Restaurants and stuff

An early congratulations to you and yours!

 

I will investigate. It looks good.

 

Interesting beer/curry combo on Tuesday night.
The Three Swords on New Road Side, Horsforth. Its now a Kirkstall Brewery pub (was formally Banyan) but they have done a collaboration with Dastaan restaurant in Adel (who I have previously slagged off on here).
This is a much more interesting offering and feels much better value. Its a big, proper pub with good beer, that also does a selection of indian snacks, street food and just a few curries. I think 4 or 5 curries and a couple of Biriyanis. Most customers couldn't resist eating at least something. We had only popped in for a couple of pints and maybe some nibbles but ended up going all out! Word of warning though. They are obviously extremely well set up in the kitchen and because they only offer a few curries, I suspect they have them all "on the go". Not a problem, especially if you are in a hurry. But we ordered a selection of startery type stuff and a couple of curries. The curry came almost immediately with everything else coming later. We coped! All in all it was pretty good.

Where's @millario . This is your job on Bantamtalk

 

He’s currently Basquing in Spain at his favourite local bar.

 

has he been there for the last year

 

I’m sure he’d like to have been.

 

Sounds like Horsforth is the place to be at the moment! Friends really enjoyed Bavette recently.

 

Went to The Empire Cafe in Leeds for lunch with a friend. It got a good write up from Jay Rayner in the Observer a while back. I usually like places he recommends so we decided to give it a whirl. I think we may have chosen the wrong things from the menu because I found it a bit underwhelming for the price.
We both had one of their small sharing plates as a starter. I had baby leeks with a mushroom sauce and a jus of some sort, very tasty although I would have preferred the end trimmed from the bottom of the leeks, even if they are baby ones. My friend had a wood fired mushroom dish that she enjoyed too.
We both chose the chicken caesar salad, made with their signature rotisserie chicken. The chicken was nice and juicy and there were some interesting deep fried anchovies. The dressing was good but there were far too many leaves and lettuce compared with the other ingredients and no croutons! You can't have a caesar salad with no croutons, well I don't think so.
The dish it seems best to have is their signature rotisserie chicken with schmaltz potatoes, but I can't manage half a chicken on my own these days, well not for lunch anyway. They have specials in the evening, but not at lunch.
We had a bottle of Chilean Carmenere which was very nice but at £30 was the second cheapest bottle on the wine list.
We had 2 coffees and no pudding and the bill came to £86 with a tip on top which I though was on the pricey side for a 2 course lunch that didn't hit the high spots.
Another gripe is that you practically needed a torch to see what you were eating the lighting in the basement part of the restaurant was so dim.
The service was excellent though. Would I got back? Not sure. Other places to try first.
I thought Skosh in York did the small plates thing to a much higher standard for a similar price.

 

We are off to the Tempest on Friday for lunch. Will let you know how it goes.

We went to a French restaurant in York. Lovely food and drink. Rustique.

 

Still not been to Skosh, a wrong I need to write.

 

Talking of restaurant reviews, Dldid the T&A ever do them? I had a gander this week and the one I read was rubbish:

"I walked in and immediately felt enveloped by a sense of calm as atmospheric music played against a perfect backdrop of pink." (About a dessert place in town.)

And although better written, the Yorkshire Post doesn't seem able to score anywhere less than full marks. Hardly balanced reviewing.

 

You need to show 'em how it's done

 

Worked right outside it today.
It was very busy at dinner time.

 

Currently on a writing sabbatical, but did win 'northern restaurant writer of the year' a couple of weeks ago for some glossy magazine.

I think newspapers either don't have the budget (spoke to 2 newspaper editors who said this), or are worried a questionable review may impact potential advertising revenue.

But well-written reviews are a mainstay in national press, so there is a market for it.

 

Congrats on the award, well done sir.

 

You definitely do. One of the best meals I have had in a long time.

 

Yeah, it’s good.

 

We had lunch at the Tempest. Nice food well presented. I had Duck Spring rolls salad and a sweet chilli sauce, it was yummy. Phil has the ribs he said it was very good. I had North Sea plaice with a butter sauce and veg spring broccoli and new potatoes. Phil had the gammon. The fish was beautifully cooked. Phil couldn’t actually finish his gammon very generous portions.
I had a desert apple pie and custard which tbh was a disappointment. Far too sweet. I had a gin and tonic and Phil had St Clements’s. The whole bill was £75. Not bad probably a tad over the top. Great service and the plates were hot. Nice drive over the top as well.

 

Where is it?