Malmaison Brasserie

Wed 8 Aug 2007

Last night the eating and drinking machine rolled on to the Malmaison Brasserie. The Brasserie is set in the basement of the pretty Malmaison building on Swinegate, just a short walk from the city centre.

We were a little early for our reservation so we started off with drinks in the bar. It was a bit noisy and hotel-bar like for me, though the low lighting, purple table lights and sofas were a good start. I ended up being treated to a glass of Veuve vintage, so no complaining from me!

The Brasserie has a 'home grown' menu where the food is sourced from within 30 miles of Leeds. It's £12.50 for 2 courses or £15.50 for 3, or you can opt for the à la carte menu. In our party of four we had a bit of mix and matching. I started with the risotto milanese. Other starters were squid and scallop salad, pea and leek tart and (from the home grown menu) a niçoise salad.

The pea and leek tart was the star dish - sitting on top of some asparagus spears, it had the most incredibly light, crispy and short pastry. I thought the risotto was very good although perhaps a trifle over seasoned and both the salads were well received.

For main course I chose the Gloucester old spot pork, pan fried, with sorrel and water cress and a gooseberry chutney. It was very good. The pork was moist and the gooseberry chutney was delicious. The lamb chops, with roast garlic, girolle mushrooms and pesto, was a huge portion: 4 fat, pink chops presented on a board with a copper pan of pesto. From the home grown menu the selection was Goosnargh chicken with tomato and cous-cous, and the final choice was streak-frites. We ordered an additional portion of chips, as well as carrots with chervil and a portion of spinach.

By the time we arrived at dessert, we were slowing down. We shared a crème brûlée and a serving of cheese. The cheese comes out on the cheese trolley and you choose a selection of 5 from the menu (there was a choice of over 10 cheeses last night). The crème brûlée was delicious too: a crispy, caramelised top with a soft, just set custard underneath.

Although I didn't get to look at the wine list in detail, it looks monumental, and even contains a table of contents. We started with a Tim Knappstein riesling and followed with an American zinfandel. We wrapped up with a selection of dessert wines and liqueurs: Frangelico, Banyuls and cognac.

The meal stood out for several reasons: the food was 'bloody good' (I quote my father), the spelling on the menu (so often a point of downfall) was good (apart from a very dodgy spelling of liqueur!) and the service was excellent. The staff were cheerful, knowledgeable and all very professional.

The location and style of the restaurant puts the venue firmly in the special occasion league, but without outrageously high prices. In addition, you will get a reservation far more easily than you will at Anthony's, and many diners will find the food far more accessible.

1. Malmaison Brasserie, 1 Swinegate, Leeds, LS1 4AG, phone: 0113 398 1000

tagged with: leeds, restaurant

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Fairuz

Mon 25 June 2007

As you may recall, Monday was rather wet. I work with a lot of people who live quite a long way away from Leeds so the office emptied rather quickly. Rather responsibly, I went outside, ran around in the rain for about an hour and took a lot of photos. Which was fine, until I realised I was back in the office with a sodden jacket and jeans drenched to the thighs. The walk back into town was rather cold and soggy.

After some essential chores, a couple of beers at North were in order (ticking a few off the birthday card) and before we knew it I was ready for something to eat. I suggested Akbar's, but we'd had curry the night before, so we traipsed over to Thai Cottage, but they were closed. Back towards Fuji Hiro* (open but not serving) and finally into Fairuz.

Fairuz is in a strange location, rather tucked away and with the feeling of almost being in the basement of an office block. We've been meaning to go for ages, but have just never got around to it. Fortunately, on Monday night, even though it was late and there was just one diner finishing off his coffee, the sole staff member on board was happy to serve us.

Lebanese food suits itself very well to loads of small dishes and eating for hours, but, at 10pm on a Monday night just one dish was called for. I could not help but choose the chicken shewarma and Andy opted for lamb neck.

The shewarma was delicious. It was flavoured with mint and oregano and was served on the most beautiful, fine, light, crispy bread, with a lovely lemon-garlic yogurt like sauce. It came with a simple salad. And for around £7.50 it was a generous portion. Andy's lamb (around £10), while it looked a lot smaller, was absolutely gorgeous. It was so tender and was spiced with clove and cinnamon. It was served with similarly flavoured rice and some salad. On first appearances I won, but after we sampled each other's food we couldn't decide on a winner.

If you can't make decisions like that there are two 'all in' type menus and at lunchtime the restaurant offers a buffet. They also offer an early bird menu between 5 and 7. We both thought the food was lovely, and we're also full of admiration for the one man, who seated us, took our orders, brought our drinks and cooked our food.

So - it was bad luck on several counts that actually meant we visited Fairuz for the first time, but now we have been, we'll definitely be making trips back.

1. Fairuz, Fairfax House, Merrion Street, Leeds, LS2 8JU, ph: 0113 243 4923

*We visited both Thai Cottage and Fuji Hiro back in April and loved them both.

tagged with: leeds, restaurant, lebanese

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Arcadia - Pie Night

Mon 18 June 2007

A relatively recent development at Arcadia is the Monday night 'Pie Night'. Pie, peas and a pint (Black Sheep or Deuchars) for £5.

Why I thought this was a good idea, since I loathe peas, I don't know, but I managed to rustle up a group to try this out. Which was all well and good until we found out Arcadia had one pie left. Fortunately, the full kitchen was open until 8 so, while Andy ate the remaining pie, the rest of us sampled the rest of the menu.

A couple of us went for the New Yorker salad: a big bowl of lettuce, celery, walnuts (they're a superfood now!), blue cheese and chicken, served with garlic bread. The great thing about this salad is that it wasn't drowned in dressing, so you could actually taste all the different ingredients. It was a huge bowl and, for £5, I was pretty impressed. The garlic bread was a bit nondescript, but there was certainly nothing wrong with it.

Other options sampled from the main menu included the Cumberland sauce with mash (also £5) and one of the specials, lamb shank, at £7.50. The lamb shank looked really good: the meat was falling off the bone, and the report back was that it was absolutely delicious.

So that brings us to the pie, which didn't involve pastry so Andy was unhappy. He also felt it was a served with a rather excessive amount of marrowfat peas. The gravy looked a bit watery and thin and it was all a bit disappointing. Which is a shame, because the rest of us were tucking in to some very tasty and cheap food. Given the pie-indifference, I'm also not too sure about checking out Arcadia's curry night (that's Tuesday). If you are eating with your beer, I recommend sticking to the menu as those of us who did were not disappointed.

After our meal, we headed down to the Box for Monday quiz. It's free but you'll have to be good to win it, as last night you would have needed to best 28.5 out of 31. After a couple of hours in Arcadia with all those beers, we were no competition!

1. Arcadia, 34 Arndale Centre, Headingley, LS6 2UE, phone: 0113 274 5599
2. The Box, 8 Otley Road, Headingley, LS6 2AD, phone 0113 2249266

tagged with: headingley, restaurant, leeds

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Loch Fyne

Sat 9 June 2007

Loch Fyne sits in the now fully refurbished City Square. When I first moved to Leeds (the first time, in 2001) City Square was under scaffolding and remained that way for what seemed like an age. It's been open for a while and despite its proximity to the railway station and being surrounded by traffic it's a very pleasant place to sit out and have a coffee or some lunch.

And that's exactly what we did. Inspired by Loch Fyne's £11 lunch promotion we headed off to check it out.

The £11 lunch menu is quite short: a choice of four starters and four mains. You also get a glass of red, white or rosé wine. Andy started with the squid tentacles (mis-spelled on the menu) in chilli oil, and I went for the chicken liver paté with oatcakes. The squid was tender, tasty and had a good chilli kick. The paté was pretty good - and I actually really enjoyed it in combination with the oatcakes.

Our main course choices were grilled sardines with herbs and garlic and penne pasta with a smoked salmon cream sauce. As side dishes we had chips and a red onion and tomato salad. The sardines looked tasty and were quickly demolished. The pasta realy only deserves the description 'OK'. The sauce was a bit oily and salty and I found the dish rather cloying. I did like the addition of grainy mustard to the sauce, but I really felt I could have done a lot better myself at home. The tomato salad was also OK - after all, it was just tomato and red onion, but there was just a bit too much dressing for me.

The biggest disappointment was reserved for the chips. They were awful. They epitomised everything that's wrong about nasty pub oven chips. For a fish restaurant, sub standard chips are a disgrace. There's no excuse for not chopping some potatoes, frying them once and then frying them a second time on demand. None at all.

Of course, over two courses we also needed a second drink: a pint of San Miguel for Andy, a glass of sancerre for me (and improvement on the house rosé).

The total bill came to just over £30. For £11 you do get a lot of food, but whether you're inclined to eat it all is a different matter. The cheap lunch deal hasn't encouraged me to head back to Loch Fyne to spend more on the à la carte menu.

I have been told that Restaurant, also in City Square, is good but pricey. I managed to put one mate off Loch Fyne, who went to the Foundry instead and said it was lovely. Just two more places to put on the 'to do' list!

tagged with: leeds, restaurant, seafood

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Nooshi

Wed 6 June 2007

I don't eat out in Headingley enough. Drinking - that's a different matter because Arcadia is so good, but eating - hardly ever.

I an attempt to redress my city-centre bias last week I headed off to Nooshi. Actually, (ex)Housemate and I wanted something quick and cheap, and I had a cold so something spicy fitted the bill.

After 5pm, Nooshi offers a dinner deal - a noodle box plus a beer for £6 (unless you go for duck or seafood, in which case it's £6.50). (ex)Housemate went for the hoisin duck noodles (without vege - so they will customise your order) and I opted for the spicy chicken and vegetable.

I'll leave aside the fact that the spicy chicken and vegetable contained mini-corn (this is the devil's food) and focus on the rest of the dish. Actually, there's not really a lot to say. There wasn't really a lot of chicken in it, the veggies were unexciting and the sauce tasted a lot like sweet chilli sauce: a bit too sweet and cloying for me.

Nooshi specialises in noodles and sushi, but also offers juices, smoothies, green tea and ice cream. I'd probably nip in to try out their sushi, but when it comes to more noodles I'll probably be heading back to Fuji Hiro in ... the city centre.

It seems that Nooshi haven't been too busy winning over fans and aficionados of Asian food: Sourrain was also a bit underwhelmed.

tagged with: nooshi, noodles, headingley, leeds

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The Olive Tree

Sun 29 April 2007

After some indecision we decided to try out the Olive Tree in Chapel Allerton. I'd actually already visited the original branch in Rodley a couple of times and been a little underwhelmed, but I was prepared to give it another go.

Last minute decision that it was, we did actually book a table. It was around 5pm when Andy made the reservation for quarter past 7. We arrived a little early and the restaurant was very busy. We were ushered to the 'lounge' upstairs and told that someone would be with us to take a drinks order. We waited and waited, and so did another (rather loud) group who arrived shortly after us: their patience was exceeded before ours and one of their party managed to drag a waiter upstairs.

Eventually, we were shown to our table. It was squashed into a corner and we had, literally, about 20 cms between us and the couple next to us. I had to move glassware in order to squeeze past to get to my seat! Nonetheless, beers in one hand, menus in the other, we snacked on the olives and pitta bread. At this stage, service was looking a little slow but there was no undue panic on the horizon.

I decided to start with the mixed dips (served with warm pitta bread) and Andy opted for the chicken pastries. Again, a bit of a wait, but the food arrived and Andy's pastries were not too shabby at all: cubes of chicken in a light sauce, wrapped in cigar like parcels and surrounded by salad. For £5.25 I thought my serving of dips was a little mean: tsatsiki (cucumber and yoghurt), melintzanosalata (aubergine) and taramosalata (cod roe). Of the three, I liked the tsatsiki best, but I don't know I would start raving about any of them. When the starters arrived I ordered another beer and when this came to the table, I asked about my pitta bread. The waitress took this in, disappeared and ... never reappeared. Now, while the dips were nice, they weren't exactly good enough to sit and eat with a spoon. We had only a couple of small pieces of pitta bread left from our original basket, and these went quickly. I think I probably ate less than half that which was on my plate.

We finished our starters. And then we waited and waited for our table to be cleared. Andy thinks it was a good 20 minutes. When the waiter (now on our third one for the evening) took our plates away, he didn't ask why there my starter was barely touched. A cursory 'was everything alright?' and that was that.

And then we waited.

Andy finished his beer.

I finished my beer.

We waited.

The restaurant was compelled to sing happy birthday to someone. Andy commented that perhaps they might like to put as much effort into getting our dinner to the table.

We waited some more.

Andy complained he was hungry and thirsty.

The lady at the table next to us (who had ordered around the same time, and were sitting so close to us we didn't need to eavesdrop) was worried that there was no food coming out of the kitchen at all.

And then, probably a good 40 minutes after we had finished our starters: the straw that broke the camel's back. Two people who had entered the restaurant after our plates had been cleared received their main courses.

I squeezed past the people next to us and explained to the staff that, while we were happy to pay for what we'd had, we simply weren't waiting around any more. There was a bit of confusion, and our original waiter gave us a bill for £9.90, "with service, £10.80". They were at least kind enough to knock off our drinks, and Andy suggested they might like to accept a £10 note.

As Housemate pointed out, they probably shouldn't have charged us at all.

After that, do I really need to give a verdict?

1. The Olive Tree, 188-190 Harrogate Road, Chapel Allerton, LS7 4NZ, phone: 0113 269 8488

tagged with: chapel allerton, leeds

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