Sunday, August 24, 2008

Leeds leads to good food at THE RESTAURANT Bar & Grille (Yorskshire, UK)

While Will & Samuel arrived in Leeds the day before me to visit Will's sister who lives here, I popped over the pond a day alter and managed to stay up for a superb dinner my first night in Britain at The RESTAURANT BAR & GRILLE smack in the center of the city at CITY SQUARE in the architecturally magnificent old Post Office (www.therestaurantbarandgrille.co.uk). We liked the large enclosed wine cellar that guided us in the door and our table overlooking the open kitchen, but it was the food that was the hit for all out family.

A bottle of LES CERISES Cotes due Rhone ROSE 2007 was crisp, dry and fruity after a warm (75degree) day here in Yorkshire and worked excellently with the ASIAN Starter PLATE made up of THAI PRAWN CAKES with FISH SAUCE to dip in that were superb, wonderful DUCK SPRING ROLLs which even Samuel loved, CHILLI (they use two "l's" here) SQUID which was a nice calamari-like battered squid, VIETNAMESE VEGETABLE & MINT SALAD that sported some hot chillis, TEMPURA KING PRAWNS which were gobbled up so fast, I never got one, but was told they were excellent and the unsatisfactory MALAYAN CHICKEN SKEWERS which were basically dry chicken skewers in a magnificent sauce of yogurt, cilantro and peanuts.

Sam was in heaven with his Artisan Handmade TORTELLINI filled with SLOW COOKED SCOTCH BEEF RAGU in Tomato Sauce---it was as good as it sounds....

We moved on to a second ROSE, CHATEAU MINTY Reserve Cotes de Provence 2007 (from near St. Tropez) made from Grenache, Tiburon & Cinsualt and full of fruit, yet bone dry.

The entrees were even better and included SPIT ROASTED GRESSINGHAM DUCK with ORANGE & SPICE, ROAST LAMB CUTLETS & Fondant Potatoes, Baby Carrots, Peas and Broad Beans(described by Will's sister as "bloody lovely"), and a Sunday Special (all of these were read to us and sounded SOOO tempting) of 28 day AGED ROAST SIRLOIN BEEF with YORKSHIRE PUDDING, Roast Potatoes, Spring Green Vegetables and Gravy which Will gobled up tout-de-suite. The sides were gorgeous JERSEY ROYAL POTATOES which were roasted, yet light and fluffy and served with just a pinch of sea (or kosher) salt and the excellent SPRING GREEN Veggies consisting of PETIT POIS, BROCCOLI, MANGE-TOUT (the British term for pea pods) and more were prepared with a light butter sauce to perfection.

My CALVES LIVER with DRIED CURED BACON, Mashed Potatoes and Onion Rings came in a super rich brown sauce and was sublime. Our server Sally deserves 3 stars and never missed a thing, including getting Will and me a glass of red wine each with our entree--he had the Cotes du Rhones Villages Coteaux Les Bocetinot 2004/2006 (how weird to combine two vintages from more than a year apart) and I went for the richer bigger RIOJA VEGA del RAYO Vendemmia Seleccionada 2005/2006.

We could not resist puddings (dessert here in the UK) and Samuel adored his trio of ice creams: Banana/Toffee, Chocolate and Raspberry Ripple while Will gobbled up the very rich STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING with Vanilla Ice Cream. If you have NEVER had Sticky Toffee Pudding, it alone is worth a trip across the pond! The cheese plate consisted of excellent local cheeses: Mrs. Kikhan's Creamy Lancashire, Golden Cross & Cachel Blue with Biscuits and Pear Chutney. I adored my GRATIN of SUMMER BERRIES-blue,rasp,black and straw-with Raspberry Sorbet served in a light Creme Anglaise--Sam kept stealing my raspberries each time I turned away!

We all left knowing that we WILL return to this place on our next trip here, and Will's sister Edna and her partner, Sue, agreed to return in the fall for their anniversary!