Cleaver & Wake Nottingham: An upmarket waterside restaurant that I can't wait to return to

If Nottingham is punching above its weight as a foodie city, the powerful, artful, gastronomic smack to the senses two minutes’ walk from the train station is its dizzying first blow.

One of the jewels and first completions of some major development works going on at the Island Quarter, currently, Cleaver & Wake isn’t in the most sensuous of surroundings – crossing London Road towards the rather bleak vista of one of Nottingham’s many semi-completed construction sites gives one a bit of a ‘wrong-turn’ sort of feeling. 

But that’s quickly soothed when you reach the warm lights and inviting steps up to the entrance. And completely forgotten when you find yourself sitting in the elegant, sumptuous yet pleasantly understated bar that awaits you.

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The bar menu invites you to begin your evening with a decadent glass of Tattinger or a mouth-tingling gin cocktail. 

It also puts you on notice that if you were hoping to do this on a budget, you might not want to proceed through the grand doors to the dining room. But then if you’re the sort of person that takes oysters as a pre-dinner nibble – six shells for £22.50 – you’re probably here for a good time, not a frugal time.

From the minute we arrived to the warm goodbye on leaving, the staff were attentive, friendly, and highly professional. Through a sort of warm, informal formality, you feel truly to have arrived in a place where – and this shouldn’t be so rare – the staff seem genuinely delighted and proud to be welcoming you for the evening.

Walking into the tasteful dining room, past the grand open kitchen to your left, you can see exactly where that pride comes from. The Cleaver & Wake staff are your guides to a delightful multi-sensory experience and - if it’s your first time, as it was mine – they know what a tantalising culinary treat you’re in for.

Perfectly professional

I have an extremely tedious and constricting list of food intolerances which has, over the years, sapped a lot of the joy from dining out. It’s a total bore to plan a meal out, and a genuine sadness to watch huge blanks emerge on the menu where once delicious dishes were being described because they’re off limits to me. 

And being very English, I feel like I’m being a complete pain when I announce that I’m going to need the chefs to tweak and tamper with their own lovingly designed dishes just to cater to me.

But having informed the Cleaver & Wake team about my intolerable intolerances a couple of days before we arrived, their professionalism took over. 

They’d worked it all out for me. Not just in a cobbled-together, that’ll do, sort of way – in a ‘We’ve got this’ way. And the food they made for me, all taken from the recently-launched spring a la carte menu, was the best and most enjoyable fine dining experience I’ve had since my dietary challenges kicked in – and one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten full stop.

Don’t miss the news that matters to you - get the NottinghamWorld newsletter I started with the BBQ mackerel with rhubarb and horseradish gel, a delicately smoky, distinctly sensuous yet understated initiation to the meal. I don’t know what they do to give the mackerel a texture similar to a fine parfait, but it raises this favourite fish of mine to a whole new level.

My dining companion went for the crab macaroni with picked watermelon – which I was informed was as exquisite as it sounds. Pickling might not sound like something you would want to do to watermelon, but I tried it and, believe me, it works.

With our selection from an astute and comprehensive wine list now at the table it was time to settle into the main course feast that was about to reach us. 

A very gentle gripe here: a modern tactic of the restaurant trade is to grab the bottle from the table and top your wine glass up after every few sips – not entirely motivated by your own good, let’s face it. 

Fine. But if after the first tasting you’ve specifically stated that you’d rather pour the rest of the bottle yourself, in my book that should be the end of it – you certainly shouldn’t find your glass being topped up for you five minutes later, even if it is done with a mild-mannered ‘may I?’.

But far more to the point, my main course - a perfectly cooked rump cap with King oyster mushrooms, Bordelaise sauce, and triple-cooked chips - was outrageously delicious. 

Though it’s relatively simple in its own way, it’s the kind of dish you want to know you’re going to daydream about for months. The sort of steak that makes you want to give up on steaks, because nothing’s ever going to beat it - not for taste, texture, trimmings, or any other criteria you want to choose.

My partner went for the cannon of Cornish lamb, served with a potato and seaweed terrine topped with an aubergine emulsion. From the extremely happy sights and sounds from the other side of the table, I gather it was something very special indeed.

And then, the dessert. This is often the part of the meal that I have to skip altogether: strip out all the lovely cheese boards and pastries and cream-based puddings, and you’re usually left with nothing. 

But these guys had thought of that. And boy, what a ‘backup’ option, if you can call the tastiest, gooiest sticky toffee pudding I’ve ever eaten, gluten and dairy-free or not. 

There’s not much you can do with custard and pastry for the wheat and dairy-intolerant, but I really didn’t mind - I was very happy with my warm toffee treat while on the other side of the table my date went to a very happy place with the baked custard tart with cherry sorbet, cherry gel, and sable biscuit crumb.

In fact, Cleaver & Wake is a very happy place. The staff have found that wonderfully happy medium of being at the same time warm and professional; cheery but keenly serious about the exquisite food they’re proud to serve. 

And they all have that knowledgeable air that means you just know they know the menu inside out and will do anything in their impressive powers of professionalism to enhance your dining experience.

The sign of a great menu is that you’re left feeling sad you have to pick only one of each course, resolving to come back. The chefs at Cleaver & Wake have mastered this art. 

Not least because they also have a new spring lunch menu out.  I teased, or tortured, myself with a quick look at it before we left. And I knew this was going to happen: I’m going to have to go back to that happy place, as soon as possible.

*Photos of Cleaver & Wake’s new spring menu.