I believe food is about eating and not about grandeur. I have always favoured the word sauce over coulis and prefer to see my plate full rather than staring at a sea of white porcelain, dotted with a morsel of something unpronounceabley French. I am however, a fan of the current trend towards organic, fresh and healthy food that is being injected into every area of the gastronomical world, from the supermarket to our schools.

A friend had recommended the aptly named Fresh, (15 Goose Gate, Hockley, Nottingham). The ethos of this lofty dinning room is to provide wholesome, good, fresh ingredients in all of the recipes. The restaurant is situated above the Fresh juice bar and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The loft area has about 40 covers, is very bright and has an Alpine chalet ambiance. The menu presents a lot of interesting variations of traditional recipes, giving Fresh a modern twist to the slightly bland image of organic restaurants.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the chorizo and mozzarella bruschetta whereas my friends ordered an antipasto platter to share. The mozzarella was beautifully and authentically creamy and combined with a good chorizo made a very satisfying start. The antipasto platter was enormous and heavily laden with tasty Mediterranean treats, which worked out well for me, as I just had to help them out with a few olives, sun dried tomatoes and feta cubes (despite my utterly shameless begging I wasn’t allowed a fork-in on any of the cold meats!)

The main courses were equally intriguing. Two of us ordered the aubergine parcel of mushroom and boursin while the other ordered a lamb shank. Although I did not try the lamb my friemd certainly seemed to enjoy it. The large orb of blackened aubergine looked fit to combust as it came over to the table. As I cut into the parcel, thick garlicy cheese oozed from its belly like magma. It was bursting with nutty mushrooms so full of flavour you could practically taste woodland undergrowth. I was also very pleased that the waitress had not tried to “up-sell”, as I had asked her if I would need a side order to this dish and as she had rightly instructed, this was a very large and filling meal.

And so to my favourite part of every meal, the dessert. I was utterly disappointed that the double chocolate whatever it was had already sold out that evening.  I leapt for the second best option, the sticky toffee pudding. As it transpired this was a more than acceptable replacement. Although the block of glistening hot cake did resemble something I might have been served at school, it tasted the polar opposite of the stodgy lumps those hair netted matriarchs once served. The spongy cuboid was thick but airy and was waterlogged with thick as molasses, treacle toffee so sugary you fear it may glue your mouth shut.

I was expecting to pay a little extra for higher quality ingredients but I thought the price was pretty standard for this type of small restaurant, around £10-£12 for a main and £4-£5 for a starter. I think that Fresh has got the right idea, the individual flavours in the food taste so good that the dishes do not have to be pampered and teased into something impressive. This restaurant does exactly what it says above the door, it serves very “Fresh” food at a surprisingly healthy price. For more information about Fresh go to www.freshnottingham.co.uk.