As football has been well and truly in the air, I decided to head to Norwich’s own home of the beautiful game for my latest food review.
With Norwich City FC being mostly owned by legendary chef Delia Smith and her partner, could you imagine football and food going hand in hand anywhere better than here?
The Carrow Road stadium boasts two notable restaurants - the fine-dining Delia’s as well as Yellows Bar and Grill.
My wife Bec and I took a seat inside the latter to see how on the ball the kitchen team really were.
To kick things off I ordered a buffalo wings starter (£7). It was served with a garnish of celery and a pot of creamy gorgonzola dipping sauce.
I got about seven crispy little wings which were hot and tangy, but the real highlight was the flavour-packed sauce.
Each wing got a thorough dipping and I found myself wishing I had more wings just to clean the pot. This was finger food at its messy best.
Bec’s starter was the salt ‘n’ pepper squid (£7).
It was also a well-presented dish, with squid rings of varying sizes served alongside a batch of salad and a huge dollop of chilli jam.
The squid was lightly dusted with flour and fried, so the seafood element wasn’t overwhelmed by the batter, and the spice of the seasoning really came through.
There was an excess of jam on the plate, so I don’t think anyone will have to worry about a lack of that when ordering this dish.
Our main courses arrived a short time later - a chicken shawarma (£11) for me and a sea bass burger (£14.50) for Bec.
The shawarma was probably the most impressive-looking dish that either of us ordered that night.
Served in a shallow bowl, this was a hash of marinated chicken and finely sliced salad vegetables including red cabbage, carrot and pickles, with a fresh, herby yoghurt poured back and forth over the top.
Its base was a springy Greek flatbread, well toasted all the way through. The chicken was grilled, and the marinated flavour really came through, balancing the extras on top.
We had also asked for a side order of chunky fries and another of the deep-fried, pickled onion rings (£3.50), but found they weren’t really necessary as there was enough on the main dishes to fill hungry bellies.
The sea bass burger came with chips on the plate anyway, along with a pot of coleslaw.
It’s not every day you see a battered fish burger on the menu - I supposed you could think of it as a huge, posh fish finger sandwich.
As well as salad, the burger had a savoury green paste which the menu tells me was lime mayo and mango salsa.
The fish itself was succulent and fresh but Becs found the ensemble a bit too carby and left the bun on the plate, opting to fill up on chips instead.
Although we were both (almost) too full for pudding, duty prompted us to ask for the menus back to seek out a final course. The desserts are all £7.50.
I got the Brazil nut brownie with whipped cream which the menu boldly claimed was the ‘best in Norfolk!’ with the ‘right amount of squidge’.
Most of the brownies I’ve had over the past few years haven’t even included nuts so perhaps they’re right.
The pecans gave a satisfying texture and crunch to the bake, which was served warm, strewn with chocolate sauce and dusted with powdered sugar.
The brownie was crumbly but not burnt, suggesting it had been left in the oven for just the right time, and the cream went down a treat.
Bec got the hot fudge sundae, which looked awesome. This was a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream, covered in hot chocolate fudge sauce.
More of those pecans had been ground up to various degrees and spread over the top. The fudge sauce was the star, working beautifully with the nuts and ice cream. What a winning way to end a meal!
Overview
Yellows is at the corner of the football stadium that’s closest to Carrow Bridge.
The restaurant is relaxed and casual and looks great after a recent refurbishment. It’s black and grey and wooden and fantastically modern. A long bar runs along the back wall where wine bottles take pride of place in backlit display cases.
But the real highlight is the artwork. No less than 101 watercolour paintings - all of Norwich streetscapes and buildings - grace the walls.
The story goes that Nick Chinnery, from Dereham, painted one a day during the first coronavirus lockdown and posted them to Facebook, cheering up a lot of people who weren’t able to get out and about as easily to see their favourite places.
Among the many fans won over by the artist - who only started painting in 2017 - was Delia herself.
She decided to buy his entire Norwich series as a job lot after reading about them in this newspaper.
The paintings are detailed, creative and full of fun, each one a little local gem. It’s well worth a visit to Yellows just to see them.
Our only real criticism was that we found the menu too limited - Bec said she’d have liked an option for non-battered fish. We were choosing from the non-match day menu, and the match day menu is shorter with only burgers, hot dogs and loaded fries being served.
We supposed this was done because the kitchen must be under particular pressure on those days, with a lot of football fans after something quick and delicious before the game.
Highlight
There was no clear standout - everything I tried was delicious. But I wouldn’t hesitate to order the chicken shawarma again.
Service
We were greeted at the front desk by a friendly member of staff who said we could sit just about anywhere as it wasn't busy. The servers were attentive and each course was produced quickly - it’s difficult to imagine a better service.
Parking
On non-match days, there is plenty of free parking in front of the south stand reception.
Toilets
There are clean and tidy loos with baby changing facilities around the far side of the dining room, to the right after you go in.
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Disclaimer
Our food reviews are always independent. They are the opinion of the reviewer based on their experience of the venue when they visited. The establishment is not aware of our visit, is not informed we intend to write a review and bills are paid by the reviewer. The choice of places reviewed is also independent and is not based on venues which do or do not advertise in our publications.
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