Solo Grano: Pizza and Pasta

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

One Comment Add yours

  1. Anonymous says:

    Tried the Spinach pizza. Basically a cheese and tomato pizza with 6 leaves on top. Mot complaining, it was cheap and cheerful and filled me up.

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