Lunch / ££ / 8.5/10

On a sunny lunchtime in autumn we decided to try Sexy Mamma’s in West Bridgford. We were warmly welcomed and decided to sit in the sunshine on the high stools by the window. The restaurant is the newest opening from the stable of Botti di Mamma, Crazy Fish My Love and Sexy Mama Loves Cicchetti. You can’t help but smile at the names, these restaurants have been behind some of the simplest, tastiest food I have had in the city but the opposite is also true.

How to explain the decor inside? I am going to go for ‘eclectic’. The main restaurant looks like they’ve run out of room in the kitchen with bags of pasta, tinned tomatoes and general ‘stuff’ you don’t normally see in a restaurant (like a clamp securing the bar top to the fixings). This eccentric approach to the dining room makes me a little apprehensive but the music (Radio Monte Carlo 2) fills the restaurant with the most amazing soundtrack and; along with the cutlery, is reassuring. Someone has chosen that cutlery thinking about how it will feel when it is being held – I like that. The handwritten menu is a thing of beauty in my opinion, with most of the choices containing one element I haven’t heard of or can’t read. We asked the waiter for some advice and he took us through each element with passion and enthusiasm.

We decided to go for bread and olives to start and pasta dishes to follow. The olives were as forgettable as the bread was delicious so I won’t waste time on them. The focaccia was moist with oil (but not dripping, which often becomes an outfit ruiner) and had a crunch to the top from the mellow warmth of very fresh baking. Sprinkled sparingly with salt and rosemary it was delicately balanced and better for it, I don’t need to be eating a whole sprig of rosemary at ANY point in a meal.

The main courses arrived while I was in the bathroom, this never fails to remind me of the scene in Pulp Fiction “Don’t you just love it when you come back from the bathroom to find your food waiting for you?“. The Northerner’s plate of ragu and penne looked rich and delicious, I glanced at my salmon and felt like I had chosen badly. The waiter had described it as ‘comfort’ food but it looked more like a healthy broth. I shouldn’t have been influenced by the way it looked – as I tried a bit of salmon the fish flaked perfectly and the ground pepper on top of it added a welcome heat to the very well cooked fish. The pasta ‘broth’ was deep in umami flavour, I picked up the spoon and made sure each mouthful had every element of the dish in it. Together what looked ‘fresh’ and ‘light’ was actually a very clever dish that left me wanting more even after I had finished it all.

The Northerner offered me his ragu, I am not sure if they used fresh parmesan or the kind you get in a cardboard tube but it was the right topping for the Ragu. The meat was really soft so I assume it was pork mince and the sauce was thick enough to coat the pasta and leave sufficient at the end for dipping focaccia into. Despite my initial judgement after a few mouthfuls the ragu became a bit boring.

After being sat in the window (and direct sunshine for an hour) we were on the verge of overheating so decided to have pudding outside in the fresh air. Despite a lot of choice on the main menu, the pudding menu is paired back. 4 choices in total but they may as well only have 1, if Tiramisu is on the menu I am ordering it.

I would much rather a tiramisu was a taste sensation than be a thing of beauty, so when it arrived looking a little haphazard I didn’t mind a bit. It was as wet and creamy as you would want but again missed the amount of booze I really like. I wonder if The Northerner has ruined all tiramisu’s for me with his heavy handed approach to measuring Marsala, but here we are. We had drinks with the lunch so when the bill arrived and was less than £100 I was pleasantly surprised. I asked the waiter to add an amount to cover service (also quite a rarity these days) and he changed the amount I offered to a lesser amount, I have no idea why as the service was very, very good.

There is a lot of choice in West Bridgford but Sexy Mamma’s really impressed me this time. I know if I ever try to listen to Radio Monte Carlo at home it will lack the lustre of the slightly dishevelled dining room and be equivalent to why drinking Limoncello at home never tastes as good as when you’re sipping it on an Italian piazza on holiday. Some things work in isolation and they should be appreciated that way, that being said I may buy a tube of ready grated parmesan for my next ragu.

FAMILY – older kids would love Sexy Mamma but anyone under 9 is probably going to prefer Pizza Express down the road.