10 Places Where Locals Love to Eat in Nottingham

Restaurant Sat Bains has won 2 Michelin stars for its original and imaginative dining. You won't find à la carte menus here – instead, you choose between a 7-course or 10-course tasting menu, featuring dishes like veal sweetbread, Anjou pigeon and chocolate marquise. The restaurant's fresh herbs, salad leaves, and honey all come directly from the kitchen garden.

The main restaurant was converted from a Victorian-era farm. Inside, choose a seat in Nucleus – the development kitchen – to watch the head chef talk you through your meal while it's prepared. It's a popular spot, so advanced booking is a must.

No. Twelve is an award-winning cafe serving small plates of fresh, sustainable vegetarian and vegan food. The restaurant goes to extraordinary lengths to make everything plant-based, including taking years to develop vegan cheeses for their 'plant-cuterie board'. Even the beers, ciders, wines and spirits in the well-stocked bar are completely vegan.

It's a great brunch spot – try the maple syrup French toast, or veggie full English breakfast with rice paper bacon – but the evening menu is equally inviting, featuring lemon and chive gnocchi and ras el hanout (Moroccan-spiced) terrine. The rustic exposed-brick interior is filled with trailing ivy and scrubbed wooden tables, along with an old piano that's used for live music at the weekends.

Get a little taste of the USA at Annie's Burger Shack, which serves Rhode Island-style burgers like the Bacon Cheddar, Yankee Brisket, and the Vermonter, all of which are available in vegetarian, vegan or beef versions. Other American classics on the menu include tater tots, curly fries and beer-battered onion rings, and Annie herself chooses the Real Ales that make up the drinks list.

The pub occupies a beautiful building in the historic Lace Market. Its interior is decorated in classic diner-style with red and white checked tablecloths and sporting memorabilia displayed on the walls. Come at breakfast to stuff yourself with their blueberry pancakes and huevos rancheros.

Nottingham's Maid Marian Way or 'Curry Mile' is famous for its Indian restaurants, but even in this prestigious company, MemSaab stands out. The menu is a blend of dishes from across India, with prawn curry from Goa, biryani from Lucknow and dal makhni (simmered black lentils with butter and cream) from Punjab, along with modern Indian dishes like the tandoori ostrich and venison kebab.

The restaurant's design is equally a blend of the traditional and modern, showcasing handmade tribal tapestries and ornately carved woodwork alongside colourful contemporary Indian art. The glamorous setting makes it a popular date-night destination with locals.

At CookieShake in Nottingham, you can try almost every imaginable milkshake flavour. The menu consists of more than 200 ice-cream shakes, flavoured with lemon curd, Eton mess, brandy snaps and vanilla cheesecake, to name just a few. Come in for a drink and be tempted by the menu of melting grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade cookies. 

The inviting lounge area is fitted with comfy couches, with chess sets and board games stacked on the tables. At night, the cafe becomes a bar and the milkshakes are replaced with a staggering array of shots. Experiment with watermelon, toffee cheesecake or Pimm's-flavoured shots, or dare your friends to try the wasabi one.

Locals have been raving about The Cod's Scallops since long before they became finalists at the National Fish & Chip Awards. Start by choosing your fish, which is fresh and MSC-certified sustainable. The menu varies depending on the day's catch, but as well as the standard haddock and cod you're likely to spot lobster, oysters and swordfish.

Next, choose your cooking method, either fried in traditional beef dripping or baked with lemon and garlic. Besides traditional sides like mushy peas and battered onion rings, you can also enjoy steamed seasonal greens, Asian rice noodle salad, or black pudding fritters. Desserts like the seasonal fruit crumble or sticky toffee pudding will finish your meal with a bang.

The owners of Happy Dough Lucky spent time in Naples and around Italy perfecting their technique, and they take pizza very seriously. The dough is made with flour imported from mills in Naples and rested for at least 18 hours, and the fior di latte mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes are also sourced in Italy.

Choose from a classic Margherita pizza made with basil and mozzarella, breakfast pizza topped with sausage and prosciutto, or spicy nduja pizza with extra chilli. The dessert menu is all Italian comfort food, with brownies, doughnuts and ten different flavours of homemade gelato with optional toppings.

Yamas Meze and Tapas serves food from across the Mediterranean, combining excellent Greek meze with Spanish tapas and Moroccan dishes. The menu of small plates makes it easy to mix and match between dishes like lamb dolmades, tabbouleh, chorizo flavoured with cider, deep-fried calamari, and Caprese salad.

The owners are Greek, and the food is inspired by the family's home cooking and holidays spent in Cyprus. Since the place caters to Greek Orthodox eaters there are plenty of vegan choices, including an excellent chickpea stew and the classic Spanish patatas bravas. A solid drinks menu of lagers and IPAs is complemented by Greek beer brands like Mythos and glasses of ouzo.

Heavenly Desserts is a cafe devoted to sweet treats, where locals with a sweet tooth like to satisfy their sugar cravings. Waffles and crepes fill nearly half the menu, with dozens of sauces and toppings to choose from like strawberries with Belgian chocolate, toffee sauce and banana gelato, and mango sorbet.

Other luxurious offerings include a Belgian chocolate and raspberry torte with raspberry sorbet, Madagascan vanilla cheesecake, and a delicate genoise sponge flavoured with lemon and lime. Drinks are similarly indulgent, with fruit smoothies, hot chocolate, and mocktails like Raspberry Temptation and Citrus Pleasure. The cool interior and leather-lined booths are a great place to splurge on a lavish dessert.

Juni is a classy gin joint on Low Pavement, which from the outside looks like a typical bar-cum-distillery. But venture inside and you'll find a restaurant serving artful eastern European cuisine. Their gin is distilled using juniper berries grown in Serbia, and the bar and restaurant continue the Balkan-inspired theme. Grilled kebabs and freshly baked flatbreads are served alongside plates of bigos (hunter’s stew), stuffed peppers, and cheese-filled filo pastry.

Don't leave without tasting their signature gin and tonic made with cask-aged gin, or trying an Orchard Martini (made with raspberry and plum gin). The bar also has a gin lab where you can distil your own bespoke gin and infuse it with interesting ingredients like rhubarb, peppercorns or Siberian ginseng.