Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Victoria hotel, Dovecote Lane, Beeston, NG9 1JG

After over 2 months of fanying about, I decided it was time to get my ass into gear and complete the circuit of Derby districts finest eateries and re-visit some again, en route.
The furthest blip on my radar is currently the Victoria Hotel in Beeston, a bit close to Nottingham I hear some of you saying, but we got there in my motor quicker than you can say "Derby County 3, Nottingham Forest O" (December 2004 - honest).
Tucked amongst a housing estate, next to Beeston train station and with sardine tight parking, the Victoria hotel ticks bundles of boxes. A gem of a real ale pub, that also prides itself on it’s massive selection of blended and single malt whiskies, live music during selected Saturday and Sunday afternoons and reputedly pukka pub food, oh and it’s mobile free..... fan-pub-tastic!
I believe the evenings can be chock-a-block, but this lunchtime we had no problem getting a table in the sun filled main room.
Real ale, cider and a couple of lagers were ordered and within minutes two plates of shared starters arrived. Both vegetarian, to allow all four of us share (my oldest school buddy being one of "them"). The vegetarian pate (£4.95) was basically mashed up blue cheese and extremely strong, but when taken with a bit of melba toast and some of the dressed salad it came down to earth. The second plate, of olives, hoummus and pitta attracted more attention with fingers of freshly grilled pitta to dip and share and some fat, sweet olives to soak up the beers.
For mains my veggie companion had the vegetarian burritos (£7.95). Three flour tortillas filled with a spicy been chilli and topped with melted cheese and sour cream, a crispy fresh salad kept it company. The ladies had scallops with pea risotto (£11.95) and a chicken supreme (£8.95). Three plump scallops wrapped in prosciuto, crowned a zesty lemon and pea risotto, whilst a pan fried breast of chicken came with a timbale of couscous and a diced pepper infused light gravy. The girls played musical plates until they were satisfied they'd tried enough of each others (well that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?).Yours truly had the Keftedes (£8.50), a trio of Greek style lamb meatballs with rice, sour cream and a crisp side salad. I wasn’t sharing mine with anyone!
There was still room in our tanks for a couple of desserts to share. The sticky toffee pudding with custard (£3.95) and apple crumble with custard (£3.95) were both “old school puds”, but I guess that’s what the doctor ordered.
This gaff is definitely worth a trip out. It’s just a shame it’s the other side of the M1 and under the wing of Nottingham.
Visit and enjoy, but take your “Up the Rams “ car sticker out of your car's rear window for the night !!
Oh, and my long standing veggie mate was as pleased as punch. Phew....
Food 8/10
Service 7/10
Venue 9/10
(Beer 9/10) I've added this in for the Vic.
Telephone: 0115 9254049