So why do we have a frustrated chef at The Frustrated Chef? The place was rammed last weekend, with scores of Beestonians plundering the “world tapas” larder. If I happened to be bossing the kitchen, I’d be happy and fulfilled.
Especially as Chilwell Road businesses, just west of Beeston town centre, seem to be surviving. Whatever happened to the charred economic wasteland predicted by so many objectors to the tram project?
The suburb certainly looked scrubbed and prosperous on Saturday night, the presence of builders’ cranes is encouraging and the frustrated chef who works up a sweat at The Frustrated Chef is definitely doing his bit in Britain’s overloaded hospitality market (this week’s casualty: Jamie Oliver’s restaurants).
As an Iberophile, if that is the word, I’d be quite happy to be limited to Spanish tapas, perhaps with a glass of chilled fino. But the fashion – led locally by the splendid Iberico brand – is for a broader scope of “small plates” troughing. Nowadays tapas comes not only from Seville and Cordoba, but also from Hong Kong, Helsinki and Hartlepool.
This particular tapas journey took us from Cornwall (where chef’s mussels come from) to Spain (chorizo), North Africa (harissa) and as far east as India (masala chickpeas), with some dishes more successful than others.
The baby chorizo sausages, in a sticky honey glaze, were deliciously sweet, spicy and porky … once you had jemmied them off the plate, to which they stuck like limpets.
And the masala chickpeas, with onions and a generous dollop of mango yogurt, were as good as anything you will find in Nottingham’s most refined Indian restaurants.
I also liked the thick romesco sauce that came with the asparagus. It was rich enough, but not too much for the chargrilled spears.
However we thought the harissa spices were too much for the mussels; the fishcakes were merely functional, notwithstanding a mild wasabi sauce, and while the calamari tentacles were pleasant enough, it would have been nice to have given the gnashers a work-out with some body meat as well.
These were all decent-sized servings. The charming waiting staff recommended up to three dishes per head. Next time we’ll err on the side of caution – perhaps a maximum of five between us … but reserving the right to lay waste to the dessert menu.
On which subject, we shared a wedge of white chocolate cheesecake. White chocolate? I could never see the point of the stuff but, frustrated or not, chef successfully pepped up his effort with raspberries and hints of lime.
Given the outstanding value, The Frustrated Chef goes into the good books as a candidate for a return visit.
However, and like most people who dined there in Saturday, I hope we will be spared the presence of the woman who elected not to converse with her three companions, but to shout all evening, causing customers at several tables to wipe the blood from their ears and crane necks to identify the offender.
I’m not sure what sort of DIY gear our frustrated chef keeps in the kitchen cupboard, but 10in of broad-gauge duct tape would have solved the problem.
The essentials: The Frustrated Chef, 90-94 Chilwell Road, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1ES. Tel 0115 922 8300; www.thefrustratedchef.co.uk
We had … six tapas dishes totalling £38.35; one dessert, £5.25. Drinks: two alcohol-free lagers, one gin and tonic, £11.25. Total inc VAT, £54.75.
Star rating (out of 10): 6.5
Plate rating (out of 10): 10. Everything served in proper receptacles, no daft slates, planks, etc.
The Food Sleuth dines unannounced and pays his own bills
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