Purecraft Bar and Kitchen, Located in an old bank that I had never noticed before, on St Peter’s Gate is another new venue in Nottingham City centre serving up ‘craft beers’ and upscale bar food. Inside it is high ceilings and spacious, very spacious to be honest or was that actually empty of punters? I went in midweek so perhaps it was just a quiet night.
I had meant to come to partake of their fare a couple of weeks ago, but I was saving the moment to coincide with a visit from my Good friend Mike from the States.
Mike is a big marathon runner and has run one in every state of the USA. I am trying to get him to turn up for the Robin Hood Marathon this year, check out his blog In The Moment Running.
He says that Oscar and Rosie’s make the best pizza he has ever eaten, and he loves eating Fish and Chips at Georges. No pressure then taking him somewhere new and untried!
So lets have a look at what we found to eat and drink; Happily we both found some pretty good beers and some solid tasty food.
Let’s Eat
The savoury side of the menu offered up at Purecraft Bar and Kitchen, includes Small Plates and Large Plates, if you are here between 12-5pm you can also choose a sandwich or a board, but we weren’t so lets gloss over that section (although I will say that I would have been all over the Reuben if it had been available).
Small Plates wise I really wanted order both the ‘Purecrafted Scotch Egg with Purity Beer Ketchup’ and the ‘Macaroni Cheese with Pickled Reds’ but I know I couldn’t eat both and a main so I put them to one side and continued looking down the Large plates section (actually I could have eaten all three I am just pretending not to be a major glutton)
There was a tasty sounding selection of things to keep us sustained on the list. I had been told that the ‘Braised Short Rib’ was really good , and I suppose considering that I was drinking a Sünner Kolsch I should have considered ordering the ‘Pea, Leek & Old Winchester Gnocchi’ because that was the beer recommended to accompany that dish.
I didn’t though I decided to order the burger partly because I really wanted one, and partly because I believe that there are better burgers in this city than the ones that ‘everyone’ says are the best …just because
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Purecraft Burger
The Burger at Purecraft Bar and Kitchen, is ‘now’ right up there on the list of my best burgers in Nottingham. It is described on the menu as a “Crafted Wagyu Burger, Beedham’s Black Pudding, Beauvale, Fries and Slaw” served up for the princely sum of £14 which does seem a tad expensive.
It is however a really good burger and worth most of that money, the star of the show is the meat patty which should always be the main attraction. Here at Purecraft it was cooked perfectly, really well seasoned, moist, juicy, still a little bit pink in the middle, as it should always be! It was just so goddam meaty and tasty!
To add to the story the toppings of Beedham’s Black Pudding and the Beauvale Cheese were like the moments on the mouth that pushed this particular burger experience up from good to verging on great.
Is there a downside? Well yes it was served on another one of those ‘bloody goddam awful’ wooden boards, more seriously, apart from that all I can suggest is that the bread wasn’t strong enough on the base to hold it all together. That is a small thing to correct though as they have the perfect layering construction using the lettuce leaf to hold the sauce away from the bread to avoid sogginess. I think maybe a nice toasted bun would add a little more solidity and it would move this burger up my personal league table. Even though voting hasn’t started, I will tell you that the jury has been dismissed, paid off, and we all went home pretty happy.
It really is time to celebrate a really good simple burger. Sure you can still add a few toppings, basically cheese and bacon, but the burger itself should always be the star of the show. The toppings should be there to enhance the dining experience not to disguise a poor burger.
They seem to understand that at Purecraft, and other establishments maybe should sit up and take notice, I never champion style over substance (ok they threw some black pudding in there but I forgive them cos it was really good).
This might not be cheap, but it is good and it is up in the top five burgers I have eaten in Nottingham recently (maybe top two).
Having said that this is a craft beer bar not a burger joint so I am not hanging all my food scoffing points just on this one bite.
Oh I almost forgot! The burger is topped with one of those fried battered pickles, I hate pickles, but know what? I totally loved this one and I actually ate it! Now that is really something.
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Lets Eat Steak!
My very good friend Mike from Durham in North Carolina (tweeting at @runnersthoughts) went for the Bavette Steak with ‘Beer Butter’ Watercress and ‘Triple’ cooked chips for £16. It was recommended to be eaten ‘rare’ but he opted to eat his medium (I would have gone medium rare just to hedge my bets). The bavette cut doesn’t warrant overcooking anyway so it was bit of a chance to have it cooked that way.
His verdict was that it was one of the better steaks that he had eaten in the UK, that is pretty high praise, as most Americans I know say that our steak isn’t as good as theirs, we can agree to differ! It did look really good and I was secretly a little jealous when it arrived, however my burger was so good that I think I won out in the end.
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We also drank some beer;
Sample Beer List from the Website
Beer wise I had the Sünner Kölsch from Germany described here at Purecraft as ‘Unfiltered Kölsch; aromatic, spicy & refreshing’. I love the Kölsch style of beer, I first drank this in my mid twenties while working at the University of Koln, there it was served in a third size of glass and they brought it to your table on trays writing a tick on your beer mat for each one you drank. Ever since I have ordered it wherever I have found it. More recently I have been supping the excellent version called Krankshaft from the Metropolitan Brewery in Chicago.
Mike loves his darker beers when he comes to visit this side of the pond so ordered a pint of the Oatmeal Stout from Four Pure. This is described on the list as a ‘Smooth, sweet oat stout’. It looks like a meal in a glass to me, but I was just drinking the pale stuff so what business of mine was it? Me: “Is that Good Mike?” Mike: “Yes”
There is a lot of good stuff to choose from here at Purecraft, just bring a bit of extra cash because it is not that cheap and you can get great local beer all over the city at more competitive prices. I will still be coming back here to drink though because they have some different things to try and I like to live beyond my means on occasion when supping a pint of craft beer.
Chalkboard Action
Outside the restaurant on the sidewalk erm sorry I meant pavement was a chalkboard advertising a lot of rather delicious sounding things you can eat at Brunch. Shame that it was only served between 9-11.45am on the weekend though!
I was keen to eat everything on the chalkboard, but I especially I am going to come back for the JT’s Crispy Beecon and Eggy Bread Sandwich. I read about this and learned that it is beef prepared like bacon. Sounds Ace my friends, I want one now.
I will probably though come in for the JT Beedham Breakfast, I love me a good brekkie!
Purecraft Bar and Kitchen is located at 13 St Peters Gate in Nottingham. Apart from the normal method of strolling in through the door, you can check them out on Facebook and on Twitter