Growing up Revolution was all about Vodka, Vodka and... I'm sure you get the picture. I've spent plenty of nights in there (Knowingly and unknowingly) so I have to admit that when Revolution at The Cornerhouse invited us along to sample their new menu I was more than a little intrigued as in the past I'd never considered it for their food.
Gone was the dark, late night drinking den, replaced with a light, airy environment that makes you feel much more at ease. The restrictive booths have been replaced by more 'open-plan' seating and it really feels like the kind of environment you could settle down to get to know someone on a date or get-together with a bunch of friends.
With a menu featuring a selection of traditional pub style meals but with more modern twists Revolution Cornerhouse seems to have a number of bases covered. The menu is varied yet features a selection of burgers and pizza's with twists to keep us all interested such as Vodka Chicken which gives a nod to the chain's heritage.
Whilst browsing the menu we opted for a glass of House Red Wine (A Merlot) and a pint of Spanish Mahou. The red wine was beautifully fruity and bold. It's rare to see a Merlot as a 'house' wine but we were very impressed by it. The Mahou was a great, lighter tasting lager that works well with food as it isn't heavily gassy or exceptionally strong on the palate.
As soon as we saw it on the menu we knew we had to go for the Street Food Crate (£13.50). It came out packed with beef sliders featuring succulent pulled beef in soft brioche buns, some huge buttermilk fried chicken strips which were beautifully cooked- crispy on the outside whilst being lovely and moist on the inside. We also received within the Street Food Crate a couple of generous sized slices of pepperoni pizza and some viper dusted chips. To compliment the dish there were a selection of sauces- a vodka salsa that had a nice cooling sensation, a warming and rich Chipotle BBQ and a Cajun style mayonnaise that worked well with the chips.
In hindsight we hadn't realised how filling our starter would be. Anyone visiting and looking for lunch to share could easily be satisfied with the Street Food Crate, The dish worked well for us with a varied selection to share between us. Looking at the pictures whilst typing away makes me realise how I would quite happily eat it again.
As soon as we started looking at the menu we felt spoilt for choice. With a selection of slight twists on our traditional favourites and a few things we've not tried before it could easily become a difficult decision on just what to have but we quickly whittled our choices down to a select two after deciding against the Panang Chicken having had a curry at home the evening before.
The Bourbon Bad Boy Burger, This instantly caught my eye. I have a bit of a love affair with the Jack Daniels barbecue sauce offered by a pub chain beginning with W and having a penchant for anything whisky related it seemed a logical choice even before I'd observed just what the dish actually contained. When I read further to find it was a double burger stacked with cheese and streaky bacon I was onto a winner. We now have a new saying "Everything tastes better with a bit of piggy".
The burger arrived skewered with a steak knife, topped with onion rings and with a cup of Cajun fries. The burgers were nice and moist, easy to eat with the contrast of the well cooked streaky bacon and melted cheese. Taking off the onion rings also meant I was just about able to eat my Bourbon Bad Boy with my hands too although any thicker and it would have been a real challenge.
The sauce the burger came with had the edge from the bourbon and appealed to my sweet tooth. Whilst not being as smooth on the palate as that from the chain beginning with a W it worked well with my burger and even better with the fries.
Our other choice was the Glazed Roast Chicken (£8.50 or £6.50 on a Tuesday). We've had some mixed results when sampling hot sauces over the years but opted to take the challenge of the Armageddon sauce which sounded like we could be meeting our match.
Teamed with fries and a slaw of red cabbage, beetroot and red onion the chicken worked well as a dish. It was cooked beautifully with the meat almost falling off the bone. The Armageddon sauce was nice with a late kick without signalling doomsday. We'd describe it more like an Arrabiata pasta sauce with that hint of chili that starts to build at the back of your throat. Very nice though a little misleading with the name. Our only real concern was that with the chicken glazed in sauce we wanted more to dip the chips into so many thanks to our server for bringing out more for us.
We'd have also liked to have seen the glazed chicken offered with rice. Having opted for the Street Food Crate we'd already hit our carbohydrates hard with the chips and pizza bread it had come with so a little more variety would have helped for us though if we'd not gone down the starter route it may have been that chicken and chips would have been fine.
After our main course we were absolutely stuffed and struggling to eat any more. We'd already checked out the desserts menu and in honesty it was a bit of a chocaholics wet dream- Gnocci stuffed with hazelnut chocolate, a Nutella Fluffwich, Salted Caramel Chocolate Fondue and a Chocolate Mess Sundae all sound awesome to me although may seem like overkill to some dinners.
We had a fantastic experience at Revolution in the Cornerhouse. The staff were great, food was very nice, well cooked and we loved the environment. We'd certainly consider a return visit at some point in the future. It no longer feels like that late night bar we'd frequent in our student days for a tray of vodka shots- It feels like it's now grown up whilst still sticking to it's heritage.
Gone was the dark, late night drinking den, replaced with a light, airy environment that makes you feel much more at ease. The restrictive booths have been replaced by more 'open-plan' seating and it really feels like the kind of environment you could settle down to get to know someone on a date or get-together with a bunch of friends.
 |
| The interior at Revolution, Cornerhouse Nottingham- No longer the dark drinking den |
Whilst browsing the menu we opted for a glass of House Red Wine (A Merlot) and a pint of Spanish Mahou. The red wine was beautifully fruity and bold. It's rare to see a Merlot as a 'house' wine but we were very impressed by it. The Mahou was a great, lighter tasting lager that works well with food as it isn't heavily gassy or exceptionally strong on the palate.
 |
| A Pint of Mahou |
Starters at Revolution Cornerhouse
As soon as we saw it on the menu we knew we had to go for the Street Food Crate (£13.50). It came out packed with beef sliders featuring succulent pulled beef in soft brioche buns, some huge buttermilk fried chicken strips which were beautifully cooked- crispy on the outside whilst being lovely and moist on the inside. We also received within the Street Food Crate a couple of generous sized slices of pepperoni pizza and some viper dusted chips. To compliment the dish there were a selection of sauces- a vodka salsa that had a nice cooling sensation, a warming and rich Chipotle BBQ and a Cajun style mayonnaise that worked well with the chips.
In hindsight we hadn't realised how filling our starter would be. Anyone visiting and looking for lunch to share could easily be satisfied with the Street Food Crate, The dish worked well for us with a varied selection to share between us. Looking at the pictures whilst typing away makes me realise how I would quite happily eat it again.
 |
| The Revolution Cornerhouse Street Food Crate. Salt beef sliders, buttermilk fried chicken strips, viper chips and pepperoni pizza. |
Main Meals at Revolution Cornerhouse
As soon as we started looking at the menu we felt spoilt for choice. With a selection of slight twists on our traditional favourites and a few things we've not tried before it could easily become a difficult decision on just what to have but we quickly whittled our choices down to a select two after deciding against the Panang Chicken having had a curry at home the evening before.
The Bourbon Bad Boy Burger, This instantly caught my eye. I have a bit of a love affair with the Jack Daniels barbecue sauce offered by a pub chain beginning with W and having a penchant for anything whisky related it seemed a logical choice even before I'd observed just what the dish actually contained. When I read further to find it was a double burger stacked with cheese and streaky bacon I was onto a winner. We now have a new saying "Everything tastes better with a bit of piggy".
The burger arrived skewered with a steak knife, topped with onion rings and with a cup of Cajun fries. The burgers were nice and moist, easy to eat with the contrast of the well cooked streaky bacon and melted cheese. Taking off the onion rings also meant I was just about able to eat my Bourbon Bad Boy with my hands too although any thicker and it would have been a real challenge.
The sauce the burger came with had the edge from the bourbon and appealed to my sweet tooth. Whilst not being as smooth on the palate as that from the chain beginning with a W it worked well with my burger and even better with the fries.
 |
| The Bourbon Bad Boy Burger |
Our other choice was the Glazed Roast Chicken (£8.50 or £6.50 on a Tuesday). We've had some mixed results when sampling hot sauces over the years but opted to take the challenge of the Armageddon sauce which sounded like we could be meeting our match.
Teamed with fries and a slaw of red cabbage, beetroot and red onion the chicken worked well as a dish. It was cooked beautifully with the meat almost falling off the bone. The Armageddon sauce was nice with a late kick without signalling doomsday. We'd describe it more like an Arrabiata pasta sauce with that hint of chili that starts to build at the back of your throat. Very nice though a little misleading with the name. Our only real concern was that with the chicken glazed in sauce we wanted more to dip the chips into so many thanks to our server for bringing out more for us.
We'd have also liked to have seen the glazed chicken offered with rice. Having opted for the Street Food Crate we'd already hit our carbohydrates hard with the chips and pizza bread it had come with so a little more variety would have helped for us though if we'd not gone down the starter route it may have been that chicken and chips would have been fine.
 |
| Glazed Chicken with Armageddon Sauce |
After our main course we were absolutely stuffed and struggling to eat any more. We'd already checked out the desserts menu and in honesty it was a bit of a chocaholics wet dream- Gnocci stuffed with hazelnut chocolate, a Nutella Fluffwich, Salted Caramel Chocolate Fondue and a Chocolate Mess Sundae all sound awesome to me although may seem like overkill to some dinners.
We had a fantastic experience at Revolution in the Cornerhouse. The staff were great, food was very nice, well cooked and we loved the environment. We'd certainly consider a return visit at some point in the future. It no longer feels like that late night bar we'd frequent in our student days for a tray of vodka shots- It feels like it's now grown up whilst still sticking to it's heritage.
 |
| Gather your mates or bring a date. Revolution's relaxed informal atmosphere will encourage as much conversation as it will drinking |
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