Bottomless Lunch At Bar + Block In Nottingham
Published On Tuesday 27 Jun 2023 by Sticky Beak
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Another weekend, another day out sampling scrummy food and drink! Even after a decade doing this blog (it was our 10th birthday on 15th June), The Man and I still pinch ourselves and say how blooming lucky we are 😊. This time, we were back in Nottingham to see what Bar+Block Steakhouse were (literally) bringing to the table with their ‘Bottomless Lunch’ offering. This venue is dead easy to find; located at the bottom of the Premier Inn, or just look for the colourful awning from the pavement.
I like the bright, open space that is Bar+Block Steakhouse and the vibe is still as happy as I remember it to be 😊. The front-of-house lady showed us to our table and said that our server would be Grace, who turned out to be one of the loveliest people on the planet! A soon as we’d sat down Grace brought out a bottle of chilled water for us and some Beefy Popcorn, that I scoffed loads of, so I hope it’s zero calorie #prayformywaistline. Actually, I’m just going to say that the popcorn needs a health warning with it: it’s seriously addictive😊. You have been warned, folks!
The standard Bottomless Lunch package costs £35 per person for a two-hour slot, and includes a two-course lunch and unlimited Prosecco, Pravha lager or non-alcoholic drinks. For a fiver more, you can access six cocktails, and if you’re feeling proper swanky, lash out another extra couple of £’s and savour a 3rd course! £42 for a couple of hours of seriously good food and drinks? Count us in 😊!!
Grace got us sorted with our first drinks, the super-refreshing Limoncello Spritz; hello, you little minx, where have you been all my life?! Whilst she was with us, she also took our food order: Korean Chicken Wings and [vegan friendly] Tomato Bruschetta to start, followed by Steak and Frites (£1 extra) and Seabass Fillet for mains, as well as a trio of sides: Truffle-flavoured Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Dirty Fries, and Beer-battered Onion Rings. At a tenner for the three accompaniments, it would’ve been rude not to order them, no?!
If you’re lucky enough to have a table around the back, you’ll see all the action as it happens in the open kitchen. We were seated in a booth just away from the heat, but the smells were still wafting over occasionally 😊. We weren’t waiting long for our starters, and boy did they look good!
The Chicken Wings were a great size and very meaty, so His Nibs was grinning like a loon as he chowed down on them. I tried a bit for myself, and they really were delicious, even more so thanks to the super sticky Korean-style BBQ glaze that coated each one. In all honesty, we should’ve asked for a finger bowl, so plentiful and gooey was the glaze but it wasn’t until we’d exhausted ourselves licking every last scrap off our fingers that we thought about it – doh! Also, you might want to ask for an extra napkin or two if you order these delights #toptip 😊. The sweet, spiced glaze was the perfect foil to the heat and sharp notes of the sliced, fresh Red Chillies, sliced Spring onions and Coriander, making this a brilliantly tasty starter.
It might not be as exotic a choice as the Korean Chicken Wings, but my Tomato Bruschetta was certainly holding its own in the taste stakes against them - and it looked a lot prettier, I’m just saying! Clean, vibrant flavours of sweet Cherry Tomatoes hit my palate first, swiftly followed by crunchy pieces of finely chopped Red Onion for some texture. Torn Basil added its own quirkily fragrant hint to the dish and the Garlic that had been rubbed onto the toasted Bruschetta was the perfect depth to enhance the other elements rather than drown them out. The rosy colour of the Cherry Tomatoes was contrasted superbly by the Balsamic-dressed, peppery Rocket leaves and their bright verdancy. So often, this simple dish is done a serious injustice in terms of presentation and balance of tastes, but Chef at Nottingham’s Bar+Block Steakhouse has got it bang on the money😊.
Whilst we’d been munching away at our starters, Grace had brought over a pair of Raspberry Bellinis and some more bottled water for us, and as she cleared our plates away, she took the opportunity to take our Peach Bellini order – gotta love her keen time management skills!
Our mains and sides arrived all at the same time, so our table was chock-a-block with a multitude of delicious-smelling morsels and it was hard to know quite where to start! The Man Bird had requested that his Rump Steak (you can upgrade to an 8oz Sirloin for £3 more) be cooked medium and, as you’d rightly expect from a Steakhouse, it was perfectly medium. Chef had also allowed the meat time to rest, so that its fibres had relaxed and reabsorbed their juices; if it’s flavour you want from your meat, then look no further. This was a seriously tasty piece of beef that had tenderness to burn, too! The frites were tasty enough in their own right but, on this occasion, they definitely played a supporting role to the outstanding Rump Steak 😊. A nice touch was the little pot of molten Garlic Butter on the side; it allowed you to either pour it all over your steak, dip your steak into it, or leave the meat alone and dunk your fries in. Unsurprisingly, His Nibs did all three!
I opted for the chargrilled Seabass Fillet, crossing my fingers that a specialist steak restaurant would be able to do as much justice to ‘surf’ as it does to ‘turf’. I needn’t have worried, the fillet of fish was beautifully moist and flavoursome, its skin nicely crisped and golden. This dish was a lovely sized lunchtime meal and didn’t leave me feeling over-indulged (or as if I wanted more), and the accompanying Greek Salad and Red Pepper and Harissa Dip were superb. A delightful ozonic tang came from the fronds of Samphire that decorated the Seabass’ topside, its sharp notes amplified by the juice that I squeezed over from the wedge of fresh Lemon.
You can’t beat a cool, crisp salad, and the Greek version served at Bar+Block Steakhouse was bursting with flavour and colour, courtesy of the halved Cherry Tomatoes, sliced Red Onion, crumbled Feta cheese and Olives. A word of caution: the Olives are unpitted, so watch those veneers, folks! The Red Pepper and Harissa Dip was brilliantly spicy, with a palate pleasing, underlying sweetness, and it was excellent with both the Seabass and the Flatbread 😊.
Grace had done her checkbacks in her customary smiley fashion, taking the chance to bring us a couple of Pornstar Martinis as she did so, as well as asking what we thought of the side dishes we’d ordered. The Dirty Fries were absolutely filthy…in a good way; they were pimped up all the way down to the bottom of the dish, rather than just their surface being loaded up! Very scrummy fries were pimped up with a melty, mature Cheddar cheese sauce to savour and more of the amazing Korean-style BBQ sauce, Chillies, and Spring Onion that His Nibs had had in his starter course 😊.
Fledge and I share a mutual love of Mac ‘n’ Cheese, and she definitely would’ve loved the one here at Bar+Block Steakhouse! The tubes of Macaroni were cooked perfectly and their inner was full of unctuous, tasty cheese sauce that clung to the inside of my cheeks. A hint of earthy, intense Truffle could be detected at the periphery, which added some indulgence, but the star of the show for me was that dark, sticky layer on the bottom of the (in this case, dinky cast iron) pan that we always call ‘candy’: the pasta equivalent of Paella Rice’s ‘Socarrat’, if you will.
Superbly crisp Onion Rings had a lovely light batter on them that elicited a rather marvellous crunch when we bit into them 😊. Being champion dunkers, His Nibs and I covered them in both the Garlic Butter and the Red Pepper and Harissa dips to zhuzh them up even more…not at the same time obvs, that would be a rather ‘interesting’ flavour combo! If you’re feeling extra – and aren’t we all, darlings?! – then I’d certainly splash the extra tenner on a trio of sides here; we were more than happy with them 😊. There are plenty of sides to choose from as well, so don’t think that our choices are definitive.
In a now-familiar pattern, Grace came over with a couple more Peach Bellinis, placing them on the table as she simultaneously removed our spent main- and side- course plates! In a thoughtful touch, she also brought out more chilled water for us, noticing that we were nearing the bottom of the bottle.
For dessert, His Nibs had a seriously indulgent Triple Chocolate Brownie, served warm and topped with Chocolate Toffee Sauce and a scoop of good quality Vanilla Ice Cream. The Brownie was seductively gooey in the centre and was rich in cocoa, triggering the brains’ pleasure centre expertly! Throughout the Brownie you could see chunks of White, Milk and Belgian chocolate, so it certainly was Triple Choc 😊.
Having recently rediscovered my love affair with Meringue, I opted for the Eton Mess Sundae: a fabulously hap-hazard confection of Meringue, Vanilla Ice Cream, whipped Cream and assorted Berries – on this occasion a medley of Red- and Black- Currants, Raspberries and Strawberries. I’m not going to deny the fact that I loved the unabashed indulgence of the sweet Meringue, Cream and Ice Cream, but the sharp tartness and colour of the fruit provided a glorious balance to this dessert that got the gold star from me!
Grace came to inform us that our two-hour slot would be ending in 10 minutes, and asked if we’d like a final drink. I concluded my experience with a classic Aperol Spritz, and His Nibs went back to the Limoncello Spritz. The Bottomless Lunch at Bar+Block Steakhouse may cost a little more than other venues in Nottingham, but I would say that it is certainly worth it: you get a more-than-substantial meal (you can have starter and main, or main and dessert as standard), the venue is nicely chilled rather than party central (if that’s what you’re looking for), and the service was world class!
Hot Wings very happily awarded here 😊! To book a table, ring the team on 0115 697 3973 or visit the website www.barandblock.co.uk and hit the reserve button. Opening hours for the Nottingham location are: Mon-Fri 6.30am – 11pm, Saturday 7am – 11pm, and Sunday 7am – 10.30pm.
Thank you to Jessy from Roche Communications PR for kindly inviting us along 😊.
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