Limes restaurant, 102 Friargate, Derby, DE1 1EX

Limes wasn’t what I’d imagined when I agreed to have a midweek catch up with a friend, but I’m never one to miss an opportunity especially as head chef Ian Boden is firmly establishing himself as one of the regions top talents and has recently reached the final of the prestigious Knorr National Chef of the Year competition.
After a well earned cold beer was taken in the downstairs bar, we headed up the stairs to Hepburns restaurant. It was good to see that even on a Wednesday night there were a few tables in.
We nibbled away at some hand made bread rolls, spreading the soft butter on thicker than I ever would at home, ah well.
Momentum was maintained with the arrival of an appetiser, fennel velouté with tapenade and truffle oil was an exquisite opener which certainly woke and amused our taste buds.
For starters I chose the Langoustine & crab trifle with crab cake, poached pineapple and fennel & pernod sorbet. An contemporary plate that compartmentalised each element of the dish injecting an element of fun into this well thought out starter.

My only criticism would be that my ‘trifle’ was a bit too much jelly and not enough fish, the sorbet and crab cake were a joy. My friend Andrew went for the free range chicken and foie gras roulade with quail egg and truffle salad. A chunky slice of terrine veined with vibrant green brassica, accompanied by a perfectly cooked quail egg and a dressed pea shoot salad. We were both suitably impressed and ensured we sampled each others before they disappeared down the hatch.
For mains I paid the £5 supplement and had the roasted fillet and pressed blade of Derbyshire beef with braised carrot and a cabernet sauvignon vinegar and bay leaf sauce. It appears that one of Ians signatures is to serve beef in two ways (I had that at Christmas). Meltingly tender fillet with a carrot cooked in orange juice certainly gave my palette something to think about. Top drawer in every respect. Andrew chose the slow cooked cod with roasted fennel, black olive tapenade and saffron aioli, garnished with pea shoots. Ian seems to be getting carried away with the pea shoots and fennel this week. The slow cooked cod was delicate and its shape was held by the thin sleeve of prosciutto. We were once again captivated.
Quality rather than quantity ensured there was room for dessert and there was only one place to go, the assiette of Hepburn desserts to share. A polished granite platter with a mix of delicately prepared sweet morsels: A cone of rich chocolate torte, banana and mandarin sorbets a dainty slice of fine plum tart and a miniature version of the classic ice cream sandwich (my least favourite) were chased around the plate by our competing spoons until everything had vanished. It was a fine end to an worthy meal.
I was gutted that the lighting was to dark for my covert camera action, but I need say no more than this is certainly up there, competing as Derby’s no 1.
2 courses £24.95 and 3 courses £29.95 was certainly well worth every penny. Probably not your midweek ‘decentgrub’, but definitely the place to take the missus for your anniversary next month. Go on, she's worth it...........she'll be more than pleasantly surprised.

Limes source as much local and free range produce as possible and support local farmers.

Food 8.5/10
Service 8.5/10
Venue 8/10

www.limesbar.com

Tel: 01332 613665

Ruskins, Derby Road, Melbourne, Derbys

Ruskins wins "Plain English Award" for it's menu, 3rd year in a row!

(click to enlarge)

I'm sorry, but Friday night is lads night. After a long stressful week at work, there's nothing I need more than a few pints O foamin ale! But when I get a call at 5 0'clock asking would I like to make up the numbers at Ruskins in Melbourne (super sub!) for Dave's birthday, I jump at the chance, and my better half is more than happy.
He's hired the whole place, all 24 seats of this cosy single room restaurant. It's the 1st time in years I've been to an un-licenced restaurant, so a quick jaunt to the Offy for some bottles of our favourite tipple, was pulled-in before our lift arrived.
30 minutes later we're in Melbourne, a village (or is it a town?) with more than it's fair share of quality eateries, most of them congregated around the busy Derby Road. At first glance Ruskins appears to be a house, until I recognised some of the reprobates gathered outside, we'd found it!

Someone with a bit more notice than us had had brought with them, a plastic barrel of the beloved Pedigree Bitter (they probably installed it the previous day, that's planning!). Pint in hand we proceeded to play musical chairs, until everyone was happy with the seating arrangements.

Copies of the extremely difficult to read hand written menu were strewn around the two tables. Unless I'm mistaken, I ordered Scallops wrapped in pancetta, with courgette and scallop fritters, for Bec it was to be large field mushrooms stuffed with spinach, garlic and a type of cheese that we still haven't been able to deduce from this poorly written menu (see above). My scallops were cooked just right and tightly wrapped in salty slivers of bacon, er sorry pancetta, with plenty of leaves and a tangy hollandaise sauce, very bistro style. Bec's plate was also adorned with a heap of leaves, topped with the large mushrooms, still firm yet cooked and oozing with the garlic, spinach and the unknown cheese. Finger lickin good.

Main course I opted for fillet steak, requested rare it came slightly overcooked for me, but with a superb light wild mushroom cream sauce. Bec had the rack of lamb, cooked just right (slightly pink) served with a wine and mint sauce and seasonal broad beans. We both eagerly polished off our plates of food.

To date service had been pretty slow, but to be fair they were trying to serve all 24 guests at once from the tiny en suite kitchen, subsequently we both still felt there was room for a pudd. I'm impressed at the large selection, 12 in total, and all my favourites creme brullé, sticky toffee pudding, baked cheesecake, almond tart, etc, etc. Well I have a confession now, due to the fact that the table was adorned with various bottles of wine, I must have had two glasses on the go! and several pedigree's have been forced down my neck. A week later I can't remember what I chose. I know, I know, bloody ridiculous, but I can tell you that I do recall clearing the plate, so I can safely say, "it was good".

I start to hear words like "taxi" and "how long", next I know we're evicted onto the street. We then proceeded to wait at least an hour before a taxi came to pick us up, by which time I was soaked, tired and wobbling like a jelly at a kids birthday party.

At £30 for three corses, I reckon it's good value, however Dave sprung the entire bill. Top night Dave, thanks!

Ruskins was a little gem, but take it easy on the drinks and definately pre-book your taxi. Hic.
Food 7/10

Service 5/10
Venue 6/10

Tel: 01332 864170

"There were times, I´m sure you knew. When there was f**k, f**k f**k-all else to do" (My Way, Sid Vicious, 1978)

Martin, Friday 15th June 2007