Nice Pie Cafe & Tea Room have recently taken over the unit in the Compton Acres previously occupied by the Stone Roasting House and Artisan Cafe and briefly by Compton Harbour.
Nice Pie hail from Melton Mowbray and are apparently known for their award winning pies which they serve at lunch and have for sale at the counter inside.
Over the last few weeks I have been in for a breakfast, partaken of a toasted sandwich and purchased a pie to eat at home.
Here is what we have found and eaten 🙂
COOKED BREAKFAST MENU
I was happy to see that they were offering a cooked breakfast as I do like a decent fry up.
Recent occupants had been purveying a ‘healthier’ breakfast with no frying pan employed and while I don’t mind a poached egg or a baked sausage on occasion. I do prefer my eggs fried and some crispy bacon from a pan so I was hopeful I would hear some sizzle from the kitchen 🙂
The choices were simple it seemed, BIG, LIGHT, or VEGGIE. If I am honest I didn’t even read the menu properly as I approached the counter to order .”May I have a breakfast please?” was my question and as the answer was “Yes” I just paid and sat down.
It turned out that I was getting the Nice Big Breakfast which to be fair I would have ordered if I had been required to be specific with my breakfasting needs.
NICE BIG BREAKFAST
The Nice Big Breakfast was billed on the brekkie playlist as being comprised of ‘2 Sausage, 2 bacon, 2 Fried Eggs, 2 Hash Browns, Black Pudding, Tomato, Mushrooms, Beans with Toast & Butter‘
This was priced up at £11 and with a pot of tea as a needed extra was perhaps a little more costly than I had bargained for when I pulled up into the car park outside looking for breakfast action.
I was very happy to see two proper quality sausages on the plate and two really well cooked fried eggs. The bacon was crisped up nicely and the hash browns large enough to be of merit.
MY NICE BIG BREAKFAST
I thoroughly enjoyed the sausage, bacon, and eggs. I appreciated the charm of the black pudding with the flecks of white fat inside the soft well flavoured filling.
The mushrooms were perhaps a little thinly cut but they were at least cooked properly and had soaked up the flavour from the pan.
beans are beans and toast is toast, both have their uses but neither would be missed from my fry-up if push came to shove
All things said this was to be one of the better breakfasts that I have eaten recently in Nottingham. I really cannot think of any complaints regarding any of the items on the plate. I do note now that there was not actually any tomato but I didn’t miss that as I hadn’t read the menu so was not expecting it 🙂
TAKEOUT TOASTIE MENU
Such was the success of the breakfast trip that I came back again to try some lunch. We didn’t have time to sit in and eat this time so I was checking out the sandwich options.
I usually would go straight for the Tuna Melt which is probably in my top 5 favorite sandwiches but we were sharing so we compromised by getting two more interesting combinations The Spicy Italian (Salami, Mozzarella, Tomatoes, Salsa) and The Chilli Pig (Bacon, Brie & Sweet Chilli Sauce)
THE SPICY ITALIAN TOASTIE
My choice had been the The Spicy Italian Toastie filled with Salami, Mozzerella, Tomato, and Salsa.
There was plenty of stuff packed into the sandwich and I like the combination of all the ingredients. Flavourwise this reminded me of pizza topping and I liked that very much!
The actual cheese could have been a bit thinner and more molten, but hey why I am complaining about too much cheese? am I mad? lol.
It was a little rich but the plain crinkle crisps and the salad served along with the toasties helped to keep it under control so it was all very balanced
THE CHILLI PIG TOASTIE
The second toastie that we shared was The Chilli Pig filled with that now classic mix of Bacon, Brie & Sweet Chilli Sauce. I love Bacon and not so bothered about Brie, but put them together with a bit of sweet chilli sauce and I am in love with the combo.
The mix in this toastie was particularly good, the different textures of meaty bacon and soft melty almost runny cheese went really well with the crunchy toast.
I probably would not normally pick this particular sandwich combination but I was very happy sharing it today.
TOASTIE ACTION
I liked the way that the bread was toasted so that it had a kind of crispy ridge with a bit of char but still soft. The bread choices were white, brown or sourdough. I opted for white but it did seem to be much posher white than I had expected. Damn good though!
The Toasties seemed good value for take out as they are normally £7.50 if you eat in but only £4.50 if you take away and you still get a pile of crisps and a small bit of salad for your trouble in the take out box!
I would happily return for more Toastie action, most probably I would end up with a Tuna Melt
PIES
As the place is called Nice Pie and they are supposed to be purveyors of good pies we really did have to get a couple to take away and try.
The fridge has a small yet varied selection of pies with mostly steak based combinations. Steak with ‘Pea and Mint‘, ‘Horseradish‘, and ‘Red Wine‘ were some of the more interesting fillings. I chose the classic Steak and Ale to try
It wasn’t just take away to cook, you can get the pies cooked in the cafe, alongside chips, mash, peas, gravy if you wanted to
I read that they sell pies with squirrel, rabbit and wood pigeon. Now those I would like to sample! 🙂
STEAK AND ALE PIE
Back at home I cooked up my Steak and Ale pie and served along with some oven chips, mushy peas and gravy. As Pies go it was a ‘nice pie’ plenty of steak meat housed inside a decent pastry crust.
Personally I like a runnier filling with a bit more meaty gravy but that is down to personal choice and I had made plenty of gravy to go with my pie.
I would be curious to try a different flavour another day and maybe have my pie in the cafe instead.
Nice Pie Cafe & Tea Rooms is located at 8 Compton Acres Shopping Centre, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7RS. For easy reference it is next to the Tesco Express and opposite from The Dorset pub
You can check Nice Pie out on their Instagram profile, and Twitter feed
The cafe in Compton acres has it’s own Facebook Page