Last weekend we popped into the Hand & Heart on Derby Road for a spot of Sunday Lunch. Many people have told me that they provide a really good Sunday Dinner here and our visit to check that out has been long overdue.
I have written about the Hand & Heart before but when I checked back on the blog I saw that is was way back in 2013 when I had a nice plate of Pork Belly (read more here). Also check out the update at the end when I popped back to try it again in 2020
Today though it was a bit of a spontaneous decision mainly due to the fact that it was raining and we were hungry. We were partway on a bimble back to town from Hyson Green and were heading to a different pub if I am honest, then I stuck my head in through the door, saw that there was a table by the window so we dived in quick and placed an order.
Sunday Lunch Menu
They serve Sunday Lunch for most of the day between 12-9pm and based on the number of people eating and trying to get a table I think that they must be doing a roaring trade.
I was pretty tempted by the ‘Hand and Heart belly pork‘ mainly because that was so good the last time that I blogged here. However this was a Sunday and I wanted something that more more of a traditional Roast Dinner so I was getting the beef.
The Roast Beef dinner was described on the menu as ‘30 day matured roast sirloin of British Beef red wine gravy‘ for £15.95. The menu also says that the dishes are ‘All served with roast potatoes. mash, seasonal vegetables, Yorkshire pudding’
The beef was juicy and tender, cooked just the way that I like so that it was still a bit pink in the middle. It may have been even pinker when it was first cut but the hot plate and the gravy probably cooks it a little bit too. It was also plentiful and was a generous portion.
I really like the scattering of redcurrants that they had added to the top, they were much more than just a garnish they added a lovely sweetness when they broke up and mixed with the red wine gravy. It was a nice touch that meant you had different pockets of flavour as you worked your way through the dish
I really liked the Yorkshire Puddings, they were well risen. light and both soft and crispy where there had been touching the pan. When we were waiting I had seen a plate in the distance and I had already admired them from afar, they were so large I could spot them from 20 feet away towering over the plate. I was even more pleased when the plate arrived and I found that there were two of them, although to be honest one would have been more than enough!
I was also loving that the plate was piled up with loads of stuff that I wanted to eat. It was presented really with the slices of meat laying on top of a bed of vegetables. I could see Carrots, Parsnip, Cabbage and Red cabbage poking out and I just wanted to dive in and see what else lay below.
I peeled back the slices of juicy beef to see what I could find in the base of the bowl and I was treated to a mound of lovely smooth mashed potato, a handful of crisp Roast potatoes which were spot on and more roasted parsnips. I am not usually into the parsnip but these ones here at the Hand & Heart were so good I might have to rethink my Roast Veg options.
Everything was great, the only problem I was having was that there was almost too much on the plate and I was slightly overfaced by it all. I managed though and I did scoff the lot 🙂
It is really easy to see why everyone I talk to recommends the Sunday Lunch at the Hand & Heart. It is probably the best Roast I have had anyway this year and honestly I am not sure that I can think of one I have eaten out that was any better.
I will come back again and have another one for certain, only next time I will book so that we eat in the main restaurant bit inside the hollowed out cave.
The Hand & Heart is located at 65-67 Derby Road in Nottingham NG1 5BA. You can check them out on their Facebook Page and on their Instagram Feed Or you can just wander up Derby Road and check them out on foot 🙂
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Updated Comment
Belly Pork
I came back again about a month later and sat in the Cave Restaurant where we dined by candlelight. This time I had the Belly Pork which was almost as good as the Roast Beef. The crackling was superb, crispy yet not too hard so that you could crunch it up without breaking a tooth. The meat was tender and fell apart as you cut into it, it was as good as the time I had eaten it way back in around 2013.
This time though the photograph was a lot better even illuminated by candlelight so I felt it was worth adding an update to this post purely so that I could share with you all 🙂
It was a lot of fun dining inside the cave, even though it was quite dimly lit so you could not really see just how beautiful the lovely Roast dinners were, having said that they taste so good that I didn’t mind too much plus it is a lot more atmospheric