The Cumin, Nottingham

This weekend was a special weekend. Not only was it the Mr’s birthday but it’s my 1 year blogiversary! I can’t believe I’ve managed to keep it up for a whole year and I’m still brimming with ideas for new posts I want to share with you all.

So to mark these two momentous occasions we decided that we would go out for dinner on Saturday night & I would cook a nice birthday meal on the Sunday.

As it was Dan’s birthday, he chose the restaurant. He picked an Indian restaurant called The Cumin in Nottingham. It’s a family run business with two brothers running the kitchen & their sister running front of house. They’re so good, they’ve kept the top spot on Trip Advisor for over a year! Currently in 3rd place for top restaurants to visit in Nottingham. Not bad going at all!

The moment we walked through the door we were greeted by the friendly & very welcoming front of house staff. I couldn’t help but notice how cozy the decor made the place feel. We were led to our table upstairs and handed the menus along with a complimentary bottle of water for the table. It is worth mentioning at this point that it’s not a super posh al a carte menu, it’s a mouthwatering list of great home cooked family food. Just what the doctor ordered!

The Starter

For the starter we opted for a tandoori mixed grill sharing platter and some poppadoms. The house dips were already on the table, one of which was their home made mango chutney. Hands down, best mango chutney I have ever tasted!

The mixed grill was absolutely divine. The smell that emanated from this as it was brought, still sizzling to the table was unbelievable. You only have to look at it to know it’s going to taste great!

The Mains

For our mains, I chose a Murg Makhni with Pilau rice and an Aloo Paratha. Dan chose the Murg Dum Biryani with a Chapatti.

My Murg Makhni was a mild tomato based chicken curry. The sauce was so creamy and packed with flavour and the chicken was tender and succulent. Yummy!

Dans main, the Murg Dum Biryani, was cooked in a rather interesting way. Here is a quote from their website explaining the process:

“This process reflects the ingenuity of the Indian Chefs. Food is part cooked and then put in a pot and the lid is sealed with dough paste to capture the moisture within the food as it is then tenderly and slowly cooked to retain all the flavour and aroma.”

When it is brought to the table, the lid is still sealed with the dough paste. The waiter then removes it in front of you as you are greeted with the pleasant aromas escaping the pot. Such a great idea! Dan was making lots of yummy noises as he was tucking into this so I assume it was as appetizing as it looked!

The Sides

On the side was Dan’s Chapatti & My Aloo Paratha. I chose the Aloo Paratha as I was intrigued by it’s contents. Filled with mashed potato and herbs, it didn’t disappoint! Absolutely lovely.

All in all, the food was absolutely fantastic. Exciting, delicious, home cooked style food with superbly friendly & helpful staff. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone!

We were chatting to the kind lady on front of house and I mentioned how lovely everything was and how much I loved their mango chutney. She said that they may have some samples that I could take home with me, disappeared to have a look and came back with several small bottles for me. How lovely is that?! And as if that wasn’t enough, Dan mentioned the KitchenMason website to her. She responded by offering a visit to the kitchen to take a snap shot of the chefs. AMAZING! So here they all are.

They were more that happy to oblige with huge smiles and cheeky grins! What a brilliant night, I would probably say it was one of my favourite restaurant experiences. Talk about going above and beyond!

If you’re planning on visiting, have a look at their website here www.thecumin.co.uk.

I’ll be doing another post soon to let you all know how the birthday meal went for Dan.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed the post my lovelies!

Miss KitchenMason