Exquisite, inventive dishes have helped two Nottingham restaurants shoot up the rankings in the National Restaurant Awards 2022 - and the owner of the restaurant named the best in the country previously trained at one of them.
The annual ratings are calculated from the votes of more than 200 experts including chefs and critics who submit their best restaurant experiences over the past 12 months across the UK. The scores take into consideration the quality of the food, service, atmosphere and price.
Welsh restaurant Ynyshir tops the table. The "antithesis of a boring country house hotel" in Machynlleth, Powys, offers a tasting menu described as "in-your-face, Asian-influenced food and a rambunctious atmosphere."
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Head chef and owner Gareth Ward previously worked as sous chef at Restaurant Sat Bains. He said things really took off in terms of creativity during his three-year stint in the kitchen.
It's no surprise that Nottingham's Michelin-starred maestros feature in the list - but their positions have taken a leap since last year. Two Michelin-starred Restaurant Sat Bains, which says "every ingredient we use has to be the best we can afford", has gone from 54th in the list to 39th.
The £195-a-head tasting menu includes dishes such as lobster consommé, bisque and brown butter ice cream and lamb with an 'NG7 ratatouille' of BBQ vegetables and shoots from the restaurant garden.
Earlier this year the restaurant, in Lenton Lane, was given a makeover and the number of covers was reduced to improve the experience for diners. The definitive guide to the UK's best restaurants said: "Sat Bains’ Nottingham ‘working class two-star’ restaurant is one of the most influential in the UK.
"At his restaurant, Bains is in search of perfection. He’s constantly tweaking and playing with ideas, meaning that a dish one week may have morphed into something different the week after. What you are guaranteed to get, however, is a meal of extraordinary flair and with a sense of humour at times."
Nottingham's one Michelin-starred Alchemilla has gone up from 81 to 70 in the list. Alex Bond's restaurant in Derby Road conjures up five, seven and ten-course tasting menus.
Roasted scallop, coffee koji butter sauce and kaluga hybrid caviar and aged beef with burnt aubergine and smoked egg yolk are the kind of magical dishes diners can expect beneath the redbrick vaulted arches of a Victorian property. "It’s bracingly creative, high-contrast stuff that puts flavour first and foremost," said the guide.
"Alchemilla burst onto Nottingham’s restaurant scene in 2018 and is now firmly established as one of the UK’s most progressive restaurants. Wine prices are kept in check via policy of championing lesser known producers and regions and the service is relaxed, resulting in an overall experience that’s far more accessible – dare we say it even democratic – than that offered by the majority of Bond’s peers."
