Lunch / ££ / 9/10

Hemisphere has recently opened in West Bridgford and on a child free day we decided to go for lunch. It is easy to walk past being above Iceland and holds the uncertainty of not being able to see inside from street level, but once up the stairs the dining room was warm and welcoming. Simply renovated; with a focus on circular lights, the room has a wall of windows looking out over central avenue, a wide hatch to the kitchen, a bar along the third wall and a bank of seating against the other. We were sat by the window (which helpfully became a plate overflow when the food started arriving) and asked about the menu. Paul Thaker is the brains behind the restaurant and he was front of house at lunch – he took us through their lunch offer (2 tapas and a side for £21). Having spoke to a friend who went the previous evening and advised the portions were quite small and to add a sushi element, we both ordered sushi adding edamame to snack on while we waited.

The edamame arrived and had a salty, sticky coating with chilli scattered over the top, it weas ok. We picked at them but they didn’t have the addictive chilli base in the coating that makes it hard stop. 

The pork belly was a small portion but what it lacked in size it made up for in greatness. Each cube was a perfectly rendered piece of pork belly somehow lacking in jelly, fat, sinew or any other texture apart from deliciously soft meat. The outside had a crunch to it that made the texture really enjoyable and reminded me of the best spare ribs I have ever eaten (Chungs, Mapperley Top in the 90’s). There was sweetness from the parsnip and crispy batons of apple meant it wasn’t too rich. I didn’t pick up any ‘pork puffs’ from the menu description, not that the dish missed them.

The corn came and looked like charred cheese on top charred corn, under the cheese (which formed a lid) was a creamy mayo but as it came after the pork I was fully bought into asian flavours and only had a couple of mouthfuls. The Northerner enjoyed it but still left a few spoonfuls as the sushi and chicken arrived and we realised we had QUITE a lot of food.

The crispy chicken was a beautifully constructed dish with rounds of radish perched on top of the sticky chicken and the first mouthful hit all the spots, crispy, sweet, heat, soft chicken. Then; as you went in again the dish delivered so much more with the passionfruit gel. This kicked like a flavour mule, instantly flooding your mouth with the sharp sweetness of the fruit and blending well with the other elements of the dish. I though you couldn’t do better than Bar Iberico Crispy Chicken – I was wrong.

The sushi rolls made me realise where my friends advice had come from, they were far bigger than expected and made all the other dishes seem small in comparison. By this point we had polished off most of the chicken, pork and rice. I went for the crispy duck and The Northerner went for the salmon. I can fully appreciate the skill that went into the construction of the salmon and it looked perfect but I have never been able to appreciate the texture of raw fish so I stayed in my lane and had the duck. The Northerner said the salmon sushi rolls were really tasty – the jalapeño being a welcome addition. My duck sushi was lovely with just enough hoi sin to bring the flavour of the duck through and raw chilli adding only flavour and not an eye watering amount of heat.

Now we’ve covered the ‘stars’ of the menu I want to take a second to shout out an unsung hero – a bowl of rice. A friend of mine recently remarked adding simple carbs to a menu does the heavy lifting of actually filling you up so you don’t leave hungry. A ‘plain’ side lifts other dishes, being a base against which they can really ‘peacock’. I’m not a fan of side dishes with the flavour profile of a Man Vs Food episode, sermon over.

I will definitely be back to try the brunch and the dinner menu as days later I am still thinking about the dishes with fondness. As we walked out the Northerner commented ‘It is like the best Chinese takeaway, like you want all Chinese takeaways to be but they never are’. This is in no way reductive – he is spot on with this sentiment and I hope it see’s the restaurant thrive.