Little Brickhouse – European – Nottingham
I’ve been a fan of the Little Brickhouse brunch for some time. They now only offer it on a Saturday but its a vibrant plate of food that manages to be both comforting and nourishing. I digress as this is about their evening menu, which I hadn’t sampled for some time. They started with Little Bricks in Sherwood before moving to their current site on Derby Road. I routinely describe Little Brickhouse as hipster which I realise means different things to different people. It attracts ‘cool’ people, hosts art exhibitions, has a natural wine list and the furnishings and crockery are charmingly vintage and varied.
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The menu is described as a small plates affair but you could easily have one of the larger dishes to yourself and consider it a main course. Influences are fairly diverse, the team behind the restaurant hail from Norway and Germany and whilst some things take inspiration from their home lands there is also a much wider array of influcences. Prawn croquettes arrive as two really chunky hunks of golden brown. They hadn’t skimped on the shell fish, a lovely balance allowing the prawn to shine through the potato. A bargain at £6. You can’t go wrong with ‘spuds and parmesan cream’ (£7). Crispy rough edges of well fried potato and that umamai rich hit of cheese. They did seem to throw a few walkers ready salted crisps on to the plate but even that odd addition didn’t diminish my enjoyment.
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The bigger dishes were equally successful. Clams, nduja, white wine sauce & sweetcorn (£11) was a touch out of balance, the wine not cooked off quite long enough and a little too much corn vs everything else. The flavour from the nduja in the sauce was deftly judged though, that smoky warmth at the back of the palate with the sweet clams was great. Despite the imperfections I’d order it again in a heartbeat. Skrei cod was a generous portion for £15. This white wine sauce was a creamy incarnation and very well balanced. There was also a pleasingly large amount of it to mop up with some bread that was subsequently ordered. Leeks were soft, unctuous and in harmony with the sauce whereas a few carrots were too chunky and unfortunately under-cooked. A final dish of ‘roast beef, onion rings, sauce au poivre’ (£15) was initially a little disappointing on arrival. I had foolishly assumed it was going to be hot and with lots of peppercorn sauce whereas what appeared was some cold cuts and salsa verde! I needn’t have worried though, the meat was tender and flavourful with the green sauce bringing both a depth and herby freshness to the dish. Onion rings were a nice textural addition, if a touch over fried with batter that disintegrated when you tried to take a bite.
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Little Brickhouse is a charming place to spend an evening. With the small team of two running things (on my visit it was only the owners working at least) it wasn’t the slickest service and the food wasn’t perfect but I couldn’t really care less. It’s unique, has heart and the food put a smile on my face. The price is pretty competitive too, you can eat well for £20, though with small plates its too temping to get one more thing!
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