La Cantina 44
| FACTFILE | |
Tel: 0113 368 0066 Website: www.lacantina44.co.uk Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 5.30pm – 11.30pm; | |
| STAR RATING | |
Food 
| Service 
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| Atmosphere
| Value
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Small but perfectly formed
There are some things that really never should have worked. History is littered with them –
ideas that ought to have fallen at the very first hurdle but then defied all the odds to bask in unlikely success. Added to that list could be Cross Gates’s tenacious little rebel against the conventions of
the restaurant industry, La Cantina 44.
See, like bungee jumping or The Spice Girls, the little Mediterranean place, on the face of it, doesn’t appear to have an awful lot going for it. Sandwiched between a carpet shop and a church, right on a busy main road through Cross Gates and just a short stroll from the Arndale Centre, it’s hard to imagine a less eye-catching location. The exterior is nothing special to look at either,
and inside it’s small. I mean really small. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re marketing yourself as an exclusive, bistro type place, but La Cantina, given it’s location, could never realistically be described as exclusive. So, as we were greeted by staff who were friendly enough without being overly chatty, my companion and I couldn’t help but wonder how such a seemingly non-descript place had defied the notoriously unforgiving economics of Leeds’ dining scene to enjoy regular Saturday nights jammed full to the rafters with local punters.
Tables are fairly basic but the management have dodged a bullet by not placing them too close together despite having so little space to work with. Intimacy On the whole there’s a feeling of intimacy and cosiness on arrival without any sense of being packed in like sardines. Maybe a bit of music would have been nice though, but perhaps that’s just being picky. The menu, mostly Italian, was just about the right size, not too big or small with plenty to choose from and all the old favourites present and correct. I went for the house pate to start with, which was perfectly presented and absolutely delicious, served with warm toast and cranberry sauce, which sat well with the
richness of the pate. My companion went for deep-fried Mozarella cheese in breadcrumbs, which was thoroughly enjoyed, in particular the surprisingly richly flavoured tomato and basil sauce with which itwas served.
Starters all hover around £4-5 and, while there are no real surprises there, there's never anything wrong with doing classic dishes well. Perhaps that was the secret, we thought. Keeping it simple, down-to-earth and local without scaring the more relaxed crowd away with too much razzle-dazzle? For main course, I decided to try a sirloin steak with shallots, garlic, chilli and fresh ginger. The steak itself was a decent size and was well cooked but wasn’t the greatest cut of meat I’ve ever had. The sauce, however, was just shy of exceptional, with the succession of really powerful, spicy flavours all bouncing around the mouth perfectly. I stuck to simple house fries to go with it which were light and tasty.
My companion opted for Pollo Suprema, a grilled chicken breast with onions, mushrooms, white
wine, french mustard and fresh cream accompanied by sautéed potatoes. The rich sauce was full of strong, creamy flavour and absolutely delighted my companion. Never one to see good food go to waste, I confess I pinched a few potatoes and was glad I did as they were another example of the basics done very very well. The range of main courses is pretty extensive, with lots of pasta and pizza dishes to choose from as well as the speciality meat course.
They’re all reasonably priced too, averaging at around £10-£12 across the board. There’s also a good-sized wine selection. We went for an Italian white which was fruity and light and disappeared worryingly quickly. Most of the wines come in at around the £18- 20 a bottle mark.
Favourites Thus far La Cantina had done itself proud with the old favourites so I decided to go for
tiramisu for dessert.
Notoriously critical with my old Italian favourite, I was pleasantly surprised to find the little place had got it just right. Not too big after such a heavy meal, the balance of coffee and cream with the always
welcome boozy kick was perfectly struck. My companion went for a coffee and chocolate ice-cream which enveloped a centre of dark coffee liquor. It was as delightfully decadent as it sounds.
The dessert menu offered a good set of choices and we finished off with a couple of
Italian coffees.
The bill came in at just under £70 which was very surprisingly reasonable considering how
much and how well we felt we’d eaten. In fact surprise was really the enduring sensation.
Because La Cantina doesn’t really look like it should offer you anything more than a standard evening out. But somehow, against all the odds, it just works. By doing the basic things well, the place maintains that elusive, simple local charm that has made it such consistent hit with its East
Leeds faithful. Whilst it’s not going to drop any jaws or have the inner city places shaking in their boots any time soon, looks aren’t everything and sometimes a nice meal out close to home is all
you really need.
