Some food places try to be all things to all people with ridiculously long menus and vast choices. Others focus on one thing - and strive to make it the best they possibly can.
That's The Bagel Project, which as you will guess serves bagels, those bready circles with a hole in the middle. The new shop has opened in the coolest part of the city, at Carlton Street, Hockley.
Opening day got off to a flying start with plenty of customers sinking their teeth into the filling lunchtime alternative to a sandwich or cob. The menu has seven bagel options, priced from £6.50- £7.50.
The bagels come loaded with smoked salmon, cream cheese (either chive or truffle) cucumber, red onion, capers and dill or buffalo chicken with spicy chilli cheese.
Other popular choices are loaded pulled pork with apple and carrot slaw and homemade BBQ sauce, and pastrami with rocket, crispy onion and gherkins. Beetroot, hummus and avocado is the veggie option.
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Coffee, tea and soft drinks are served alongside at the shop, which has tables for eating in, pavement seating and takeaway. One of the first customers was Theresa Hodgson, who works nearby at Littlefish IT services. She said: "I had the smoked salmon and cream cheese. It was beautiful, really good, and very filling.
"I love bagels. I have them most days, but I make my own. I think this is something that the area needed. There's not a sandwich shop. We come out for lunch and and there's not much choice. just lots of coffee shops."
Her colleague, who had opted for loaded pastrami, said it was "amazing". She added: "I've not even finished it, I'm taking it back to work."
The business has been opened by brothers Thomas and Oliver Bohn and Tom Benjamin, who are already experienced operators on the Nottingham food and drink scene. It's based in the former premises of the Bakehouse, which was left empty after a few months as the owners stepped away to spend more time as a family.
The Bagel Project has a new layout, with the counter on the left as customers walk in, where they can see the bagels being made up before their eyes. It's the city's first dedicated bagel shop since the closure of Bagel Nash in Wheeler Gate. It shut in 2018 when the five-year lease came to an end.
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