Everyday People Nottingham- Ramen and More Review

We stumbled across Everyday People last summer during a night out. We were heading down Byard Lane from the Hockley end and headed for Pepper Rocks for a Cocktail when we saw their lights on and their menu board had us intrigued.

By the end of the year, we'd returned on three separate occasions for their amazing Ramen and had planned a Christmas Eve visit only to find they were closing. Kudos ton them for giving the team time off over the festive period. 

Two of our favorite dishes have been Everyday People's Shoyu and Tan Tan Ramen. 

The Shoyu features Packington Free Range Pork Belly in a Chicken and Dashi soup, Shoyu Tare, think Hakata Noodles as well as Nori and a soy marinated egg. 

Whereas the Tan Tan keeps with the Packington Free Range Pork along with a helping of spicy minced Pork in a Chicken and Pork Paitan Soup matched with a Sesame and Szechuan Pepper Tare.

Just before Christmas we also got to sample Everyday People's take on a Rarebit too. 

Alongside their Miso Ramen

Everyday People 

12 Byard Ln, Nottingham NG1 2GJ

An Evening at Donington Manor Hotel

 The COVID Pandemic has been tough across the hospitality industry. We've lost a lot of businesses which been burdened by the circumstances or struggled to adapt amid adjustments to consumer habits. We recently received an invite to visit Donington Manor Hotel after an extended search for a new head chef to help them drive forwards.

The Donington Manor Hotel will have head chef Craig Riley to spearhead their restaurant from 11th January 2023 with bookings available Wednesday- Saturday 6.30pm- 8.30pm as well as Sunday's Midday- 2.30pm. The menu will encompass modern British food.

We visited for a Canape Evening including a selection of classics as photographed-including 

• Duck Liver Parfait with Onion Jam
• Goats Cheese Mouse with Truffled Honey (In beautiful variations of pastry including Spinach and Beetroot)
• Pear and Blue Cheese
• Cured Salmon with Horseradish and Cucumber
• Bruschetta
• Beef Tartare
• Welsh Rarebit
• Truffle Arancini with Mushroom Ketchup
• Ham Hock with Burnt Apple
• Croque Monsieur
• Crab with Avocado 
• Cheddar Goujere
• Glazed Pork Belly

Truffle Arancini with Mushroom Ketchup pictured center. 

Pear and Blue Cheese in a beautiful pastry. 

Croque Monsieur pictured left. 

Our favorites were the Beef Tartare which packed a punch, the Croque Monsieur was a lovely take on a mini cheese toasty and was devoured by our table very quickly. The Truffle Arancini was an interesting take on a Sicilian Classic with a fantastic Mushroom Ketchup and the Glazed Pork Belly was Moorish with a fantastic crunch.

Pictured Center is the Hazelnut Sponge with White Chocolate Curd

Desserts included 

• Mini Lemon Tarts
• Chocolate Brownie
• Sticky Toffee Pudding
• Baileys Profiteroles
• Hazelnut Sponge with White Chocolate Curd

Mini Lemon Tart (Left) and Sticky Toffee Pudding (Right)

We really loved the Hazelnut Sponge with White Chocolate Curd and Bailey's Profiteroles from the dessert section. 

And all this was washed down with a generous amount of Prosecco. 

We'll definitely be heading back to Donington Manor Hotel and are very tempted by their Mother's Day Menu with 3 courses for £35.

For More information please visit 

https://doningtonmanorhotel.co.uk/

Donington Manor Hotel 

High Street 

Castle Donington 

DE74 2PP

Phone: 01332 810253

Visiting the Orangery at St Elphin's Park

Derbyshire Food at it's Finest on the Edge of the Peak District

Having cycled up and down the A6 between Matlock and Darley Dale many times over the years I've witnessed the development of Audley St Elphin's Park. A former Grammar School that's been transformed into a very impressive looking retirement village. The development looks fantastic, the kind of place I'd consider living myself even as a 35 year old.

When you think of a retirement village you wouldn't think that there would be a fantastic restaurant and leisure facilities open to the general public unless you really were in the know and that's where in some ways our visit falls in. We were invited to sample the menu and take in the impressive surroundings to make up our own mind and were very impressed.

The team pride themselves on offering a very seasonal menu with high standards of presentation and service. We were also rather impressed by the pricing with main courses priced around what you'd expect locally for pub food making this a very viable option if you're not looking to overindulge your wallet

The Orangery Bar and Restaurant at St Elphin's Park near Matlock

We opted to try the Orangery's Tasting Menu which is £40 each. Certainly not the realm of a light lunch however if you're looking for an alternative for Date Night or a celebration it would work very well indeed. On the night we attended there were couples dining and a large group celebrating a 90th birthday party had not long left- the settings actually worked well for both situations.

The Orangery's Homemade Soda Bread with Truffle Butter

Carly Visits Chef Karl Tylers Pop Up Supper Club

Around the World with Chef Karl Tyler

Whilst it would be great for us to attend every invite we receive it's not always possible. Sometimes on those occasions the invites we get are too good to miss so when we received an offer to visit the first of Chef Karl Tyler's Pop Up Supper Club's in Nottingham-we offered the opportunity to close friend Carly to visit in our absence. 

Carly's no amateur when it comes to food and has helped on pieces for the blog before. Her partner is a Chef at one of Nottingham's best known restaurants and she's very much a foodie at heart and willing to travel the length of the country for good food. 

Part of the dining room within Cobden Chambers

Chef Karl's pop up supper club was held at Cobden Chambers, off Pelham Street in the Lace Market. Its a large modern loft style building which was beautifully and elegantly dressed for the evening,

Taste Testing Las Iguanas New Menu

With so many choices of different restaurants across Nottingham we're pretty sure your taste buds could travel around the world in a lot less than 80 days in the city although Latin American options are relatively sparse in comparison to the cuisines from the rest of the world. 

Last week we visited Las Iguanas Nottingham to sample some of their new menu. Aside from a visit last year to celebrate National Vegan Day it's somewhere that's never really been on our radar however it's very rare that we turn down an opportunity for a blog review so a big thank you to Las Iguanas and Gemini PR for the invite.

Las Iguanas pride themselves in offering the flavours of South America so expect  plenty of variety on the menus. They also offer all of their cocktails as 2 for the price of 1 however there's disappointingly no option to mix and match in that offer so you have to choose something you really really like the sound of instead of taking a chance on something you're not sure of. We'd have liked to have seen the option for different cocktails to allow you to try multiple off the menu to see what's right for you for future.

We opted for a Huana Party (£9.75 on 2for1) and Espresso Martini (£10.75 on 2for1)

Fancy a Huana Party?

The Huana Party came in a standard hi-ball glass and looked a little disappointing compared to those others were receiving in some pretty fancy glasses around us. The menu said it contained Beefeater Gin, Huana Guanabana Rum Liquor, Funkin Passionfuit, Bottlegreen Elderflower and Apple though all we really got was the passionfruit flavour. Adding in the elderflower was drowned out by the overpowering passionfruit mix.

Jemma visits Kayal Indian restaurant

Jemma visits Kayal Indian restaurant

Kayal Nottingham

8 Broad Street, Nottingham NG1 3AL ·

http://www.kayalrestaurant.com/

I’ve been eyeing this place up for a little while but never seem to have the chance to go and try. So when over the Christmas period I had a girly meet up with one of my closest friends for gossip and to give each other Christmas gifts it seemed the perfect opportunity. My friend Carly had never eaten here and we both love a good curry.

Poori Bread is a little different to Naan

The atmosphere in the restaurant was rather relaxed considering it was well into the festive period and we found a nice table and were given plenty of time  to decide what wanted to order. There were so many interesting sounding dishes that it took us quite some time to make a decision. 

We both decided on Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum and the Kayal Fish Curry with Poori fried flat bread. No Naan bread in sight on the menu at Kayal however plenty of other interesting options

Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum

The Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum- We really didn’t know what to expect but this came as two dishes. One with the curry and another with dumplings in a mild flavoursome white sauce which could be put into the curry to tone down the heat . The curry itself was between a mild and medium head- delicate in taste with very tender chicken pieces. The dumplings were fluffy as you would expect but the texture added a uniqueness to the curry. The dumplings meant that you wouldn't really need the standard side of rice with the dish and this worked well

The Kayal Fish Curry 

Kayal Fish Curry had a little more to it looking like a masala but had slightly more heat than Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum.  This suited the fish rather well, it  was firm but not overcooked.  Carly would have this curry again hands down.  The sauce was a perfect consistency for the Poori bread to mop up.

We enjoyed both curries but my next visit will be sampling different curries and there is a sampler set menu option where you get bits of this and that to taste.  

There's a Pizzastorm in Nottingham

And it's raining cheese and tomato sauce!

Your Pizza Your Way at Pizzastorm

Originally Inferno Pizza, now Pizzastorm on Milton Street aims to offer Pizza, however you want it. We previously popped in when Inferno first came to town and have to admit we were slightly baffled for the need to change to Pizzastorm- the product was good and the system worked.

Open, spacious dining area

Just before Christmas we popped in to the newly refurbished and rebranded Pizzastorm for a look and decided to pop in and sample some very reasonably priced pizzas. At £6.00 for a signature pizza it sounded exceptional value for money.

The Dirty Mighty Meaty Pizza

We opted for a Dirty Mighty Meaty and an All Day Breakfast Pizza with a side of Mac N Cheese with Bacon. £15.50 for two pizzas and a side sounds pretty good and will no doubt appeal to families whilst out shopping or off to the cinema.

The All Day Breakfast Pizza

The Dirty Mighty Meaty featured plenty of meat. Lots of pepperoni, spicy beef and piri piri checken alongside juicy red jalapeno chillis with plenty of flavour. In terms of toppings I'd like to think it was just right. Any more meat and I'd have expected the pizza to be on the oily side.

The All Day Breakfast was ordered with a soft egg and that's what we got- a SOFT egg. Too often have we requested that in the past with very differing results. I'm not sure where in the world meatballs are eaten for breakfast but they worked well with the bacon sausage, mushrooms and baked beans.

Cool booths with room for 2

Our only slight disappointment in some ways was the Mac N Cheese. At £3.50 it's a pretty much standard 'side' price but in comparison to value shown in the pizza's it somehow felt a bit of a let down. We'd have liked to have either seen either a bigger portion or something lower priced in line with the exceptionally good value of the pizzas.

For £15.50 for two well stocked pizza's and a side we were more than happy with Pizzastorm. The pizzas themselves were of a good size and pretty much a full meal  in itself.

We will happily return at some point in future.