Media-foodies have recently been buzzing with a back to basics approach to meat. The Sunday Times’ Heston Blumenthal has been publishing recipes for making one’s own sausages, Gordon Ramsay has been rearing his own pigs on Channel 4’s “f- word” and “Jamie’s Italy” featured him cutting the throat of a sheep that would soon be roasted. Suddenly the vogue is to be on very familiar terms with your dinner.

As someone not too keen on the bare reality of eating living creatures, the new hands-on approach to meat dampens my appetite slightly. Not one to shy away from my own squeamishness, I decided to face my fears at a restaurant where the entire ethos is centred on farmers' market quality meat from local suppliers. The blurb for this restaurant practically gives you a biography of the lamb you will soon be served.

The Larder on Goosegate, Nottingham offers the highest quality ingredients assembled into simple, old-fashioned, hearty British fodder. Larder opened in March of this year and the decoration job has been very successful on this grade II listed building, which was once the original Boots chemist. There is a wonderful upstairs area perfect for a modern dining room. It is almost completely glass fronted, painted a soft apple green and lit with romantic chandeliers, in exeplary Victorian revival style. There are constant reminders of this restaurant’s meaty core and they are slightly disconcerting, with robust paintings of farmyard animals looming ominously over the chunky rustic tables.

To start, I launched in for a goat’s cheese tart. This was a puff pastry open tart with a dollop of creamy, crumbly goat’s cheese encased within it and topped with caramelised onion. As should be expected from this restaurant’s assertions about ingredients, a high quality goat’s cheese makes this tart memorable. I followed this with a large helping of humble cottage pie. When I say large I really mean a paving slab of unadulterated pie. There was no greenery to spoil the view of meat, gravy and crispy-topped mash potato. This was a superbly heart warming dish, the juices of which came bubbling to the surface in defiance of their potato incarceration and protesting their sumptuous flavours. From what I could see all the dishes on the menu were quintessentially meat based, including steaks, pork belly and duck breast. Most of the vegetables were seasonal.

The only criticism I would have of this restaurant was a that the service came with slightly sarcastic note. That aside, The Larder has a novel edge and has fantastically hit the nail-on-the-head for modern British cuisine. No longer confined to second-rate pub grub; the best of British has made its way back to the refined dining table here. Good quality meat should never be overrated yet a meal for two (inc wine) can be had for £50, (price includes warm-your-cockles guarantee!)

For more information visit http://www.thelarderongoosegate.co.uk

4/5 The best of British meat