Marco Pierre White Steakhouse within Alea Nottingham

I have dined in several of Marco Pierre White’s restaurants over the years and have always found the one right in my own city of Nottingham to be my favourite, located within Alea Casino, the team are always so welcoming and tentative and the atmosphere is low-lit and cosy- just my kind of way to dine.

Let’s talk about the food, which was taken from their newly launched Autumn menu, offering an array of steaks of course, cooked however you like with accompanying sides such a chips/fries and huge onion ring stacks, along with a selection of sauces to your liking. My dining partner opted for steak and it was a nice touch to have our server present the knife box selection at the start of the meal.

As a vegetarian, I chose the Beetroot, walnut and goats cheese to start with a side order of sourdough, which arrived warm with salted butter – I’d highly recommend this as a starter combination- delicious and actually my favourite course of the entire meal, which starters often tend to be for me and my dining partner went with the baked camembert – a very festive way to kick start a meal.

For main I went for the Mixed Mediterranean Vegetable Ravioli, which surprisingly came as very dainty, miniature sized, as opposed to the usual oversized ravioli you often receive, which made a nice change visually.

For dessert, it was the Rice Pudding served warm – not my usual choice but seemed to fit perfectly with the other two courses and wasn’t too heavy a way to finish off with something sweet.  My dining partner went with the Blueberry Cheesecake – another great choice which was thoroughly enjoyed.

During dinner I enjoyed a glass of Prosecco to begin with, moving onto a red and a rose wine each to complement our courses and all in all our experience of sampling the new Autumn Menu was a delight- fantastic food, great service all wrapped up within a relaxed environment, which was both a home from home feel, with a spark of liveliness from the overspill of the casino next door.

I will be back.

Fiona Duncan-Steer/The Sleepy Vegetarian