Aurora Restaurant Review

Image © www.godine.co.uk

 Having heard fantastic things about Aurora I couldn’t help but be excited for my Christmas meal. The menu boasts interesting flavor combinations as well as locally sourced ingredients. Tucked away in the Lace market the building is a renovated lace warehouse dating back to the 1880’s and suggests a charming, unique setting.

  In the middle of a busy evening service, the staff managed to seat all 15 of us efficiently and were incredibly friendly. Despite the warm welcome the restaurant felt cluttered with the tables closely bunched together making a reasonably small restaurant feel even smaller. The décor also added to the cluttered look with brightly coloured cushions, shag pile rugs, artificial flowers and sparkly turquoise curtains.

 Despite the original apprehension of the interior design, as soon as my starter arrived all worries were put to rest. My homemade game terrine was beautifully presented on the plate. The terrine was accompanied by the sweet date chutney, crispy kale, textures of apple and toast. All the flavours worked together wonderfully, making sure nothing over powered the game. The rest of my party also enjoyed their starters ranging from smoked salmon and lemon oil to Grilled Pasdeloup (creeping wolf) goats cheese and beetroot salsa.

 There was a wait for the main course but this gave me time to sample the red wine which was perfectly pleasant for £15 a bottle. When my main course arrived I could not have been more pleased to see the lovely piece of pork belly sitting on my plate. Aurora cannot be faulted on its presentation of food as everything arrived looking picture perfect. The pork belly certainly rivaled my previous experiences, the meat was delightfully tender with perfectly seasoned crackling. I found myself slightly disappointed with the honeyed parsnip and ginger puree as suddenly the dish became sickly sweet. The Beef Bourguinon proved popular against the turkey with apricot stuffing which was unusually served with slithers of carrot.

 By now the restaurant was incredibly busy but there was no sense of chaos amongst the waitressing staff and we were constantly checked upon to ensure we were having a good evening. My dessert of chocolate mousse and nut caramel arrived promptly with an array of Christmas puddings, winter berry parfaits and cheese boards with fig chutney. With the words caramel and chocolate it would have been naïve of me to assume I would not get a very sweet dessert. In spite of this I did find that it was too rich and I was unable to finish it. I was surprised to taste a milk chocolate mousse as had it have been dark chocolate I would have no doubt finished it without complaints. I was also disappointed to see Cornish yarg cheese on the cheese board when Derbyshire brags some delicious local cheeses.

  In summary, I had an enjoyable evening at Aurora. Having paid £20 for an appetizing three course meal it can not be criticized for its value for money. The staff provided well executed dinner service making sure we all left happy. The waitress offered me their regular dinner a la carte menu which changes regularly costing £16 for a three course meal. I would certainly not discourage people to go and try the Christmas menu before it finishes on the 22^nd of December. Aurora provides a good alternative to the dry carvery dinners so often served at Christmas. If the décor was stripped back to basics with a few candles, fresh flowers and a more subtle colour scheme it would show itself off as the charming restaurant it clearly is. It is nice to see more independent restaurants appearing in Nottingham and in support of this I would recommend a visit to Aurora.

Salted Caramel and Dark Chocolate Tart

This tart is ridiculously rich but perfect for something indulgent on a cold winters evening.  I had noticed that a lot of other food blogs were using salted caramel and have made an attempt of my own. hope you like it! Excuse my photography skills i promise it currently looks more much delicious sitting in front of me.

For your caramel chocolate filling you will need:

300ml of double cream ( 150ml for caramel and 150ml for chocolate)

140g of golden caster sugar

85g Golden Syrup

60g Demerara sugar

50g unsalted butter

1tsp of vanilla paste

1 tsp Fleur de sel ( if you can not find this Maldon sea salt will do) 

250g Dark chocolate ( 70% coaco or more)

For your chocolate pastry you will need:

200g plain flour

50g coaco powder

100g unsalted butter

1 egg yolk

85g icing sugar

1. Place all the dry ingredients for your pastry into a bowl along with your butter cut into small cubes. Cut the butter into flour mixture until crumbly consistency and then add your egg yolk to bind the ingredients together. 

2. Work this into the mixture with a knife until all the ingredients start to form a ball of dough. Work as little as possible onto a floured surface and the wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. To make your caramel weigh out your butter and cut it into small chunks and to it add your vanilla paste and set to one side.

4. Then to deep saucepan add the cream, both demerara sugar and caster sugar, golden syrup and double cream. Put on a medium heat for a few minutes and then put on a slightly higher heat and then cook until bubbling and continue to cook for 8 minutes. after a minute or two stir in your butter until the mixture is smooth. Then immediately take off the heat and set to one side. 

5. Boil your cream and then add to it your chocolate and let the chocolate melt into the cream off the heat. When the ingredients are all mixed in and glossy mix into your caramel and leave to the side.

6. Take your pastry out of the fridge and roll out to about 1-2cm thick and line your tart tin. Mine is 24cm in diameter. Blind bake for 15-20 minutes at 200°.

7.  After it has been taken out of the oven leave to cool for half an hour and then add to it your chocolate caramel mixture. Leave to set at room temperature as i have found if you leave it to chill in the fridge it looses its shine and we want it to look glossy and inviting!

There we have it! Do not underestimate this tart it is very very rich but nothing a sweet tooth can't handle.