CityLife

Nick's Restaurant

Nick's Restaurant

Bolton August 2011 

Overall rating: 4/5  Decor: 2/5, Service: 4/5, Food: 4/5  

Good neighbourhood restaurants rarely come located in more unprepossessing surroundings than Nick’s in Bolton.  

Not meaning to be rude, but it really is a rose in a thorn patch, at the bottom end of a humdrum main road heading into the town centre.   

The restaurant in the middle of a terrace serves up food that you’d be more than happy to eat at an oh-so-fashionable WAG palace in the city centre.  

This weekend, foodies from across Greater Manchester will be heading up to Bolton for its excellent food and drink festival.   

If you still have a corner of yourself to fill after visiting the cookery demonstrations in the town centre, search out Nick’s.  

Décor-wise, it is a homely cross between 80s pub (green patterned carpet, cheesy framed prints) and 90s metropolitan bistro (whitewashed bare brick and well-used specials blackboards).

But what it lacks in style it more than makes up with substance in the place where it matters most – the kitchen.  

We had to eat early, so took advantage of Nick’s ‘market menu’, served from 5.30pm to 7pm, with two courses at £17.50 and three at £21.50.

It’s hardly the cheapest deal around, even compared with city centre restaurants.  

Nick’s food is bistro British with hints of the Med here and there and the prix fixe had a decent selection.  

My starter of avocado, brie and bacon salad would have been a main at one of those WAG palaces and came with a jammy summer fruit sauce and good cheese. 

Opposite was a dull plate of smoked salmon which arrived with one of those redundant pub salads, the low point in the meal.   

Mains were almost excellent. My crayfish and pea risotto was simple but well crafted and buttery with a mass of snipped up shellfish, although the fresh-as-a-daisy peas could have had a little more flavour.  

Opposite was a huge portion of moist duck, which the restaurant buys in from top producer Reg Johnson in Goosnargh, with an apple sauce that cut through the richness of the meat.  

There was also a dish of exceptional veg and a big bowl of  chipped roasties.   

The specials boards showed some quality dishes, too, with fish looking especially appealing, including turbot (£20), seabass, and I saw a starter portion of leviathan-sized langoustine (£8) paraded out of the kitchen which looked as good as any found in a French seaside town.   

Service was chatty and relaxed, just as it should be in a place like this, and owner Nicholas Cullen – who this year is celebrating his 10th anniversary here – came out in chef’s whites to chat to customers and discuss the food with regulars – another good sign.  

Desserts are mainly trencherman style puddings and we shared a bread and butter creation, which was wonderfully light and not too sweet with custard.  

If you enjoy the town centre event this weekend, come back to Bolton and sample a food festival written in chalk on Nick’s blackboards.  

Nick’s Restaurant, 162 Chorley Old Road, Bolton, BL1 3BA (01204 849774, nicks-restaurant.co.uk).

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