Six Richmond House – Cocktails & Modern British Food – Nottingham

I’ve been a bit slow with getting to this one, particularly as somewhere that should be right up my street. The street in question its literally right up is Hurts Yard, something that old Nottinghamians might remember as much less classy than it now is. Shots at Cucumara anyone? Six Richmond House describe themselves as a “fine dining cocktail bar” and you can see a lot of thought, as well as money, has been lavished on it. There are a handful of tables in the front as an overflow to the main bar/dining space and it’s a really stylish place. A bit of the Great Gatsby with some of its deco touches but with a more of a dark and seductive undertone too. The concept seemed heavily drinks-focussed but with attractive small plates of food to accompany. That said they are taking the food very seriously, initially with Louisa Ellis designing a menu and more recently Reece Elliot being appointed head chef. Both are Masterchef alumni with impressive CVs. As a wine lover their list was attractive and I had a good US Chardonnay, my only want would be more options by the glass across the list but its already better than most places in Nottingham in this regard.

The menu consisted of 5 snacks and 5 small bowls, a level of focus I find appealing. I’d describe it as modern British, if that means anything, but there was no specific theme with inspiration taken from all over. We started with a beetroot waffle (£6) prettily blushed pink by the juices of the vegetable. Some beetroot discs, cream cheese, hazelnut and leaves finished things off. I’d rather something more thin and crisp than the spongey waffle, it bogged down the other flavours a little but an enjoyable bite to kick things off nonetheless. A further snack of duck and sweet potato terrine (£6.5) had a similar imbalance. Whilst I was struggling to detect much duck, the addition of a little crispy kale but found the five spice across the dish a little clumsy occasionally overpowering everything else. My favourite of the snacks was definitely a cheddar custard tart (£5.5) that had very delicate pastry and a rich filling with plenty of cheesey tang. This richness was balanced by beer pickled onions that sat on the bottom. You need to like your pickle though as my dining partner found them a little overly sharp, but perfect for me. To bulk things out a touch we had miso and potato brioche with chilli, coriander and lime butter. The butter was very enjoyable, fairly light and whipped although at £5 I found 2 small slices of the brioche pretty stingy.

Onto the larger plates and things were broadly more successful here. Salsify over coals (£10) with brown butter hollandaise, chilli jam and poached egg was an enjoyable incarnation of an ingredient you don’t see too often, brownie points for that. There was nice embellishment with crisp pops from puffed buckwheat that brought a different texture to the dish. The brown butter and chilli flavours were not quite in harmony though, combining to make almost a BBQ flavour where I’d have preferred a more traditional hollandaise. The dish of the evening was probably halibut (£11), both in flavour and appearance. Squid ink gnocchi was visually striking and a clever way to introduce some carbs to proceedings, a ponzu (citrus flavour) beurre blanc was excellent having a luxurious creamy flavour that was lifted by the citrus. I had my eye on venison loin but for some reason it was off and replaced by a chicken kiev (£13). Chicken was moist and crispy, punchy parsley butter combining nicely with potato mousse and celeriac. Black garlic and siracha were also mentioned which I was actually happy not to pick up on as there was already enough happening without the potential confusion both of those strong flavours could bring. A criticism of menu design rather than execution was that all 3 of these plates had a fairly similar rich/buttery sauce. Hollandaise, beurre blanc and kiev butter with potato mousse. Whilst all agreeable in each dish it felt a bit too rich and like hard work by the end. It is winter though I suppose.

Ultimately it is hard not to be impressed by Six Richmond House. It is sort of place for an indulgent evening, I am often asked to recommend a great date night spot and they’ve shot to the top of my responses. Although that thought did highlight some quibbles I had with the running of the bar/restaurant. No new restaurant can seem to exist without an open kitchen, maybe that’s just how it is these days. I don’t mind it in the slightest however if you are going to do it and its a quiet January service you should consider the impact it can have. Voices carry and even with light background music the banter of the kitchen brigade was sadly audible for prolonged periods. Writing that off as a blip this is otherwise absolutely a welcome addition to Nottingham, is bringing something new to the city. It’s really not too bad value either, you could probably end up spending a fortune and over indulging but I might just go back for some Halibut and a great glass of wine for £20.

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