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EG Food

Mud Crab Pacifico

B eyo n dthe callof Heinz

HALFWAY down CentralAvenue a pair ofwell-scrubbed youngsalespersonettes haltedpassers-by and begged them toaccept free sample tubs ofSalad Cream.

Doh! You are in WestBridgford, girls. OnlyProvençal aioli will do.

Having witnessed Heinzmarketing department’s takeon Mission Impossible, I tooka lunchtime chance with thepuzzlingly-named Mud CrabPacifico, situated in thepremises once occupied by theannoyingly noisy pastaparlour Felicini.

Mud Crab Pacifico? Yes,crab pops up in there s t a u r a n t ’s taco and linguinedishes but mangrovecrustaceans don’t get aspecific mention on the menu.Nor is there evidence that thePacifico bit has anything to dowith the Mexican beer orPeruvian football club of thatn a m e.

With its open front andawning-shaded tables close tothe Central Avenue pavement,Mud Crab offers additionalopportunity for the fragrantyoung mothers of NG2 toparade their pre-schoolof fspring.

The view is to AntonioC a rl u c c i o ’s new place, whoserecent opening hadBridgfordians squealing withdelight. Throw in boozers andrestaurants like the StratfordHaven and Larwood & Voce,The Oriental Pearl andMonkey Tree, Escabeche andBelle & Jerome and you thankyour stars that you weren’taround when the town was inthe grip of Methodism and thenearest thing to fun within250 yards of Tudor Square wasa home-brewed mug of cocoa.

The Mud Crab menu?Crowd pleasers with a hint ofexotica, like chickenjambalaya or ginger and soysteak salad.

After watching a disableddriver in some sort ofsquabble with occupants ofthe Heinz Salad Cream van –“100 Years of Zing!” a c c o rd i n gto the slogan on the side – Itook delivery of my starter.

There is a soup of the dayon the fixed-price menu but Itook a punt on theavailable-every-day chorizoand bean soup.

Nice job. Plenty of chewySpanish sausage and al-dentebutter beans were bound in athick tomato broth studdedwith pieces of celery and redpepper. This was a satisfyingnumber, pepped by awell-judged hint of spice andtopped with two toastedcheese-coated croutons.

Another ladle and a thickwedge of good granary breadand it would have made alunch on its own. Well,probably not for me.

Aside from the jambalaya, Iwas tempted to make a maincourse out of the smokedturkey and ham hock pie andthe six-napkin cheeseburger.In the end I looked at thespecials card and ordered the“pan-fried” sea bream. Finewith me. After all, you don’twant your sea bream fried ona carrier bag.

Sampled at The Three Crowns, UpperParliament Street

ORIGINATING From Brazil, the recipe is a collaborationbetween Cesario Mello Franco Brewery and Everards.

Made with Nelson Sauvin and Cascade hops, thelager-resembling beer has plenty of punchy flavourwith hints of citrus and grapefruit mellowing into acrisp dry bitter taste and a zesty, clean finish.

The Three Crowns has reverted to its pre-70sname. During decimalisation days, it was reinventedas the Tavern in the Town. The three stone crownsare still above the entrance.

This renamed pub is an airy, open-plan design; it’sone of only a few in Notts with a viewable kitchen.

The well-thought-out areas with their motley mixof furnishings give the feel of several rooms. Themezzanine bar is ideal for people watching or as apre-theatre stop-off.

My pre-opening sample was a nice surprise – thepub opens proper at noon on Monday.

Richard Studeny

The fish was nicely done, itssweet, slightly pink flesh byno means overcooked and wellmatched with a generous splatof tomato risotto.

I wasn’t sure about thehefty shake of the

Mud Crab PacificoCentral AvenueWest BridgfordNottinghamNG2 5GQ0115 981 1500www.mudcrabindustries.co.uk

I had: Starter: chorizo and beansoup, £4.50. Main course: seabream with tomato risotto, £13.95.Drink: spring water, £2.40. Total:£20.85Marks out of five ★★★

The meal neighbourhood’s favouritecondiment, balsamic vinegar,and I thought the piquanttapenade slightlyoverwhelmed the fish. Therocket leaves helped balancethings up.

I ran out of time for whatthe waiter called “swe e t s ” –sweets are to be found in aconfectionery shop – but had Ichosen a dessert it wouldsurely have been the lemonand yuzu meringue pie withtoasted rosewatermarshmallows and pistachiocrumbs. A dozen words? It’sgot to be worth a try. A yuzu,by the way, is a small citrusfr uit.

Mud Crab service isfriendly without being creepyand the general ambience ispleasing. The value isborderline but I’d go again.

Jeremy Lewis■ The Food Sleuth dines unannouncedand pays his own bills.

PINT OF THE WEEKXingu Brazilian GoldBeer (4%)

FOOD SLEUTH

Where are your favourite places to eat and drink in Nottinghamand further afield? E-mail features@nottinghampost.comGet in touch

The Sleuth’s stars★★★★★ Second to none★★★★ Seconds, please★★★ Second XI★★ Just a second★ Seconds out

June 20 2014 June 20 2014

With the Nottingham leg of his LivingDangerously tour rapidly approaching, SirRanulph Fiennes talks to Chris Peddy abouthis charitable work, a close encounter with ahungry polar bear and his fear of heights

SIR RANULPH FIENNES Royal Concert Hall

‘I neverthoughtof death’

FOR most people, any contactwith a large, aggressive,man-eating animal willhappen behind the safety ofreinforced, metal fences at thezoo or at a reasonabledistance on a safari holiday.

But for a man who hasbraved temperatures of minus50 degrees, discovered the lostArabian city of Ubar andclimbed to the summit of thewo rl d ’s tallest peaks, this wasnever going to be the case.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is theGuinness Book of WorldRe c o rd s ’ greatest livingexplorer and was named theUK’s top celebrity fundraiserby Just Giving in 2011 –having collected a total of£16.3 million for variouscharities to date.

And despite being forced toabandon a solo expedition tothe South Pole because of akidney stone, as well asmultiple occasions where his

■ Still scared of heights: Sir Ranulph Fiennes

body temperature dropped solow that he suffered frostbite,the ex-British Army officerhas never feared death.

Even when faced by one ofn at u re ’s most deadly killers.

“It was circling and thecircles were getting smallerand smaller,” he remembers.“There were two of us and wehad been floating on the icenorth of Siberia for a longtime and had strayed on to afloating polar bear route.

“We tried to scare it awayby making noise and bangingcooking pots and all that butthis one was obviouslyhungry and smelt humanblood. It was out to get us.”

Eventually the ferociousanimal charged and his fingerwas forced to the trigger of hisrevolver. But the experiencedmountaineer seems relativelyunf az ed.

“It was obviously quitescary but I never thought ofd e at h , ” he adds.

One anxiety Sir Ranulphdoes have to face on many ofhis adventures is a fear ofh e i g h t s.

To prevent the pain in hisfingers caused by frostbite, hesawed the tips off with a saw –and his solution toovercoming his fear of heightsis every bit as combative.

“I am really bad withheights, even at home,” hesays. “My wife still takesthings up and down the ladderfrom the loft because I justhate it.

“But when I got to 60 andwas still looking over myshoulder like a bit of a wimp Idecided to do something aboutit.”

And by doing somethingabout it, he means climbing tothe summit of the tallest peakon the planet.

But did this latest challengehave the desired results?

“Everest doesn’t have anyreal sheer drops where all youcan see is pitch black, so itd i d n’t really work because

although I knew I was at thehighest point of the world, itd i d n’t really feel like it so I’mstill scared of heights to thisd ay, ” he adds.

Other achievements in hisdecorated career include theTransglobe Expedition – athree-year trek around theworld on it’s polar axis – andthe 7x7x7 challenge, whichsaw him complete sevenmarathons in seven daysacross seven differentcontinents, aged 59.

But it is Sir Ranulph’sincredible contribution tocharity that really sets himapart from others. And seeingthe impact last year of a$2.5million donation made toSeeing is Believing – afoundation that tacklesavoidable blindness – stuck inhis memory.

“We travelled out to Dakarwith Joanna Lumley, who is atrustee of the charity,” hes ay s.

“We went into some of thewards and actually saw themoment when they weretaking the bandages off these

three-year-old children andthey could see their mothersthrough their eyes. That wasthe first time I had really seenwhere the money was actuallygoing and it was veryt o u ch i n g . ”

The explorer, now 70, is coyon what the future may hold,not giving anything away incase there could be morerecords to be broken, but onething that fans can lookforward to is the LivingDangerously tour that comesto town at the Royal ConcertHall on Wednesday.

“Hopefully people will bevery inspired by it,” he saysenthusiastically. “There willbe lots of pictures of bloodyfingers falling off and thingslike that. They will hear aboutmy experiences and if theyare as receptive as recentaudiences have been they willhave a great night.”

■ Sir Ranulph Fiennes: LivingDangerously, Royal Concert Hall,Wednesday June 25, 7.30pm, £19 fromthe box office. Call 0115 989 5555 ortrch.co.uk.

■ Explorer: Sir Ranulph scales Everest

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