Mud Crab Pacifico in West Bridgford – 2 Course Special Lunch with Fish and Chips

Mud Crab Pacifico was the joint of choice for a big team lunch outing this week. I have dined only a couple of times here in the Crab at Bridgford and often feel I should come in more often as it is so close to my apartment.

The place always seems popular when I walk by in the evening so they must have carried on doing things right for a few years, especially with all the other dining option adding competition to the dining scene on Central Avenue in West Bridgford. I was feeling pretty hopeful as I took my place at the huge square table they had set up for us.

Lunch Time Specials

I was interested to see how they managed to deal with a big group as we have at least 15 of use all trying to squeeze in a meal to our extended 1.5 hour lunch. Luckily or perhaps well planned for such occasions the Mud Crab was offering a Lunch time menu with a choice of two courses with a drink for just £12.

It was a limited selection with just 3 starters and 3 mains to choose from but it seemed to be pretty good value and the choices seemed to be fairly interesting.

I think almost everyone went for some combination from that menu

Salmon and Halloumi Fishcakes

A lot of people chose the Salmon & Halloumi Fishcakes served with lemon hollandaise and dressed rocket. This did actually look pretty good and didn’t look to big either. It was simple, but with that tart and tangy lemon hollandaise, and the peppery rocket it seemed to be a pretty well thought out combinations of flavours, almost classic with some chopped up chives added to the dish as well.

Mushrooms on Toast

The starter of Mushrooms on Toast was not quite what I was expecting but it was fairly tasty , it looked a bit of a mess to be honest, it was more like a thick cream filled with garlic and sliced mushroom, almost a soup.

In there somewhere at the bottom of the bowl were a couple of slices of toast, soggy toast. This would have been great if it was served on some thick sliced crunchy toasted sourdough, and perhaps with just a little bit less cream.

I liked it well enough but I wouldn’t order it again.

Fish and Chips

For my main I opted for the Fish and Chips which came served with crushed minted peas and tartare sauce. I have been eating a lot of fish and chips recently so I think I was a bit fussier than many on my table, perhaps if I am honest a little bit snobby.

The Fish was a reasonable size, but mine was a bit soggy and greasy and perhaps a little wet inside. Other people said that theirs were crispy so maybe I was just unlucky, about 8 of us had the fish and chips so they were banging them out quickly enough.

I wasn’t keen on the chips as they were just those thin french fries type and I like real chips with my Fish, they did serve you a lot though, way too many and I didn’t not manage to eat more than half of them.

The crushed minty peas were a real interesting addition, I liked the idea of mint with my peas, as I like to add a drizzle of mint sauce to my mushy peas. I think that these were just a bit too minty though and perhaps somewhat overpowering. The smear on the plate got on everything and so after a few rounds of battle with the fish and the fries everything seemed to end up all minty. I would have preferred them on the side or in a little bowl like the tartare sauce.

The general consensus on the lunch specials was that it was good value for £12 especially when you consider that most of the mains on the normal menu cost £11-12.

I wasn’t amazed by my Fish and Chips, but then again Mud Crab are not selling that as one of their signature dishes so I can’t really compare it with other places that have it as a regular item.

If I came back I think that I would select something off their regular menu such as the Smoke Duck Caesar salad, or maybe more likely one or more of their Tacos with Baja Fish, Griddle Adobo Pork, or Duck and Chilli Mango are looking pretty good right now. In fact I can feel a taco Tuesday situation popping up on the horizon in the near future.

The first time I visited was on my own back in 2013 when it first opened and I came in for a Cheeseburger:

Read about that here “Mud Crab Pacifico in West Bridgford- ‘Custom Burgers and Other Essential Supplies’ – for me a Cheezborger”