A Family Lunch at Ego Mediterranean Restaurant

Last weekend we were invited to Ego in West Bridgford, a new mediterranean restaurant offering great food in a light and airy environment, but most excitingly on a Sunday they offer children's entertainment, to make dining with your little ones that little bit easier.

Both of my children are pretty good when we are dining out, I take books or felt tips to keep them occupied and they usually sit still. However, like most children they do get a bit bored after a while and this is where in addition to a colouring pack on arrival, the children's entertainment comes into its own.

With colouring in, balloon animals and some fabulous scratch art bookmarks the team from Party Crew keep the children entertained whilst you get some time to yourself, whether for a chat or to mull over the menu in peace. It is a great idea and one that I think makes the dining experience for everyone that little bit more relaxed.

On to the food itself, we ordered the Greek Meze to start, a mixture of hummus, chicken, stuffed vine leaves, pittas, cous cous and halloumi. A tasty starter with something on it that both the adults and children could enjoy.

Being a Sunday it meant that they had a Sunday roast on offer, or you could choose from the A La Carte menu, I love a roast but equally the food on the menu really caught my eye. I chose the Andalucian Pork Fillet, tender pork wrapped in prosciutto, pan roasted & served with apricot & sherry cream sauce served with dauphinoise potatoes, it was really tasty and the portion size was generous.

My partner chose Lemon Chicken Milanese, flattened breaded lemon chicken, rocket, sun blush tomato & Grana Padano with lemon caper dressing & skin-on fries, I am told this was rather delicious and the plate was empty so I am guessing so.

For the children they have the standard range of children's option, chicken goujons, pizza, pasta, roast chicken, however since a smaller roast was on offer the children chose to have this instead. And I am glad they did, as what came out was amazing and I was kind of jealous.

The Elfe potatoes, giant Yorkshire pudding and beautifully tender vegetables made for a fabulous Sunday lunch and I think i'll chose this next time we go, because there will be a next time.

Puddings were equally as tasty, with a large range of sweet treats we were spoilt for choice, I chose my one of my all time favourites, Tiramisu, the children both had brownie and my partner had Sicilian Lemon Tart, all very tasty and all eaten rather quickly.

Just outside of Nottingham it is easy to get to and for us is on the way back from Rushcliffe Country Park, one of our favourite places to go for a walk. I think it is safe to say this is one place I will find myself visiting regularly for a Sunday lunch, I have already recommended it to many people.

The staff were all super friendly and attentive, the service was quick and we felt un-rushed, it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon following a walk.

With the giant roast dinner costing just £10.95 I think this is a great option to get out of doing the dishes on a Sunday. The mains are a little more expensive but the portion sizes are plentiful and the food really tasty as well as being something a bit different. The children's menu is very reasonable costing just £4.95 for two courses.

We all left full and very happy after a wonderful few hours at Ego, the children had a wonderful time and for me if all four of us are happy then that is always a bonus.

We were invited to try lunch for free, however all words, opinions and pictures are my own.

Pieminister Nottingham Review

We were recently invited to try out the new Pieminister restaurant in Nottingham, a welcome addition to Nottingham’s blossoming food scene.

The industrial interior was interesting, with a mix of booths and tables filling the space, an open bar at the back and then a food counter near the front.

We were seated in front of the bar, now normally I am all for mood lighting, however we were seated under a red light. Not only was it difficult to photograph my food, but it also made it a rather strange eating experience. With the food looking red, it meant I couldn’t really enjoy the colour of the pie and side dishes that were served with it. So I apologise in advance for the photos, they are not my normal quality and don't represent the food at it's best.

We chose to have some of the pimp up your pie options which they kindly bought as soon as we ordered, some yummy halloumi on a stick, as well as chorizo and some pigs in blankets, the pigs weren't really that great, I would have preferred them to be nice and crisp and they were a little bit cheap tasting, my son ate still ate them though.

The main event however, was delicious. I opted for the Wild Shroom Pie, one of their vegetarian options. The pie was filled with mushrooms, asparagus and a creamy white wine sauce which was really tasty. The white wine flavours come through well and there were plenty of mushrooms. I opted for a side salad and their homemade slaw, I'm not sure what was in this but my it was the tastiest slaw I've ever had.

Some of their other veggie options sound equally as delicious and each Monday they offer 50p off their vegetarian pies as part of Meat Free Monday. So if you fancy a try of one then this is certainly a bonus on a Monday.

My husband went with the Chilli Con Carnage pie, his first comment was it was weird as you don't normallly expect a pie to be filled with chilli and spicy. But he really enjoyed it, served with chips and mushy peas. The chips were nice and crisp and the mushy peas were well mixed with mint sauce, nothing upsets me more in this world than mushy peas without enough mint sauce.

For our children, we chose a pie for them to share off the main menu, however there is a children's menu serving the likes of mac and cheese, cottage pie and fish pie, but since we were there for pie they chose the Moo & Blue pie which was a combination of beef and Long Clawson stilton.

They chose sides of chips and mash, purely because my daughter wanted mash and my son wanted chips. The skin on chips are really tasty, however my daughter didn't like the mash, it was an off day and I forgot to try it to find out why she didn't like it. My husband who hates mash made by anyone but himself also didn't like it, this is an honest opinion but maybe not a realistic once since we had two fusspots on our hands.

Each plate or bowl, gravy boat and side was served on a plank of wood, this looked great however it meant we all struggled to eat on a smallish table with four of us, we had to remove one of them from the table in order to fit everything on. It felt quite cramped and to be honest didn't really add anything to the dining experience for us.

My husband and I both had one of their fantastic selection of beers to drink, served in pint pot style glasses.

For a Saturday the restaurant felt understaffed, it is however early days and we will be keeping this on our list of places to visit with a pie and two sides coming in under £10 it is a great hearty meal and all of us certainly enjoyed the pies. They also offer a few Gluten Free options in the form of hot pots, which sound delicious and I will be trying one of those next time.

NB: We were given vouchers for a pie feast (pie and two sides), we paid for the beer and extra sides ourselves. All words and opinions are my own, pictures