Horn in Hand, Nottingham – A review

Our visit was partly funded in return for this article and I have been paid for my work with them. All opinions however are my own and those of my family following our visit to The Horn in Hand.

Whilst we had never been to The Horn in Hand, we love eating out as a family. Well, doesn’t everyone? Whilst I am vegetarian I do like vegan food options. The Horn in Hand is one of the best places for vegan food in Nottingham and whilst it isn’t a vegan pub their choices for vegans are better than most places.

I would love to be vegan but I always think I would struggle to manage when eating out. When I was invited to visit this popular pub and review its vegan range I was excited and couldn’t wait.

I had a brief look at the menu online but I prefer not to have too much of an idea of the food and drink before I visit somewhere so that my review is fair and natural.

To review I went with my mum, who is also vegetarian and my stepdad, Stuart, and Ben who are both meat eaters! I share a variety of pictures of our meals throughout this review.

First impressions

We booked a table for a Friday evening at 6 pm. The Horn in Hand is located on Goldsmith Street, a student area very close to the university and is primarily aimed at students. That said, we did not feel out of place at all and were very warmly welcomed.

We were also informed that the students did not start back from their Christmas break until the Monday after our visit so it was a little quieter than usual.

We arrived to find the pub was quite small and friendly looking. There were a number of tables filled with students but it was not too noisy and had a very relaxed atmosphere. At one table a group of students were playing the card game, Uno.

The menu

Take a look at the menu for The Horn in Hand on their website and you will be amazed. Such a varied menu with an unbelievable choice for vegans and vegetarians.

They have around 17 menu items that are vegan and a couple of others which are vegetarian. By menu items I don’t just mean salad or chips, I mean actual proper meals.

Unusual meals too so something really nice and different for vegans to try. Honestly, if you are vegetarian or vegan you will love the choice. For a change, you will be totally spoilt for choice.

For example, the vegan options include Roasted red pepper and onion macaroni bake, topped with smoky soya and Violife grated mature and served with a dressed quinoa, chickpea, butternut squash & soya bean mixed side salad.

Another choice is Smoky soya fries: skinny fries topped with smoky soya sloppy joe, Violife grated mature, BBQ sauce and spring onions.

If you prefer a burger then they offer the Moving Mountains burger. This is not just served with chips and a plain salad of course. It is more fun than that!

It’s layered with red pepper houmous, spinach, smoky soya and Violife grated mature and accompanied with either topped nachos or skinny fries.

So, as you can see from just these few examples, there is an amazing choice for vegans. There is a good mixture of other foods too so if you are dining with an avid meat eater who won’t try anything new then don’t worry, they will be fine here too.

Allergy awareness

As I may have mentioned before, Ben has some severe allergies. After suffering an anaphylactic shock in 2018 we carry adrenaline auto-injectors for him (Epi-Pens).

He is undergoing testing regularly to try and ascertain which specific items the allergies are to and which are most severe.

At the moment we believe him to have potential allergies to nuts and sesame and a severe allergy to cinnamon.

When I was recently sent a bunch of flowers which had cinnamon sticks in them for Christmas decoration, it really affected Ben despite him not actually even eating the cinnamon so we have to be very careful with this.

Legally restaurants and food manufacturers have to list if their foods contain any of the 14 main allergens.

Unfortunately cinnamon is not one of these 14 main allergens which when eating out can be awkward. We have to ask the staff to check the ingredients of food for Ben.

We were extremely impressed by the staff at the pub and their attention to detail with Ben’s allergies. They ensured all the food was cooked separately and did not have anything that could make Ben unwell.

The drinks

The variety of drinks available was lovely and included cocktails, low-alcohol beers and ciders, wines and unique ciders and real ale. I tried some Mango cider on draft, which was lovely.

The food

As described above, the variety of food available was amazing. The main courses we had were the chicken tower burger, Mexican burger (not featured on the menu as it was the burger of the month), roasted red pepper and onion macaroni bake, and BBQ pulled jackfruit kebab.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals. They all arrived well-presented and the sauces available for our meals were great too. Everything arrived hot, flavoursome and as described.

The facilities at The Horn in Hand

Ben was amazed that The Horn in Hand had some retro game consoles for guests to use. Definitely, a feature that is unique and a great addition to an already great venue.

There is also an outside area. However, as it was evening and none of us smoke, we did not go out to see it. Judging by the number of people we saw using the area it is a good size.

Other facilities I noticed were that they have big screens to show live sports, a large projector, and a jukebox.

The service and staff at The Horn in Hand

From our arrival at 6 pm until when we left at around 8.30 pm we received amazing service and felt very welcomed. Whilst it is a student pub in many ways, we did not feel at all out of place.

We were mostly served by manager Chris and another team member Charlotte. Isaac at the bar also served us on one occasion. All were polite, friendly, and knowledgeable regarding allergies and what they serve.

The food was amazing so I do have to also credit the chef Ash in the kitchen who obviously did a great job too. Of course, we didn’t meet him though.

Overall thoughts

We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would definitely go again. It is very central to Nottingham and between the tram stop for Nottingham Trent University and The Royal Centre – perfect for eating out before seeing a show at the theatre. The vegan food here really ruled out so many myths about what vegan food is like.

If you are looking for somewhere to go for a tasty good quality meal in Nottingham that is a bit more adventurous and fun than the choices you get everywhere else then this is your place.

Don’t let the fact it is a student pub put you off, you will love it and the food is second to none. Check out the menu here.