Food you have to eat in Norwich before you die
There’s more to life than Siciliano
From spicy wings to masala dosa, our fair city has a pretty impressive range of independent restaurants and national favourites, one of which is bound to whet your appetite. We’ve rounded up four of the best restaurants in Norwich to spend all of your precious maintenance loan in.
The cherry on top? All of these restaurants as well as your national favourites, are now delivering to the UEA area on Deliveroo – result.
Gonzo’s Burger & Wings, 68 London Street
Most popular dish: The I Can Haz Cheeseburger (£11 with fries) is a classic, but the Grant Holt (£13.50 with fries) is a thing of beauty – two 8oz Angus beef patties, bacon, cheese, a fried egg and beetroot sauce.
Try before you die: The Dead Elvis (£12.50) – chargrilled chicken burger, cola soaked bacon, melted brie and cranberry sauce. You won’t regret trying any of of the wings (£6.99 per lb) either.
Student discount: No specific student discount yet, but they do have a £5 lunch deal.
Gonzo’s head chef and partner Edd Watkinson revealed that the restaurant is in fact named after another partner’s pug. He said: “We’ve got a pug and crossbones which is modelled after the pug (whose namesake is Gonzo from the Muppets). We used to have a lot of pug and Muppets memorabilia throughout the building – it got a little much, we literally had a pug on everything.”
Third year Bobbie Edsor said: “Gonzo’s is quirky, has awesome music and is reasonably cheap for the portions you get (I guarantee you won’t be able to finish anything). The falafel are amazing, and tell me somewhere else in Norfolk where you can get a chicken wings happy hour with 23 different flavours?”
Courtesy of Gonzo’s Burger & Wings
The place is wacky and fun, and the perfect place to set up for the day with a coffee, your laptop, and some messy fries. Edd said: “We have a lot of students come in because we’re only a walk away from the uni. It also turns into a bit of a night club here after dinner – the only place around you can get food, some cocktails and have a bit of a dance.”
Finding Gonzo’s is no easy feat. Edd said: “You come and discover the fun – there’s no shopfront, it has a very unassuming doorway. You go past an accountancy office, down a corridor and a past a hairdresser. I’d rather not give everything away, it’s part of the fun.”
Nanna Mexico, 23 White Lion Street
Courtesy of Nanna Mexico
Most popular dish: Without a doubt, any Big-Ass Burrito (prices range from £4.99 to £7.29).
Try before you die: The Chicken Tinga Tacos (£6.29) or the Pulled Pork Burrito (£6.29).
Student discount: Student Mondays – you can get a Big-Ass Burrito and a drink for a mere fiver.
With two branches and three trucks in Cambridge, the restaurant travelled east, set up shop in Norwich, selling all of your favourite Mexican food and more – burritos, tacos, nachos, enchiladas, quesadillas, tortas and salads all grace Nanna Mexico’s authentic menu.
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Luis Navarro, owner of Nanna Mexico said: “The restaurant is the inspiration of my nanna Margarita. In 1958, she set up a humble stall outside the room in which she lived with her seven kids in a tough barrio of Mexico City.
“She had a love for serving, and she channelled that passion through food. I spent a lot of time with her in the kitchen – I think it was there I ‘breathed’ the same passion for service and food. That is how Nanna Mexico came to be what it is today.”
Their most popular dish is without a doubt the Big-Ass Burrito. Juan Yun, head of Nanna Mexico Norwich said: “Burritos were invented in northern Mexico in Chihuahua City, mainly to feed troops and workers with a delicious, nutritious and fulfilling meal. The use of a tortilla wrap was conceived as a way to keep the filling warm.” Fun fact of the day sorted.
Namaste India, 2a Opie Street
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Most popular dish: Masala Dosa (£8.95) – a rice and lentil flour crepe filled with a dry, lightly spiced potato and onion curry, served with lentil soup (Sambhar) and coconut chutney.
Try before you die: The Special Chaat (£5.45) and the Kaju (cashew nut) Curry (£10.95) will change your life.
Student discount: From Sunday to Thursday you can get ten percent off the bill. Namaste India is also BYOB, with a corkage fee of £4.95 per bottle of wine and £1.45 per beer.
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Namaste India’s marketing manager, Vijay Jetani, said: “Namaste is the only vegetarian indian restaurant in Norwich. Everything is very authentic – as little oil as possible and only fresh ingredients. We started as a little cafe serving Indian street food, but then as popularity grew, so did we.”
Namaste’s chefs come from all over India, so the menu boasts cuisines from the north, south and the Punjab region. From kormas to dosas, Namaste India produces food that is miles above your local takeaway.
Vijay added: “Everything is homemade, even our chutneys. We never use shop-bought chutneys, everything is made in-house. Our mango chutney, coriander chutney and coconut chutney are all particularly good.”
Eighty percent of the dishes served at Namaste India are vegan and gluten-free, which in Indian cooking is the norm. Delicious food without the guilt.
Pye Baker, 132 Dereham Road
Courtesy of Pye Baker
Most popular dish: The Oak Smoked Bacon on Ciabatta (£4.50) and the Smoked Free Range Chicken and Avocado on Campaillou Sourdough (£4.50) are as mouthwatering as they sound.
Try before you die: The Free Range Pork Sausage Roll (£3.60) is as big as your fist which only means more enjoyment. The Croque Monsieur (£4.50) is also damn good.
Student discount: Not yet, but keep an eye out.
The Pye Baker has had it’s doors open for nine years and in that time it’s gone from a one man team (comprised of owner and pastry chef Grimsby baking absolutely everything) to a force of approximately 25 people.
Grismby likes to keep the menu exciting. He said: “One of our most recent additions is the ‘naan-wich.’ We basically fill a naan that we’ve made at the bakery with homemade grilled chicken tikka, cucumber raita and salad.”
Courtesy of Pye Baker
Pye Baker is the place to come if you’re feeling ravenous. Grimsby said: “We want you to come into the bakery and have a good fill – I don’t like to scrimp on portions.”
The food cafe and bakery also do their bit to give back to the community and they do so in a big way. Grimsby said: “At the end of each day, we give all of our unsold products to a couple of charities here in Norwich, like The People’s Picnic and a shelter in the city.”
By the way, ‘freakshakes’ are coming to Pye Baker so watch this space. Grimsby said: “We do an ice coffee already which kind of looks like a freakshake, with chocolate sauce and lots of cream, so the freakshake seemed like the natural next step.”
All of these amazing restaurants, as well as the favourites you love like Wagamamas, Pizza Express and GBK, are now delivering to the UEA area! Check it out on Deliveroo now