4Woodstreet Mansfield Notts
I live in the gastronomically challenged area of north Nottingham and finding a half decent place to eat is quiet easy as long as you are prepared to travel into the centre of Nottingham. There’s a couple of reliable places there but then it’s a 30 minute drive with no guarantee a parking place so for our lunch we decide to try out this new restaurant in Mansfield after all it does boast a chef classically trained under the roux brothers and Marco Pierre white !
I called to book a table and was told its not necessary to book for lunch which gives initial mixed emotions, firstly why are they not busy but most importantly I’ve just saved myself a irritating drive into notts and they have parking space.
After negotiating the semi one way system that Mansfield council have decided to introduce we arrive. The reception was a warm one with a sprinkling of fawlty towers thanks to the owner’s quirky personality, 4 wood street welcome cannot be described as pompous.
The decor with its large stained glass windows and modern furnishings is very pleasing to see as Mansfield has been denied such a nice looking restaurant, in fact if you type into your search engine ‘restaurants in Mansfield’ it’ll throw up such names as Harold’s coffee shop, which for the record offers a wonderful cuppa tea.
So the food, the menu arrived on which looked like a home printed effort with a very neat line straight through the dishes that were not available. This left a very small choice, coupled with the ‘sorry that’s only available in the evening’, made the options even more limited.
I chose the shrimp bisque, steak pudding and vanilla panocotta. we were led to our table situated in the modern chic designed room, pieces of driftwood on the wall, wooden floors and comfortable chairs. So the lovely fresh bread arrived, always a sure fire way of pleasing my palate. So the starters arrived my bisque with was served in a cup, on a saucer with a teaspoon! That aside the bisque was full of flavour but a little too creamy, my friend had ordered the terrine which was both well presented and tasty. The main course arrived, again looked nice but the steak pudding was dry with salty mash, again I had chosen un wisely as my companion’s chicken dish was delicious, at this point I seriously considered swapping seats. The dessert arrived which was both pleasing to the eye and perfectly textured.
The moderately priced bill reflected our experience, to summarise just because the chef works with Marco at the end of the day it’s not Marco.
Posted 18th August 2004Fact Of The Day
It takes 1000 pounds of almonds to make 1 pint of almond oil.
