Review: The Malt Cross, Nottingham

 This isn’t a sponsored post, but I was invited to enjoy a meal as a guest of the Malt Cross. As always, my opinions are my own. Thanks for reading!

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to enjoy a meal at the recently refurbished Malt Cross Music Hall in central Nottingham. I’ve been a fan of the Malt Cross ever since I came to live in Nottingham eleven years ago, it’s a truly special place – a restored Victorian Music Hall (one of the few still in use in the country), that is now a beautiful place to hang out, enjoy tea and cake, and tasty food. 

Just look at that gorgeous vaulted……. or round? Ceiling!

In the past, the Malt Cross had a fairly extensive menu, including the popular veggie big orange burger (it was beany with sweet potato and cheese and quite delicious). The new Malt Cross has a far more streamlined food offering, focusing on smoked meats that are smoked in-house (which I find impressive despite being a veggie!), including beef brisket, pulled pork and pulled chicken.  For veggies, there’s a beetroot burger and a portobello mushroom and halloumi sandwich. 

We visited on a Thursday evening after work and I was really pleased to see that the Malt Cross is looking absolutely beautiful after the £1.4m refit. I haven’t yet seen any of the newly opened up floors or historic caves, but bar and seating area’s are looking lovely, especially the antique glass floor tiles, once operated by gas burners, that are now home to colour changing LED lights! 

We picked a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc ‘The Cloud Factory’ to drink, a really delicious white wine. Wines range from £14.50 to £18 for a bottle which isn’t too bad, and there’s also a wide range of ciders and beers, with quite a few European options. 

Food wise, we each went for the beet burger, billed as ‘the perfect mix of beetroot, rice, garlic, and onion’. When you order you do so on a cool pad where you tick your options and then your toppings / sides etc. I tried not to get too carried away with toppings so just went for some coleslaw on a split white roll. Side wise, I went for rosemary baked potato wedges, and Lee had skinny fries. 

Sadly I don’t think the beet burger has yet been perfected! It was very sloppy and wet, and pretty inedible. Lucky that the rosemary potato wedges were about the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten! Oddly, I wouldn’t let this put me off recommending you head to the Malt Cross (unless you were planning to order the beet burger!); it’s obvious that their focus is now on the smoked meats which I’m sure are very tasty. I hope they work out the kinks with the veggie burger though so I can eat there!

One thing that I’ve always appreciated about the Malt Cross is how lovely and friendly their staff are; it’s a truly relaxed and nice place to spend an evening. One special thing about the Malt Cross is that it’s run as a charitable organisation by the Malt Cross charity – any profits go back into making Nottingham a better place, either through running the Malt Cross, or through the Street Pastors scheme (teams of volunteers out in the city on friday and saturday nights helping drunken people in a vulnerable state). To my mind, that (and the stunning building) makes it a place worth supporting above the other chain pubs and bars on offer in the city.

I love, and have always loved, the Malt Cross, so it doesn’t take a genius to work out that I’ll definitely be back to enjoy tea and cake (great news for us daring after work tea drinkers – hot drinks are now served until ten rather than the paltry six they offered before)! Hopefully in time they’ll work out the kinks in their veggie offering as I would love to have it in my regular roster for after-work food. I will also be trying their Eggs Benedict from their new breakfast menu (though I can’t quite believe they missed the chance to offer a stack of blueberry pancakes!).

I do think that there’s a gap in the Malt Cross menu now that it’s so slick and streamlined, for something snacky such as hummus and pitta, for people who want something small to tide them over rather than a full meal. At the moment the only light or snack option is cake, and while I’m not complaining… something a bit healthier would be good!

By the way, the shop at the side of the Malt Cross is home to a Handmade Nottingham pop up shop until the end of this year. It’s full of cute cards, pretty jewellery and cool homeware and accessories, so pop in while you can! 

See the black cat brooch above? It’s one of my Christmas presents from Lee! (I help him out by telling him what I want). It’s by hello sunshine – check her stuff out, it’s super cute and you can buy it online and get it shipped worldwide.

How appropriate is this card for me? (sensing a theme developing anyone?)

 

So, see you at the Malt Cross for tea and cake?

 

x Kerry

 

 Let’s be friends! | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Google+ | Bloglovin’