Restaurant Bar and Grill
RESTAURANT Bar
and Grill remains
the Porsche of
restaurants. It’s
flashy, it’s among the best
(though not necessarily the
best) and everyone’s heard
of it, even if they haven’t
had the pleasure of
stepping inside one.
Like a starched housewife,
Oliver always visits slightly
objecting to it’s unashamed
sexiness, but ultimately can’t
help but be seduced by its
unapologetic charms.
Glitzy
Stand on the balcony
overlooking what used to be
the main hall of the old Post
Office and I challenge anywone
not to be impressed. It looks
amazing. In fact it looks like
the kind of restaurant you’d
expect to find in New York –
vast, bold and glitzy.
There’s lots of walnut wood,
bevelled glass mirrors and a
huge wine rack containing
hundreds of bottles which
acts as wall partitioning the
entrance from main dining
area.
But what makes it special is
the fact that it has such an
energy to it, partly as a result
of the fact that the bar is so
large and people come and go
all the time just to grab drinks
here.
What this place
does, that few
other restaurants
do, is perfectly
balance the buzz
of a bar – even a
club – with the
more serene
surroundings of somewhere
you can still go to eat with
friends, partners and loved
ones.
Others have tried and failed.
Some go for a bar in the
corner of a restaurant which
makes people feel
conspicuous if they stand
there for any period
of time, others try
to create some kind
of nightspot with
dining facilities,
which feels a bit
like having your
dinner on a railway
station concourse.
But this is just right. Not a
prelude to, but an intrinsic
part of a big night out.
They also perform a similar
balancing act with the food,
albeit with mixed results.
The menu is a mix of great
British classics, European
mainstays and a few oriental
options thrown in too. The aim
is clearly not too slip into any
single genre and limit the
clientele they might attract.
So you can enjoy smoked
haddock and leek risotto,
braised lamb shank or a
tempura of king prawns with
chilli and lime jam – there’s a
massive selection to choose
from.
My dining partner started with
the Thai prawn cakes and
wasn’t exactly blown away,
but they were pretty
reasonable. My starter of the
carpaccio of beef was
swamped a little too much by
the salad, but the meat itself
was perfect.
My main was far more
successful – a special of
seabass with artichoke butter
and lemon juice which came
wrapped in brown paper and
was faultless. It was perfectly
cooked and the taste of the
fish was not overburdened by
the juices.
Flavours
Again my dining partner was
pretty impressed with his
Malayan chicken, which came
with sweet potato and a sauce
of coconut and lime, but he
wasn’t stunned by it’s subtlety
or array of flavours.
His creme brule for dessert,
however, was extra special,
while my cheesecake was a
little stodgy and uninspiring.
The wine was great, a cheeky
white rioja for a reasonable
£20, though the wine here is,
in general, quite pricey.
There’s a few options at
around £15 a bottle, some at
more than £40 a bottle but
most will set you back
somewhere in the region of
£20 or £30. To be fair, the wine selection here is extensive
and judiciously compiled, so if
you don’t mind paying you can
get a pretty good
accompaniment to your meal.
On the other hand, the food
varies in quality from average to
fantastic depending on what you
choose. Which is a little irksome
when you consider how much
you pay for it.
This is the other sticking point of
Restaurant Bar and Grill. Most
starters are priced £5 to £8.25,
most mains are £10 up to nearly
£20 and the majority of desserts
are £6 to £7.
That, coupled with the fact you
can easily agree to bread or
olives while you’re waiting as
well as the need to get side
orders at almost £3 to £4 a
throw, means that you can get
saddled with a big bill. A very
big bill.
Our own tally – for a three
course dinner with coffee and a
bottle of wine – reached a
staggering £102.
Not many
restaurants in Leeds will nudge
you into three figures, but it’s
not exactly rare either.
Question is: would your average
Loiner be happy paying that?
The answer is probably a no, but
then that isn’t what Restaurant
Bar and Grill is all about. It aims
to attract people with
reasonably deep pockets or
those who might find
themselves with a bit of spare
cash who feel like a real treat.
And it is, unquestionably, a treat.
Although the food can be
inconsistent it’s usually different
degrees of good. The service we
experienced was perfect and the
atmosphere represented a
whole exhilarating night out in
itself.
In fact it’s difficult to find any
restaurant in Leeds which offers
such an amazing overall
experience. Sure it’s pricey, but
then Porsches don’t come
cheap.
| FACTFILE | |
| Tel: 0113 2449625 Restaurant Bar and Grill, 3 City Square, Leeds, LS1 2AN | |
| STAR RATING | |
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