On Friday I travelled to Nottingham with Nico. We were there to check out a new spot that had opened up, Nottingham Street Food Club. The idea is pretty simple; the space opens each weekend and invites a handful of street food vendors in to serve their signature dishes. No set theme to the cuisine so there's a nice variation each week. We tried everything, purely for research purposes of course. Here's how it was.
NAME: Nottingham Street Food Club
LOCATION:Victoria Centre, Clocktower Dining,
2nd Floor
NG1 3QP Nottingham, United Kingdom
On the menu when we went was a series of Nottingham food spots. a sourdough pizza place, a jerk chicken place, a falafel place and an Asian street food place.
The more I thought about the idea the more I liked it. I love the food halls on Brick Lane and this isn't so dissimilar to that. I like the idea that you can come to this place and you know the food is going to be of a certain standard, and if you really like something then you can go get it again from the spot they usually trade from. An awesome win-win for the Street Food Club and the independent traders. Also, it had the appeal of a food court but on a smaller scale. You and your date can sit and eat completely different things while still enjoying the same settings, ambience and conversation.
The place itself was cool. A few nice little quirks, a lovely island bar in the middle of the space but largely there were no frills. The floor was mainly occupied by long benches like a canteen, and it was down to the vendors occupying the kitchen spaces to decorate their space as they please. It kind of had that feel of a market place. It was bright and open. They just had a Soulection mix playing away. It was a nice environment to do some eating.
The bar served a range of cocktails they felt complimented this weeks menu.
First up was Death By Pizza, an in-house pizza restaurant that lives in Nottingham's Suede Bar. We paid £6 for a chorizo and pepperoni w/ jalapeños. upon asking for the optional jalapeños the woman who was taking our order made some weird remark, say yes, obviously the jalapeños would come on the pizza... as they're part of the pizza. I reminded her that her menu said optional. She stopped ramping and started making our pizza.
The pizza was just pizza. This was one of the more expensive things we ate while we were there. I don't know if it's because we are spoilt for sourdough pizza with Peter Pizza in Leicester, but it just didn't tickle our bollocks. All pizza is nice, and this was just nice pizza, but largely a bit average. We were not off to a flyer.
As we ordered the pizza we also ordered 2 portions of jerk chicken with rice and peas from The Chef's Cottage next door.
We got chatting away to the woman who I assume was the owner and she told us where they were located and as she was giving us directions she told us just to follow the smell and the music, that's how people usually find them.
This box absolutely packed with chicken, rice, peas, salad, chutney and sauce was £4! This was a small, and it was so packed and weighty, it definitely made up for paying £6 for the pizza.
Pound for pound this was probably the most delicious thing on the menu while we visited. It was everything jerk should be, all sticky and sweet and tender. You could taste the smoke. It was the real deal. If this food van was in Leicester and posted in town serving little boxes like this for £4 a pop I would definitely be a regular.
Next up was Numinums, the veggie and vegan option for this weekend. We took a portion of their spicy fried cauliflower with garlic mayo (£3.50) and their falafel mezze (£6).
The spicy cauliflower was really nice, I could definitely see myself getting a portion of this if it was available in Leicester on road. The falafel mezze was pretty nice too for what it was. It's hard for me to judge as this really isn't my favourite food. The actual falafel was light and crispy, but in terms of the rest of the stuff that was in the box with it it left something to be desired. Grated carrots and a dollop of humus. It's almost like white people with dreadlocks want their food to be bland.
Last up was Homeboys, the kitchen that seemed to be doing the most business during the time we were there. They were making and moving baos, those little asian steamed buns. I'd had these once before from Wagamamas and they were really good then, I couldn't wait to see how these were from a place that specialises in them.
They had two kinds, a pork belly one with a relish and soy reduction, and a Korean battered chicken one with gochujang mayo and radish.
Oh god they were really something. If you're into interesting textures with your food you should try and find these steamed buns somewhere. Like nothing else I've ever put in my mouth. They were made with such care and they were so delicate and presented beautifully. Apparently Homeboys is the baby of a guy who was a masterchef contestant. All the ingredients were perfect and they were a nice change from the usual sloppy asian street food or takeaway.
The cured pork belly and the battered chicken were both so light and delicious, I think the meat they used was of a nice quality. They were £3.50 each, or two for £6, a really nice price for something really delicious and unique.
Finally the desserts were supplied by Doughnotts, an independent doughnut bakery in Nottingham. I'd heard about these before and meant to check them when I went to Notts but had forgotten.
They had a selection of doughnuts they'd dropped in priced at £3.50 each. We got a glazed classic raspberry jam and a red velvet. as you can imagine we were completely stuffed but still forced them down as they were so good. The guy who served us the doughnuts told us that it's a really sick spot and that they sell out by mid afternoon every day. After finding their Facebook page it looks like they've got maaaad maaaad different flavours, I definitely need to find their spot next time I'm in Notts.
Death By Pizza also had a stack of brownies so I had to grab a little leaving gift. They had Nutella, Bueno and Reeses brownies all priced at £2.80 each. I had it when I got in and it was of a way better standard than the pizza, a really good brownie!
In conclusion it was a great place! The food was hit and miss, with two good two bad, but ultimately that's the fun of a place like this right? The whole point is that there's a selection and naturally some things on sale are going to pull away from the pack. Also, the fact that next time you go there will be a completely different menu, that to me is really exciting. All the staff were really chatty and helpful and clearly excited by the project, from the actual vendors selling their own product to the lads working the bar who said they've tried everything both weeks the place has been open. We spoke to Simba, one of the two guys who came up with the idea and he said to us he has had 150 enquires from food spots trying to get in. It doesn't surprise me really, it's a cool idea. I can't wait to travel back and see what they're serving next time.
The Nottingham Street Food Club was simple, affordable and it let the food do the talking. The food wouldn't shut up, we left waddling away, completely stuffed.
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