Review: Perkins Restaurant in Plumtree

The Perkins family have seen success at each of their three ventures: their eponymous flagship fine-dining restaurant in Plumtree, their wedding venue The Carriage Hall located next door, and their popular tapas bar Escabeche in West Bridgford. On arrival at Perkins Restaurant for this review, the trepidation of the dark driveway to the collection of buildings in Plumtree quickly gives way to the simple comfort of Perkins. An open-plan area starts with a couple of leather armchairs that look ideal for a pre-meal drink. This flows into to the light, spacious dining room that was once a Victorian railway station.

PerkinsStarter

The wood pigeon starter

There is a fixed-price menu at £18.95 for three courses, available during the week, with a la carte available throughout. Some bread in the form of chilli focaccia arrived while decisions were being made. In itself the flavour was good, though I found it jarring against the butter served with it; oil would have been more fitting.

The fixed-price options didn’t quite excite me so I chose from the main menu. Starters ranged from £5.50 for a soup to £8.50 for the dish of my choosing, wood pigeon. The bird was pretty well cooked as it can easily be overdone. The cabbage/pear/walnut salad was a little over-vinegared, whether it was through a dressing or pickling of the cabbage. It needed something else to bring it alive; a sweet jus would be the usual accompaniment but the sharp salad wasn’t quite the perfect pairing. Cod cheeks a friend ordered were demolished in a new record time. I was reliably informed they were very good, so good I wasn’t allowed to try them. The rudeness of my friend aside, I did get to enjoy the mushroom soup from the fixed-price menu, which was everything you could ask for: a good thick texture and that distinctive woodland flavour.

PerkinsDuck

The duck dish that Alec enjoyed so much

I’d gone for a gamey evening and with duck (£18.50) up next we were on safe ground. Presentation wasn’t anything special, though looks were quickly forgotten when I tucked into the perfectly pink and stunningly tender duck. The combination was classic: black cherries in a rich, fruity jus. A crispy rosti provided texture with some shredded Brussels sprouts bringing a touch of freshness and greenery.

An apple fritter dessert was the prettiest dish of the night, as well as being technically good. I’d love to tell you how much it cost but Perkins’ website doesn’t list desserts and I lost my receipt! They were between £5-7 if my memory is correct. The batter surrounding the apple was light and crispy, a condensed-milk ice cream and toffee sauce particularly decadent.

Comparisons will inevitably be drawn against the likes of World Service, Hart’s and La Rock. They serve similar dishes at similar prices. I’ve eaten at all of these and the most enjoyable dish I have had at any was tonight’s main course. The setting is different, with its competitors being a little more contemporary and Perkins certainly more traditional. The meal wasn’t quite consistently excellent but it was worth a journey further than Plumtree for that duck alone.

Alec’s scores…
Overall: 9/10
Food: 9/10
Value: 9/10
Service: 9/10


Perkins Restaurant offers Great Food Club members 10% off the a la carte menu from Monday-Thursday. Further details here.

The author:

Alec lives in Nottingham and writes the 'Frusher on Food' blog, focusing on his home city's food scene.