'We spend twice as much money on olive oil as we do on rent'

RESTAURANTS don’t always live up to the hype. Some leave you deflated after a mediocre experience, but that can’t be said of the Carpenters Arms Italian Kitchen.

- Lynette Pinchess pays a visit.

It doesn’t just meet expectations, it goes above and beyond.

Rather than feeling flat afterwards, you'll be happily fat.

I was fed so well that I feared that weak road bridge nearby might collapse under the weight of focaccia, pasta and tiramisu on my return journey.

It's clear to see why Nottinghamshire Live voted it their restaurant of the year in our Notts Bites competition, celebrating the best food and drink in the county.

To lift the crown after thousands of votes is no mean feat with such stiff competition from popular restaurants Yamas and the Lobster Pot in Nottingham and Hemisphere in West Bridgford.

Unless you reside in North Notts, it's quite a hike to the Italian restaurant, taking me an hour to reach the village of Walesby.

But it’s well worth the trip. Based in a former pub it still has a pub-like feel with the different nooks and crannies and decor, which isn’t blatantly Italian - just a shelf of decorative pasta and the paintings of ingredients such as basil and tomato, by co-owner Louise Boddice.

Chefs John Boddice, the husband of Louise, and long-term friend Christian Colarieti took over the ailing pub, which had closed down after the pandemic.

John said: “We have slowly grown. Any money we've made we've chucked back into it.

“We've not invested in decoration, in frilly bits, it’s stuff we need. We've renovated the kitchen, we've redone the electrics. We've installed air conditioning, and we've installed a walk-in fridge for extra storage.

“Everything else is focused on the guest. We'd rather spend money on cheese and bread and olive oil rather than golden mirrors and fluffy cushions.

“We spend money on things that matter. We spend twice as much money on olive oil as we do on rent.”

The late great Antonio Carluccio - the man dubbed the godfather of Italian cookery - once told me in an interview that the secret to Italian food is simplicity and taste.