Aquarium

Aquarium does not have a website

Years ago Aquarium was called Jesse's, after Jesse Boot, the founder of Boots the Chemists. Jesse Boot had his first pharmacy in this building at the age of 21 in 1860. The building was designed by the architect William Keating, who I recently discovered, was the first owner of my current house.

Jesse's was a relic by the time it closed, a throwback to the Dark Age of prawn cocktails and raffia-covered bottles of Portugese wine. The new owners painted everything blue, stuck a couple of bored-looking fish in an empty tank and opened as Aquarium.

I'm beginning to think that The Times - Eat Out for a Tenner deal is not such a good idea - some restaurants just don't seem to get it. Surely it is supposed to be a loss leader - what is the point of trying to scrape a few pence profit? If you're going to do it at all, then do it wholeheartedly and produce something that will bring the diners back to try the a-la-carte. It can be done, look at the Martins Arms.

I won't be going back to Aquarium. The portions were microscopic. The noisettes of lamb had been cooked until they were grey to the core. The vegetables were so miserly that a table of well-built young ladies next to us had to order about 6 extra portions between them to ward off starvation. The "brioche" dessert was laughable - a sliver of bread in a dismal puddle of cream. They should be ashamed of themselves.

On to more general matters. Voting is underway in the The Nottingham Restaurant Awards, visit the website to cast your vote. I also notice that if you do a Google search for "La Toque Beeston", my site now comes top of the results. Excellent! My power and influence grows...