Out and about in Nottingham

After an enjoyable evening at Iberico, I had the small matter of dealing with the reason I was in Nottingham – a seminar at the Crowne Plaza where I was also staying.

Hotel breakfast

The day started with the traditional buffet breakfast in their restaurant. This offered the usual suspects – bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms etc – which I piled onto my plate.

This was fairly mediocre stuff. The bacon was cooked well, but the scrambled eggs were hard and totally unseasoned. The sausages were rather overdone and texturally tough going. It was substantial but underwhelming.

200 Degrees Cafe

I then headed out for a little constitutional to burn off a few calories and explore what Nottingham had to offer in terms of coffee.

I headed first to 200 Degrees a place that was quite charming and roasts their own beans. I sampled their Brazilian love affair espresso (£1.90) which was very good.

I had time and space for another coffee before the business of the day began so I headed to nearby Wired. There I was reunited with Allpress, the coffee I enjoy so much at Castello in Edinburgh.

Wired

This espresso (£2.16) was made superbly well and offered Allpress’s usual balance light and darkness. I was very impressed.

I toddled back to the Crowne Plaza and spent an informative morning at my event.

At lunchtime I figured I’d go for another stroll so wandered towards a little pizza stand I’d noticed before called Hasty Tasty Pizza. This is a chain of pizza stalls that I’d not previously encountered.

Espresso

This was in the realms of a dirty treat. The quality wasn’t super great but the style of the place was fun.

I tried their cheeseburger slice (£2.75). This was pretty greasy with a base that had good crispness but quite a dense overall texture. The topping was enjoyably quirky with burger pieces peppered through the cheesy tomato goodness. It was a good quick snack.

Hasty Tasty

My event finished promptly leaving me time to grab something to eat before playing with the trains, but with the prospect of snow and an eight minute changeover window to get my final train north, I decided to hop on an earlier train and seek out dinner in Chesterfield, of which more tomorrow.

So overall, although I didn’t have much time in Nottingham I got a fair sense of the city from these stops coupled with the trip to Iberico. The city centre is quite chain dominated but there is strong representation from independent places including what looks to be a very promising coffee scene. I’m not sure when I’ll be back but I look forward to that day as and when it arises.