Solo Grano on Wheeler Gate in Nottingham recently opened it’s doors in the last couple of weeks to serve us pizza and pasta, or as they say ‘artigianale – pasta fresca & pizza napoletana’, so what I said then 🙂

They have set themselves up in the space formerly occupied by that Treat Kitchen Sweet Shop and offer take outs and a limited small space to dine in with about a dozen or so stools to sit on

I figured that if I was going to be fair I should pay them a couple of visits to check out both the pizza and the pasta, so that was what I have done. Lets go….

Salsiccia Pizza

On my first visit to Solo Grano I was all over the Pizza and ended up ordering the Salsiccia, which was the closest to my default All Meats pizza that I could find on the menu.

Officially this was described as being “Salsiccia“- ‘Pork sausage, fennel, provolone smoked cheese, tomato sauce, fresh thyme, cherry tomatoes‘ for £9.80

First impressions were that I liked the look of the pizza, it was piled up with stuff. I do like it when I get sliced cherry tomatoes on a pizza as they seem so much more vibrant and flavorful than just the base layer of tomato sauce.

The fennel and the thyme, together with that smoked cheese made for a most enjoyable flavour profile, one that made me forgive any structural sloughing issues.

I liked the small sausage meatballs despite the fact that they looked a bit grey as one mate pointed out. I would have liked them crispier too, but I did like the taste

All in all I like the pizza and as it is early days I won’t be too critical, I think though in reflection that the tomato sauce may be a little too wet as when you pick up a slice most of the stuff just falls off the end. I am no expert (well I apart from eating a lot of pizza) but that seems to be the most common reason.

I would buy this pizza though over any of the chains in the city, above MOD and above Pizza Storm, I might just ask them to take it easy on the sauce and to leave it in the oven just a tad longer.

Truth is that I scoffed the lot and I quite liked it, and they had great flavours and I would seek out that taste again for sure.

Pasta Carbonara

On my second visit to Solo Grano I had arrived specifically to test out the pasta, the dish that I was seeking out on this hunt was going to be the Carbonara. The menu describes this as “Carbonara” – ‘Smoked bacon, egg cream, parmesan, pecorino, prosciutto crisps, fresh parsley‘ for £9.50

Lets start with the actual pasta which they make fresh, I liked that part it was slightly al dente, a little bit chewy, and there was a lot of it to be fair in that bowl. So that was a good start.

The bacon was as promised decently smoked and there were some nice chunky bits mixed into the pasta, I also like the thin crispy prosciutto crisps that adourned the dish as a topping. Together these two made great pasta bedfellows.

The actual sauce, with the ‘egg cream’ was quite restrained in the world of cream, In a traditional carbonara I would honestly have preferred the dish without any cream, but I didn’t mind this bowlful at all, it was really quite a decent effort.

I ordered this because I make this dish at home at least once a week and I can be quite picky, I like the dish prepared by Solo Grano if I am honest, I would like it as a starter size of that was an option, maybe so I could have a smaller bowlful alongside a pizza 🙂

I don’t usually order pasta when I am eating out, but if I was to fancy a bowl I could be tempted back to Solo Grano.

Solo Grano is located at 25-29 Wheeler Gate in Nottingham, a short walk down from the Old Market Square .

You can check them out on their website , and on their Facebook page