Ego, Leeds

The regular school friends’ lunch kicked off again at All Bar One last weekend. This seems to be becoming a habit but they do a lovely reasonable prosecco and the seats outside are perfect for an alfresco drink. It was surprisingly sunny for the first weekend in October, so the mood was good.

The number of e mails that go back and forth when planning these get-togethers are enough to fill anyone’s inbox. One of sad things we do is list agenda items – there are loads of things to catch up on between school friends’ lunches. This time I went one step further and actually wrote them out. No one can say I am not prepared. But the problem is, I usually get home after our get-togethers and think “Oh I forgot to ask about....” or “We never discussed.....”. It may be old age setting in (one of our number is forty in December) but I like to make sure we have covered everything. So the first half hour consisted of “working through the list”. Some co-lunchers commented that they felt it was “like being at work” but I drew the line at typing up the minutes.

Anyway, agenda items covered, we moved on to Ego. This is a Mediterranean restaurant that is part of a chain, and we arrived to find only a couple of tables taken (it is open all day). We were promptly seated and menus provided.



We ordered a bottle of pinot, which was pleasant and good value. For starter, Sarah T and I shared an Italian plate – prosciutto, salami, baked mushrooms, Sicilian arancini and parmesan. I love these Italian sharing platters, but I always feel you need bread with them, which has to be ordered separately. The same thing happened at Jamie’s Italian. I must remember to order the bread in future.

H had the mussels, which came in a big earthenware bowl. I tried one. It was nice.



For main course, I had moussaka. I developed a bit of a taste for this during our first trip to Greece in the summer, and have made it a few times myself. It arrived in the oven dish it was cooked in, so was sizzling away. The lamb mince had lots of flavour with plenty of aubergine in the layers. The strange thing was that the waiter managed to remove Sarah T’s wine glass* just before the main course arrived, even though we had ordered another bottle. She had to ask for a replacement after a bit of a wait, so had no wine with most of her main course.

The moussaka.....



We were asked if we would like desserts so we said we would take a look at the menu. These were quickly provided and we were left to peruse the options. Some time passed. And passed. Then the bill arrived. No pudding order taken. Strange. So we decided not to bother, paid up and left.

It all sounds rather Nancy Drew “The mystery of the disappearing wine glass” or “The mysterious case of the missing dessert order”.

Anyway, case unsolved, we sloped off to The Blackhouse over the road for wine (and the cheese plate in my case – I love a bit of cheese with wine). Again, a lovely outdoor area with patio heaters, although H was worried about her hair setting on fire and my cheeks became rather rosy (nothing to do with the copious amount of wine I had drunk).



The food is good in Ego. A great menu with lots of choice – you can go Italian for starter, Greek for main and French for pudding. A real eclectic mix. The service is rather strange though. Case closed.

*There is an important take-home message here – don’t take a wine glass off a woman pushing forty. The consequences could be very unpleasant.

The Stroom, Pudsey

The last time I went to The Stroom was a few years ago. I remember it well as my friend the GemBear had just had her eyes lasered and kept disappearing to the bathroom to put drops in! I seem to remember we used to think it was a bit pricey (the food, not the laser eye surgery which apparently is worth every penny).

The reason this event sticks in my mind is because I have been thinking of getting my eyes done too. My optician keeps banging on about it when I visit for a check up. Apparently they do it on the lower ground floor of my optician in Leeds. I joked that they did it in the basement so that you can’t hear the screams, but he didn’t seem to find me amusing.

Anyway, back to The Stroom. They have changed their pricing policy to a “two courses for £15 and three courses for £17.50” with a range of supplements for steak and the like, and it seems to work out at much better value. The wine list is also very good, with a lovely Pinot Grigio blush at £13.50, which was duly tasted and ordered. This was a last minute dinner with G and V, and they very kindly let me choose the wine, as I seem to dislike more wines than I like.

I had the goat cheese with beetroot carpaccio and toasted pine nuts to start. This came with leaves and cherry tomatoes, and it was a good portion. A very pleasant start to the meal. (Is it just me or is beetroot having a bit of a renaissance?)



Main course was the special – a fillet of plaice in butter with potato and salad. This was a really pleasant dish. There is a lot of scraping of meat off bone going on here, and a few bones pulled out of the mouth, but it was worth it.





Main courses are served with new potatoes and vegetables, as part of the price so there is no need to order side dishes unless you want something in particular.

Pudding was the cheese plate – stilton, cheddar, Lancashire and Brie, with biscuits, a bowl of chutney and salad. The picture isn’t great because I had got stuck in before I remembered to take it.



The service was excellent. The waiter was very patient with us in the bar as we tried to make our minds up about what we wanted. He was also keen to let me taste the wine before we ordered it. G had a chat with the chef on the way out who was happy to talk about the food which is a good sign!

I recommend a visit to The Stroom (opposite the cenotaph in Pudsey) – good value, a nice wine list and excellent food.

City Cafe, City Inn, Leeds

I haven’t blogged my dining out for a while. This is partly due to it being the holiday season, and being away, and partly due to being a lazy mare who “just hasn’t got round to it”. So last Saturday, we decided to try City Cafe at the City Inn. It’s a bit tricky to find – under the dark arches, down through the dark tunnel and then out the other end. There sits the Hop pub (had a drink, nice) and the City Inn.

I have read about the City Cafe – in fact Jay Rayner did a review a month or so ago in the Observer. My dining companion was Psycho Psu and we decided to make the best of the last few days of summer by sitting outside. The tables were actually outside the hotel bar, and we were brought a bar menu, but we asked for the restaurant menu as it was this we were here to try. We didn’t go in the restaurant inside but it looked quiet for Saturday lunchtime. Given its location, this is probably not that surprising, although there were plenty of people sitting on the terrace.

The cheapest Pinot Grigio was £27 (memories of Petrus came flooding back). It was actually a blush, which is one of my current favourites, so with a bit of a wince, we ordered it. *

For starter, I ordered Roast wood pigeon and onion tart. This is not so much a tart, as a piece of thin pastry that the pigeon sits on. Wood pigeon is a new one for me and I found it fairly gamey with a similar flavour to liver! The dish came with a piece of bacon, a quail egg, and pea puree. There was quite a lot going on on the plate, in fact, but I kind of like that! Lots of flavours and textures in one dish.



Psycho Psu had Smoked mackerel with ham hock potato cake. She reported the fish good, but the cake was rather lacking in flavour.



For main course I ordered the Herb crust rump of lamb. This was served with a “lamb cannelloni” which turned out to be a sort-of pancake, stuffed with shredded lamb. I liked it. The dish also came with greens and the now-obligatory pea puree.



Psycho Psu had paella, with seatrout, mussels and chorizo.



I couldn’t resist the cheese plate, to follow the meal. The portion-for-one at £3.50 is much more realistic and better value than your average cheese plate which I would say normally comes in about £6-7. Brie, cheddar and Yorkshire blue were served, with oatcakes.



Psycho Psu had the Chocolate and pecan tart with banana ice-cream. This worked really well with a mix of flavours.



We finished with an Espresso Martini each – they weren’t on the menu but the barman obliged! In fact the staff as a whole were excellent – really good, friendly service. This place is a bit out of the way, and when I think of hotel food, I often think of crap warmed-up or deep-fried food eaten on a plastic table, but the City Cafe and the City Inn is nothing like that. An interesting menu, a lovely setting by the canal, and great service. It really is worth a visit.

*There is a great Pinot Grigio blush on offer in Asda at the moment – 3 bottles for £12. This deal has got me through the summer!

Fig, Alea Casino, Leeds

Having attended the “Alea Casino - Cocktails and Canapes” session at the Foodies Festival a few months ago, we agreed with Sarah T and N that there was a visit to one of their restaurants in the offing! So we finally got round to it last Friday night.

Having not had my usual trip to Vegas this summer, I felt it was important to play a bit of Blackjack before dinner, and this is what we did. It was fun and I broke even!

Fig was very quiet, there was only one other table filled. It was explained to us that this is a quiet time in casino season – everyone is on holiday! Despite the emptiness of the restaurant, however, we didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. Maybe it was the fact I had already had a few pinots, or the good company, but a “right good laugh” was had by all!

The service was impeccable. A very pleasant and obliging waitress sorted our orders and brought our food. I didn’t get her name but she is an asset to Alea!

For starter, I ordered Parma ham “two ways” salad. This involved parma ham as you would expect, plus parma ham possibly grilled or oven baked – a nice idea.



Sarah T had the gazpacho – chilled tomato soup. She gave me a taste and it was lovely. It came with what seemed like a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich, which she wasn’t expecting. The rest of us helped her with eating this, however, so no problem!



For main, I ordered Moules Mariniere, which came with bread. Very good mussels in a nice cream sauce. The meal was presented on a wood platter, with an empty bowl for shells, and a water bowl for hand cleaning. It’s nice to have everything you need in one place!



N ordered prawns which he enjoyed. Not just a body eater, N, but a head and tail eater too! I imagine the chefs were rather surprised with the leftovers to his meal, as there was just a bit of shell left – waste not, want not!



The puddings looked great but we were itching to win back the price of our dinner (ok, sure!). So it was back to the Blackjack table. I actually ended about £60 up, but shared my winnings with A, as he has bailed me out of some bad losses in Vegas before.

Alea casino – not quite Vegas, but a cheaper substitute. Fig – lovely Mediterranean food with great service. A good night out, all round!

Petrus, London

Our second dining outing in London was Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus, situated in Belgravia and a bit of a nightmare to find! After a morning of wandering around the London Science Museum, trying to avoid screaming children and do some “learning”, we were looking forward to a peaceful, serene lunch in pleasant surroundings.

When we arrived at Petrus we were quickly seated and menus provided. The restaurant was quiet and we all admitted that we felt a little uncomfortable – it is very upmarket, and I felt that my choice of wearing a checked shirt made me look like I had come to mend the boiler rather than attend a Michelin star restaurant! My thinking was – who dresses up for lunch? Well some people do, apparently, especially in Belgravia. Also, the staff were very attentive, which in some ways is great (impeccable service) but in other ways makes me feel slightly uncomfortable (I’m just not posh enough for this!)

Anyway, Psycho Psu, Miss Babs and I all felt that as the lunch progressed, we started to relax a bit. It’s not like we eat with our hands and wipe our mouths on our sleeves. We may have broad Yorkshire accents but we can appreciate an amuse-bouche with the best of them.

The wine list is incredibly long and about 99% of it was out of our price range. So we ordered a Sauvignon Blanc at around £26. The reason I had chosen Petrus, however, was because of the £25 set lunch menu (three courses) -an opportunity to sample Gordon Ramsay food without breaking the bank.

The amuse-bouche was a pea puree with a tiny crouton and goat cheese balanced on top. This was an amazing colour and flavour, and may well have been my favourite part of the meal. For first course, I ordered lobster and salmon cannelloni, which was just one small tube of pasta, crammed full of the seafood. Fantastic! I don’t have a picture of these two courses, sadly, because at this point I still felt a bit weird about getting my camera out.

Second course was chicken with confit leg, creamed leeks and caper juice. (I finally plucked up courage to get my camera out at this point). Sides of pomme puree and baby carrots were served with this dish.





For starter and main there are only three choices for each course on the set menu, but we all easily found something we liked. For pudding, however, there are a lot more options and I found it really hard to make a decision. Before pudding is served another “freebie” was brought to the table – a tiny ice cream cone filled with lemon mousse – fabulous.

I decided on Hazelnut parfait with a chocolate centre and praline crust – it was incredible!



Psycho Psu had a crème brulee, which she said was good. Miss Babs ordered a raspberry dessert which looked fantastic and she reported it tasted as good as it looked.



Finally, as the bill arrived, so did a silver bowl with dry ice billowing out of it. When the fog cleared, there were three tiny lollies, white chocolate coated and vanilla ice cream centre. A lovely surprise for the end of the meal.

Along with all this food we had two bottles of water and a bottle of wine. With the free gift tasting portions, this is actually a six course meal but it is in no way overwhelming and although we were satisfied, we were not stuffed! The final lovely surprise was the bill – it only came to £45 each. Considering all we had eaten, the fact this is a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and it has a Michelin star, this is amazing value. Once we got past our initial “blimey, this is posh” feeling, we had a very memorable meal. I would definitely go again. And probably wear a smarter shirt!

Le Caprice, London

A few days in London means an opportunity to try a few top restaurants. The first was Le Caprice on a Tuesday evening. This is a sister restaurant to the Ivy, and despite it being Tuesday, it was packed when we got there for our reservation at 9pm.

The maitre d’ informed us politely that our table hadn’t been vacated yet (my understanding was that Le Caprice has a strict 2 hour policy on vacating tables for the next sitting) but never mind, we were offered the wine list and proceeded to order the cheapest one we could find! (This was a pinot gris at about £26, but for some reason they brought us the pinot grigio at £31). I didn't realise until the bill came so just paid for it!

Le Caprice serves food at the bar as well as at tables, which means that if you are waiting, there is really nowhere to go. We started at the reception desk and ended up practically in the cloakroom, and weren’t seated till after half nine. The staff were incredibly friendly, polite and apologetic, however, so that compensated a little.

I ordered Garden pea soup to start – served hot or cold – I chose hot! Very green, very flavourful and great with the Sourdough bread that was brought to the table.



My main course was the famous Le Caprice salmon fishcake – a huge cake, more salmon than potato, covered in a hollandaise sauce and on a bed of spinach. We ordered a range of sides – fries, salad and green beans.



Dining companions Psycho Psu and Miss Babs had calves liver and squid respectively.

The portions were pretty big for a fancy restaurant. All the food was excellent. We couldn’t manage pudding, although this was partly due to the late hour we ended up eating.

We didn’t see any famous faces, either. The place was packed, however, and very loud! It’s not cheap, but it's what you would expect to pay for a well known restaurant in London. There is a service charge added to the bill and a cover charge of £2 each (I have not seen this outside the US before) so it can really bump the bill up.

The Punch Bowl, York

We decided to go to York for a bit on Sunday, as we had a free day. I was hungry when I got in the car to set off, so was eager to eat fairly quickly. We came across the Punch Bowl on Stonegate, which was a lovely traditional pub. A sign outside advertised their pie selection. I can’t resist a pie so in we went.



I ordered steak and ale pie – the biggest I think I have ever seen. It came with mash, broccoli and carrots and a side jug of extra gravy. Hacking through the lovely thick pastry, the chunks of beef and onion were cooked just right in a dark beer gravy – melt in the mouth!



They have a “pie board” with a list of options on the wall – about six different types – the Ham Hock and Pea suet pie looked good too!

A had the small fish and chips portion. Two big portions of fish were presented, with chips and mushy peas. Pretty good.



It was extremely busy in York with lots of tourists and shoppers. There seem to be lots of flower boxes and displays around the city centre, making it very pretty. We also popped in the Golden Fleece, supposedly one of Britain’s most haunted pubs. They have filmed an episode of Most Haunted here and apparently they lay on ghost nights, which sound like a right good laugh!