I’m setting my stall out here, and risking potentially my life from the people of Nottingham, but I don’t think Annie’s Burger Shack is the best burger in Nottingham.

Whenever the subject of burgers is raised, Annie’s is always put out there as the best, and around Here nobody really questions it.

But they should.

No doubt, if you want giant reasonably priced burgers that are piled high with loads of different things, then yeah, Annie’s is the place to go. If, on the other hand, you want a burger that actually tastes delicious and doesn’t dissolve into a soggy mess, then there are other places to go.

My problem is, that I like cheeseburger. Easy. Simple. A delicious classic that really doesn’t need much elaboration.

If I wanted Mexican food, I would go and eat in a Mexican restaurant. If I wanted pancakes and maple syrup, then I would go and eat that. But I don’t want these things, that’s why I came to a Burger restaurant.

That’s when you see how the Annie’s burger doesn’t quite measure up.

Not to say it’s a particularly bad burger. I’ve certainly had worse. It’s just not as good as it could be.

The onion rings on the other hand are as close to perfect as I’ve ever seen. Oniony. Ringy. All kinds of crispy. Everything you need in an onion ring, and best of all wen you take a bite you don’t just pull all of the onion out.

The hotdogs are pretty decent as well.

There’s been a rise in coffee shops springing up around the city over the last 12 months, but which is the best to help you get through your daily grind. 

It doesn’t matter where you go in Notts, there’s at least one cool new coffee haven right around the corner.

Some of these are undoubtedly jumping in on the hipster coffee trend, and not very successfully. However, some of them are offering some fantastic ways to get your much needed caffeine influx.

Another one opened this morning on Sneinton Market, in one of the repurposed gentrified market buildings. 

We’ve come a long way as a nation of coffee drinkers since ultra frothy cappuccinos and heavily syrup’d flavoured lattes first sprang up in the Costa’s and Starbuck’s of the UK. 

Whether you’re drinking an old favourite, or one of the increasingly popular styles that have come with the new independent roasters. Blend is one of those independents.

To be fair, they’re doing a pretty good job (you know as far as you can tell from the first morning); they’ve done it out nicely, it’s clean and comfortable, and perfect for people watching. The service was friendly, the food was tasty, and, most importantly, the coffee was good.

They’re using Stewarts Coffees an artisanal coffee roasters based in Trent Bridge, and doing a good job of taking those beans and making something infinitely drinkable.

The problem is, as good as Blend is, it’s still not quite the best coffee in the city. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s doing nothing wrong – in fact it’s doing most things right – and I would still put it above places like 200degrees or Outpost. It’s more of a case of good, better, best.

Outpost is perfectly good, and Blend is better, but the best coffee in Nottingham surely has to be Cartwheel on middle pavement (down the road from Jamies Italian and Paul Smith).

A couple of weeks ago I sat in the sun and drank a hand pressed Colombian blend coffee from Cartwheel, and I honestly don’t think I’ve had a better coffee anywhere. It was incredible.

Take my advice, try it and see – and if you’d still rather drink Strawberry Mocha frappucinos from Starbucks, then really, I can’t help you.

Many moons ago, born out of anger and the flippant attitude to money that only a student in their first term of university can possibly understand, MG and I created the phenomenon that was Cocktail Tuesday.

On a rainy Tuesday evening in late October, sitting in the original Horn in Hand we drank pitcher, after pitcher of incredibly bad quality highly sweetened mixed drinks. There was no deal, it wasn’t particularly cheap, it wasn’t an inside joke – at least not at that point – it was just an offhand comment that got incredibly out of hand. Several hours later the genius that was Cocktail Tuesday’s was born.

Since then, our approach to cocktail consumption has matured, and the tastes have gotten slightly better, but Tuesday’s will always be for cocktails as far as I’m concerned.

So, in the hopes of finding a decent drink, we tried out Tier the new place opposite Bodega in Notts. To be honest, I had heard very little about the place prior to going in, just a few mentor across social media here and there. 

It’s been done out really nicely inside and out, and looks as if they’ve spared no expense in making it a comfortable and relaxing place to spend a few hours. Likewise, the back bar and beer selection is pretty decent, and I have no doubt it would be perfectly enjoyable to have a straight forward drink like a G and T or beer. But that’s not what I was after.

The cocktail menu is quite basic, offering lower end classics like the Cosmo, Mojito and Sours, the kind of drinks you can get almost everywhere these days. It’s understandable, it’s a new opening and they perhaps haven’t had the time to write a list of their signature drinks yet, after all they have only been open a week. The person who served us mentioned that in the New Year they were going to be unleashing a new menu, much bigger in scale, so there is every chance that what they have now will evolve and give us more.

The main issue is that I really didn’t enjoy the Espresso Martini I ordered. It was really, really sweet (i’m talking proper American diner-fake smile sweet). I’ll confess, I only half watched them make it, but what I did see I would’ve flagged up if I was training a new bartender. If you put the hot coffee and ice in together at the start, it will melt the ice and you’re already fighting a losing battle against a watered down drink. Also, if you don’t fine strain the drink at the end you’ll end up with chips of ice in the cocktail that are noticeable when drinking.

Again, the place is really new, and these are the kind of rough edges that are smoothed out once it’s been open a few weeks so I wouldn’t discount it yet. The cocktail happy hour is also a very good deal, with all cocktails £4 between 17:00 – 20:00, and there is a nice looking bar food menu that I didn’t get to try. 

I’ll keep it in mind as a place to waste a few hours, but to be honest if you want a cocktail there are many better places to try out within a five minute walk. 

Espresso Martini

Ingredients:

• 25ml Kahlua
• 25ml Vodka
• 10ml Vanilla sugar syrup
• 2 shots of good quality espresso.

Method:

• Make espresso and chill down a martini glass before starting on the drink.
• Add Vodka,Kahlua and syrup to your shaker.
• Add the espresso.
• Fill to the top with cubed ice.
• Shake hard. Fine strain into a clean shaker (works best using a Boston shaker, decant from tin into the clean glass, then clean tin) shake again without ice.
• Fine strain into the chilled martini glass.
• Garnish with three coffee beans.

Earlier this morning I tried a bit of Christmas shopping, but could barely get in the door of Waterstones before getting too infuriated and having to leave. 

So, I did what everyone should do when they’re feeling low on merriment and Christmas cheer, go home for coffee and cake.

Taking a bit of inspiration from the wonderful Sirocco cookbook by Sabrina Ghayour and a lot of inspiration from my trip to Cuba a couple of years ago, I made this take on a dark chocolate mousse cake.

Everywhere I went in Cuba, there was coffee and dark chocolate, and mixed with a good quality dark rum like the Santiago de Cuba that I used here, it is a marriage made in heaven.

The problem is, that although they work really well together, these three flavours can be a little bitter and a little dry for a cake, so to balance it out they need something sweeter and lighter. 

I chose to go with lime and mint (grated and chopped respectively) thrown over the top as they are the obvious flavours to mix with rum, and bring a balance. To sweeten it up a bit more I used another ingredient I saw a lot in Cuba – passionfruit, beating it into some double cream to serve alongside a slice.

Highly recommend enjoying this late in the afternoon with a decent cup of coffee, and a shot of rum to sip on if you’ve got no other plans.

Ingredients

• 200g dark chocolate
• 175ml olive oil
• 5 eggs (separated)
• 75g caster sugar
• 50ml dark rum
• 3 shots of espresso
• 100ml double cream
• 2 passionfruit
• Lime, mint and dark chocolate to garnish

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200C, gas mark gas mark 6. Line and grease your cake tin.
• Pour your espresso, and add rum. Allow to cool.
• Melt the dark chocolate in a suitable bowl, over simmering water. Take off the heat, then stir in the olive oil. Leave to cool for roughly 15-20mins. 
• While it’s cooling, beat your egg yolks with the sugar until fluffy and pale in colour. Leave to one side.
• Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Leave to one side.
• Add your cooled espresso and rum to the chcolate.
• Once your chocolate mix has cooled, slowly add an fold into the yolk mix. Keep folding until smooth.
• Fold in the egg whites until smooth and silky.
• Pour into your cake tin, then put in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. 
• While baking prepare cream, by beating with the passionfruit seeds until fluffy.
• Remove cake from oven, leave to stand for 15 minutes. The edges will sink slightly but that’s fine.
• Serve a heavy slice with cream, and a little grated dark chocolate and lime, and finely chopped mint. Shot of rum and a coffee are optional, but delicious.

The boys from Brass teamed up with Burleighs gin and the Friary West Bridgford to do some good this weekend.

There are a lot of people waking up this morning with sore heads and dry mouths after being at this Nottingham institution until 6am. There are many more waking up this afternoon.

But, for once it’s not the tales of late night boozery (of which I’m sure there are many) that people are interested in today.

Yesterday, Leicester based Burleighs gin hosted an afternoon of charitable goodwill – something which can be easily forgotten at this time of festive food and drink – by offering free G and T’s to anyone dropping off warm clothing for the Friary homelessness charity. 

The Friary does a wonderful job in Nottingham of helping homeless and vulnerable adults rebuild their lives by offering practical services, advice and support. It was described yesterday as like a charity shop that is able to get these specific things to the people who need them most, and yesterday the call was for warm winter clothing. A call the guys at Burleighs answered.

I already love Burleighs, as it really is a fantastic range of gins with a cool story behind it. You can see it popping up in bars all over the country, and when you spy it on the back bar make sure you choose it for your G and T. 

Brass on the other hand, is the subject of a whole other review – but until I actually write that one, you’ll have to be content with the idea that it is the 6am shot of tequila behind the hangover of the people who know.

Yesterday, was an awesome idea from the mind of a man called Robert Squirell, and hosted by Henry from Burleighs and the ever mysterious David Davidson from Brass, and one that has done significantly good work at a time of year that can be hard on a lot of people.

Great work to all involved.