, and Kushi-Ya, which moved to a new address in 2024, has found its own home along a gated walkway off a side-street in the centre of Nottingham. Blond wood and dark-blue tiles are lightened by big windows, and there's an outdoor terrace too – making the most of the East Midlands sunshine. A quotient of tables is kept free for those who arrive on spec, although it's walk-ins only for sub-£20 lunches.
The name means ‘skewer-shop’, and a range of speared items forms the centrepiece of the menu: chicken tsukune with egg yolk and beef with black garlic mustard were both hugely pleasing at our visit. Also look to the specials, where more unusual offerings such as duck hearts are often to be had. Before those appear, do not miss the prawn toasts.We cannot stress this enough. Little barrels of toast are piped full of the prawn filling and served with furikake and savoury mayo. You'll never forget them. A plate of excellent pickles sharpens the appetite in every sense, with red radish and daikon, mushrooms and cucumber, all prickling with acidity. Our special of mackerel crudo with shiso and high-grade wasabi gained from the intensely savoury mayo in which it was bound.
A small-plates selection encompasses a clever Japanese/Korean prawn cocktail as well as soy-braised pork shoulder with condiments for the meatily inclined. Finish with the supremely well-balanced pairing of black-sugar parfait with a charred sesame-seed crisp or the sweet-and-sour combination of matcha cheesecake and lime meringue. A concise drinks list includes cups and cans of sake, Koshu wine, Japanese whiskies and an exciting cocktail range. Anyone for a gochujang Old-Fashioned (whisky, pineapple rum and gochujang-honey syrup)?
Langar Hall announces itself with aristocratic swagger at the end of an avenue of lime trees. Step inside, however, and you'll see that this is no stuffy country house hotel, but rather a place that marches to its own lively and i… Read more
Langar Hall announces itself with aristocratic swagger at the end of an avenue of lime trees. Step inside, however, and you'll see that this is no stuffy country house hotel, but rather a place that marches to its own lively and idiosyncratic drumbeat – the dining room sees Grecian statues flanking the fireplace and foliage sprouting from the chandelier. There's also a sturdy timber bar for cold winter nights, and a conservatory for summer days gazing over freshly mown lawns. The kitchen also seizes on produce that evolves with the turn of the seasons – some of it plucked from the garden outside. To begin, there might be a serving of veal sweetbread with katsu curry, carrot and ginger, or you could go with the stridently old-school twice-baked cheese soufflé – a year-round presence on the menu. Mains are dominated by hearty, generous flavours: fillet of Blackberry Farm beef with oyster, Guinness, Stilton and sprouting broccoli, or perhaps a dish of Goosnargh duck breast and confit leg with chicory, red cabbage and blood orange. To close, an ensemble of mango tofu, coconut cake and passion fruit provides a refreshing coda. An assortment of cheeses also wait in the wings, including Colston Bassett Stilton sourced from only a few fields away. The thoughtfully assembled wine list offers plenty of possibilities, though eyes often drift towards the imaginative cocktail menu.
Highly distinctive, high-end cuisine in an unlikely setting
An oasis off Nottingham’s thundering A52 ring road, Sat and Amanda Bains’ singular restaurant with rooms reminded one inspector of a smart Burgundian auberge (despite the electricity pylons and industrial estate nearby… Read more
An oasis off Nottingham’s thundering A52 ring road, Sat and Amanda Bains’ singular restaurant with rooms reminded one inspector of a smart Burgundian auberge (despite the electricity pylons and industrial estate nearby). The couple have invested much time and effort here, while a major refurb in 2022 saw the reception area expanded and the number of covers in the earthy-toned dining room reduced – allowing space for a new sommelier’s station; in addition, a kitchen bench and chef's table offer the chance to sit closer to the chefs at work. Above all, the ambience is more relaxed and less reverential than at some of Bains’ fine-dining peers – thanks to a dedicated team of professional staff who go the extra mile to ensure diners get the maximum enjoyment from their visit.
In the kitchen, meanwhile, Bains continues to steer his own highly distinctive course. From the introductory ‘interplay of five tastes’ to the rose-scented geranium ice cream covered with candy floss on a stick, his cooking references the defining motifs of modern cuisine, taking in everything from Escoffier’s rich dark saucing to on-trend pickling, foraging and smoking. Occasionally a dish seems ill-conceived, or its impact gets lost in translation, but a recent visit proved that head chef John Freeman and his team can deliver seriously insightful food with real confidence and panache.
Standouts ranged from an utterly moreish new potato, charred over hot embers and topped with a creamy whey sauce, pickled onions, a dusting of Périgord truffle, a dollop of N25 caviar and some crispy potatoes to a superb, light tart of aged venison with an umami hit from ceps, lichen and pine. A clever cheese course involving a choux bun filled with Baron Bigod, thinly sliced Granny Smith apple, pear gel and shaved black truffle added yet more excitement, while a brilliant ‘crossover’ from savoury to sweet pitched the pungent heat of a silky horseradish panna cotta against the texture and iciness of a Granny Smith granita. Best of all, a layering of chocolate ‘soil’, dark chocolate sponge and various riffs on parsnip (sponge, crisp, ice cream), all finished with white chocolate, amaretto cherry and droplets of aged balsamic, showcased the exceptional skills required to bring a host of disparate components together.
Like everything else here, the wine list is the result of careful thinking, foresight and hard work: the full line-up is packed with interesting bottles from across the globe, easily accessible by price or region. At £45, a LDN Cru 'Baker Street' Bacchus 2021 represents the bottom line, and there are more than 40 by the glass.
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