Dinner / ££ / 6/10

I saw a new opening announced on Instagram and started doing my normal mental walk of the city trying to realise what Skein *used* to be. I took a look at the menu and quickly booked in for the first free night we could get a babysitter.

Weeks passed and the babysitter arrived and I went back to the menu. It looked very much like the kind of food I love. Classic flavours, a list of ingrediants with the surprise of how it will be cooked and a concise menu. I was mentally writing the review already and felt sure I would be able to include ‘No notes’, my expectations were sky high.

Upon arrival I realised it didn’t used to be anything of note, I think I once bought 2 dresses from there when I was 19. The ground floor was full when we entered, a great sign. At every table sat happy looking people, eating great looking food. Jackpot. We were told our table was ready and made our way upstairs. The furniture and paired back interior is reassuring but upon sitting down I realised they were very much embracing Nottingham shabby chic with a patchy paint job and no soft furnishings (more on this later).

When asked if we wanted bread and olives I enthusiastically nodded and a couple of minutes later 3 small warm loaves arrived alongside 2 different flavoured butters, some shiny olives and a Bloody Mary Amuse Bouche. I started with the bread, although fresh it missed a bit of shine but was full of flavour and complimented by the butters. I passed my bloody mary to The Northerner, the rim being seasoned with rock salt and chilli flakes made it a ‘No’ for me and I should have seen this as a sign. Table salt on a margherita, fine, massive chunks of salt and chilli on a shot glass, nope.

I started with the Cauliflower Veloute and The Northerner had the Lobster and Prawn Ravioli, each dish arrived so full or promise. After a couple of mouthfuls we exchanged spoons, eye contact and exactly the same thought ‘it doesn’t taste of much’. More seasoning! That’s what we needed. I asked for salt and generously shook it all over the dish. The mushrooms awoke with the seasoning but everything else still tasted a bit flat. And not remotely cauliflower-y. The Northerner was finding the same, although it was clear from the texture of the ravioli filling it was shellfish there was no sweetness and no richness to the bisque either.

The Northerner had struggled to choose a main course and I had spoken with quite a lot of passion about a Pithivier, how it was a beautifully lined puff pastry pie filled with rich, warmth. When it arrived I winced a little, it looked more like a hockey puck than a Pithivier. The Northerner had opted for Shoestring fries over mash as he adores them but when normal chips turned up I thought this probably wasn’t his lucky day.

My Lamb Rump and Pomme Anna was definitely more of a ‘looker’ although there was clearly quite a lot of sinew on the lamb and I wondered if this was the best way to cook this cut. Readers, with hindsight, it wasn’t. I struggled to get through most of the mouthfuls of lamb despite some quite determined chewing and had to take a few pieces out of my mouth. The Pomme Anna was delicious, the compressed soft potato slices well seasoned and crisp. Unfortunately the Salsa Verde struggled to hang around on the palette in the face of the tough lamb. When the server came to the table after we had finished she asked how it was and pointedly eyed the lamb. I have had a birthday since my last blog and as I get older my confidence grows so I just delivered the feedback in the kindest way possible ‘The lamb was tough, I couldn’t eat much of it. Sorry’. She apologised and removed the bread and olives from the bill. The irony wasn’t lost on me that it was the part of the meal I had enjoyed the most.

During our main course a table of 7 arrived and the volume in the room ramped up, without any soft furnishings I struggled to hear The Northerner and we decided to call it a day and go for a drink elsewhere. I was deflated and disappointed; probably because my expectations were too high, but also because of the £40+ surcharge any night with a babysitter comes with.