What: Described as a ‘finer’ dining restaurant, Cleaver & Wake is located within Nottingham’s The Island Quarter, a 36-acre mixed-use development that is set to be one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK. The venue comprises a 75-cover restaurant and a separate . bar area that seats 40 people.
Who: It’s the debut solo venture for MasterChef: The Professionals winner Laurence Henry, who most recently worked as a sous chef at Nottingham’s two Michelin-starred Restaurant Sat Bains. Henry oversees a kitchen brigade of 10 chefs, which includes fellow MasterChef alumnus Hira Thakur as head chef.
The food: ‘Refined dishes using the best meat, fish and vegetables from across the British Isles’ is how the restaurant describes its approach to cooking. There’s a modern European feel to Henry’s cooking style, seen in dishes such as turbot cooked on the bone with a champagne velouté; half lobster tail finished over charcoal with fresh linguine and lobster ‘bolognese’; and beef short rib with shallot purée, ale braised roscoff onion and bordelaise sauce; but there’s some Asian and South American influences, such as ceviche of sea trout and yellowfin tuna, served with tigers’ milk, coriander, radishes and caviar; and belly pork, cured jowl, hispi cabbage ‘kimchi’ and nashi pear. The lunch menu (two courses for £35, three for £45) does not replicate dinner options, with dishes instead including duck liver parfait; light-cured mackerel; braised beef with roast potato mash; and pearl barley risotto. For dinner, Henry has opted for an a la carte approach with starters from £15, mains from £24, and a short selection of steaks starting at £35 for an 8-ounce sirloin and topping out at £85 for a 28-ounce Boston chop for two people.
The vibe: Cleaver & Wake’s modern building has an upmarket feel with two larger crescent-shaped blue velvet banquettes dominating the wood-floored room as well as a large open kitchen. The venue has a lot of natural foliage, which comes as no surprise given that its reception doubles as florist Gigil & Bloom, selling flowers, house plants, candles, and vases.
And another thing: Cleaver & Wake takes its name from two Victorian lace dress makers who worked on the edge of the original site,
1 The Island Quarter, The Great Northern Close, Nottingham, NG2 3BJ