Purecraft Bar & Kitchen in Nottingham is a relaxed bar and restaurant with focus on craft beer, which belies its high-end background as a project co-founded by restaurateur and chef Andreas Antona, founder of Michelin-starred restaurant Simpsons, and the Cross at Kenilworth.
With a sister venue of the same name in Birmingham, Purecraft was also co-founded by Martin Hilton, former director at Mitchells and Butlers, and Paul Halsey, co-founder of the Warwickshire-based brewery, the Purity Brewing Co – which continue to work in partnership with the brand and supplies its beers.
First opened in 2014, the group has developed a strong reputation as a hub for creativity, with a changing menu combining beer and food in almost every dish.
The menu not only offer dishes such as fish and chips with lager batter, ale-brined chicken breast, and choux bun with oatmeal stout sauce, but also has a separate ‘Beer Matched Burger Menu’, highlighting the beers’ ability to enhance dish flavours, in much the same way as wine sommeliers have done with wine for decades.
Burger options include the Wagyu with bacon and cheddar, recommended with Veltins Pilsner; the Wagyu with Southern fried chicken, suggested with the Firestone Walker Easy Jack, and the ‘Baa-Baa Black’ with lamb shoulder, black pudding, and a recommendation of Purity Saddleback.
Drinks-wise, the group’s ever-changing beer list currently includes English, Welsh, American and German varieties, on a menu that offers tempting tasting notes such as “fresh and zesty citrus”, “extra hoppy”, “smooth and malty”, and “fruity aromatics”.
Keen to check out one of the brands surfing the current zeitgeist for pairing beer with food, BigHospitality visited the restaurant to find out how one of its dishes - IPA-marinated sea trout with avocado purée, passionfruit gel and crispy shallots - is made.
Head chef Andrew Smith – whose career includes a year with two-Michelin-starred Nottingham chef Sat Bains ‒ shows us how it’s done.