Aurora Restaurant Review

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 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.