Gary Marshall

managed lunch at the piazza on friday, on entrance the first noticable thing was a waft of hot air, which is good as it's a big old space and keeping the cold leeds winter at bay is going to be a challenge! we had a quick wander around and a drink at the bar before taking our table, menu is still the 'reduced' ALC there is a much longer one but this still provides plenty of choice with lots available as starters/mains. my mate had been before and had the ham hock terrine, which he loved so he had it again, i had a cauliflower soup with goats cheese beignets and cumin oil. terrine looked good and very anthony is style, slab of terrine, parrallel line of piccalilli and topped with micro greens , my soup was good with the garnish showing there is more than a little class behind the pass. mains were cumberland sauage and mash with pearl barley gravy and spit roast young chicken for me. the chicken was neatly jointed and served with some new potoatoes from the bottom of the rottiserie though they weren't overly juice soaked they were a nice touch and the chicken was properly cooked ie not blasted to death, the sausage and mash looked great and had i not had it for dinner the night before i'd have had it too. didn't bother with dessert as we were keeping it light so just a coffee each. so for 4.5 pints, 2 coffees, 2 starters, 2 mains & 10% service it was £52, very good value. At the moment i think there's only the steak that is over £10 a main. if you were out for a full meal you'd probably need a side order too, but even adding £3 on for that you're still paying pretty much all bar one prices for far more assured cooking. the aim was to provide good food at decent prices with a touch of anthony's flair and i would say they have achieved that, and given the place was an empty shell just 3 months ago it's a fantastic achievement.

saturday lunch is the way forward

Thats probably pushing it but nationalrail.co.uk will confirm!

And if they'd also had a "push for Fosters" button you would have been in absolute Heaven... ← Tis true though this winter i have branched out into the wonders of real ale!

i like the sound of this place a lot, especially that lardo/porcini dish i think moir was describing (insert homer drooling emoticon)

dos hermanos have been http://www.doshermanos.co.uk/ i particularly like the push for champagne button.

did i not mention the very good value wine list too?

LCS is a simple train / taxi . I meet friends from london there with no problem, about a 2 hour train i think, 10 min taxi, it's easy to get there for lunch on saturday and back in a day.

honestly i'd save your money, if you want bangs for your bucks get the train to cheltenham and try le champignon sauvage (if you've not already been) a proper chef's/foodies restaurant. Or get the train even further to seasalter and go to the sportsman, in both you'll get identifable, original cooking and i wager you'll leave with smile on your face. and if you really want to go to london, go to hibiscus. Then think about MW.

that must be adventurous within the realms of modern euro 2*/3* as specialised by ramsay corp, as the meal i had MW the other week was one of the dullest foodie experiences ever, perfect execution but not very interesting to eat. not a patch on LCS/Hibiscus etc for 'adventurousness' claude served us lambs testicles don't think you'd ever see them at MW!

as a half-Italian, my comments should not be taken lightly!...the above comment is a bit harsh, ther are several good Italian restaurants in London. from what i hear locatelli has gone down quite a bit in the past year... ← but maybe there wasn't when paul wrote the comment over 6 years ago!

other than salts deli which is at the back of the station -ish opposite malmaison, there's not much else that springs to mind. ethinic food well served by the chinese supermarkets and there's some stalls within leeds market too, but nothing else springs to mind in terms of proper cheese /charcuterie. stick with the macbook, in time using windows will seem like a cunning plan of mental torture in comparison - which i am enduring until they cut the price of the new range! planning to try the piazza next friday lunchtime.

haven't eaten there yet! couldn't make the opening party as i was in liverpool at fraiche and a 40th birthday do. had a wander over on monday lunch and had a quick tour round, they were opening for dinner that night and still doing press calls etc at that point. It's all looking very smart, they are currently running with a reduced menu until next week when the full ALC is available, and the shops aren't quite full of anthony's produce yet but it's getting there. menu is very well priced, we've booked an office xmas do there and the common comment has been how cheap the menu looks for the dishes eg whole spit roast chicken and spit roast pots £8.50, supreme of salmon with pea puree roast salsify and tarrgon oil £8.25 so they've stuck to their aim of making it affordable. my colleague is going tomorrow night and i'll hopefully get there to dine next week.

and a great wine list, a personal favourite

hey, you started it

i'm not disputing that you had a bad meal, i'm just puzzled that you think it's down to media/pr/tv etc that has built kitchins reputation? he's got a good background with koffman , got a star (fwiw) and garners many good reviews, and other than GBM i'm struggling to see what he's done , he hasn't done a book i don't think? you make out like he's ainsley harriot! i had a shit meal at the fat duck many moons ago and wild horses wouldn't make me go back but i wouldn't stop anyone from going and i wouldn't say it's a bad restaurant , built on pr etc i just didn't like it. as i said i have no axe to grind, i've never met tom, eaten at his place or anything. it's just the joy of the internet that you can have lovely circular arguments all day

other than great british menu - which has had very credible chefs on it, what else has he done? just think you're being a little harsh here!

I was invited to a mate's 40th in my old university/work stomping ground of Liverpool which afforded a lunch shaped hole in the day to finally visit Fraiche last weekend. After a blast across the M62 we hit a football rammed liverpool so abandoned all hope of checking into the hotel, dumped the car and took ourselves (and luggage) over the water to the wirral. I was slighlty concerned that when i rang fraiche to let them know we were running slighlty late and get directions as the taxi driver 'didn't go over the river' i got an answerphone message and even more concerned that when we got there i thought it was closed, until i peered through the window and saw signs of life and then the not- at- all- hidden front door which had eluded me. It was also at this point that the GPS on my phone that had got us there decided to crash it, and therefore there are no pics, just my memory which means this review will be short on fact and long on anecdotage. So not a little frazzled we relaxed into a very enjoyable afternoon in marc and his team's capable hands, and it appears to be a small but perfectly formed one with marc alone in the kitchen, a most excellent FOH and 1 waitress running the show with aplomb and knowledge of the cuisine and wine that would shame a 2* restaurant (yes, that's you marcus wareing at the berkeley). In email correspondence we had already pre-booked the bespoke menu and that just left the wines to be decided, aided by a very biscuity glass of house champagne. In many respects it was shame that i've had a bit of a run on dining these last few weeks, it was good to accurately place friache amongst some starred competition (the star at harome and MW at the berk) but unfortunately the small african nation sized GDP bills established - especially at MW, meant that total extravagance was out, but leaves a re-visit open to really have a go at the wine list. As i was about to go for a rene & vincent dauvissat 1 er cru chablis 05 for £29, i looked longingly at a roulot meursault le tillets 02 for £43 odd and remarkably mrs m agreed to go for it, you don't often see roulot on wine lists and the last one i had was a mieux chaveux (sp) at l'astrance in paris for over 100e so i had high hopes for it and wasn't disappointed. For the red it was an 04 champy gevrey chambertin which was perfectly good but shaded by the brilliance of the white. we had plenty of courses, and naturally i'll forget many no-doubt undeservedly but some in common with harter's menu previously (marc said he does change it all the time) . to start, neither of us were convinced by the chocolate starter, although very nicely made and tempered, it was all chocolate and no berry and lingered a bit too long to be a great amuse/starter, then we had crisps and again an unsure start all were meant to be flavoured but some were bland and belied their roots in prawn crackers but some were most definitely what they said on the tin, which i have of course foregotten. we then had a 'mojito' which got things back on track and livened up the palate, we may have had bread then which was 4 different types with 2 butters one salted one seaweed, all excellent, and a second serving of bread - different again, was provided further on in the meal- the portion sizes and pacing of the meal overll was first class. i don't think it came at this point but i certainly remember the tuna and melon in a lovely tomato water, we also had the scallops and tarragon grapes which were prefectly cooked and the grapes a nice touch. favourite course was pork, cooked sous vide but, praise be to the lord, finished off with some proper , direct, caramelising heat! so all the benefits of long, low cooking, and nice crispy fat, excellent. We opted to add a cheese course to the menu and there was a good selection including most of my favourites, vacherin mont d'or, 2 year aged montgomery, kidderton ash etc so a good show. desserts were a highlight, all very interesting, especially the popping egg yolk and frozen-at-the-table pannacotta and the fizzy grapes (which are not injected with fizzy water but i'll not give away the trade secrets!) coffee and petit fours to finish, again all home made and presented beautifully. So apologies for the lack of detail but as i always mean to do full write ups and then never get round it i thought i'd get this done now as it really is a restaurant that deserves to be on a very shortlist of interesting places to dine right now. If you like anthony's , champignon sauvage, l'enclume, modern spanish/english cooking generally then you will have a very good time here. We ate and drank brilliantly here for two for the cost of my one average meal at marcus wareing. It's good value (bespoke menu £55), has a great wine list, helpful keen staff, and a talented chef, what's not to like?

no, it's £13.50 toast £1.50 extra. had a brilliant one a few months ago and a shocker last week, looked like poor hotel buffet and a cold one at that. They did the right thing though and comped it after i complained, just left us with £15 bill for two teas and two large oranges! Don't think they have a cover charge at breakfast thinking about it, good job as there was no napery or tablecloths..

the ivy charge it, historically it covers linen, but whatever way it is dressed up is essentially a small hidden charge that in percentage terms can be quite large, so it helps the restaurant if you're not spending enough. whether or not it's worth getting worked up about is another issue......

it caused a lot of debate at the time, but people i know who have experience of dining/living there say much of it is way beyond what's going on in UK/europe/US. for a quick intro, try jay rayners book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Who-Ate-World-...27254187&sr=8-1 thinking about it, the japanese bit may have been in the observer food monthly at some point if you have a google.

well i've had a bit of a run on the meals in the last week, star at harome, marcus wareing , wolsely and i was supposed to be hitting red chilli yesterday but for various dull reasons we instead ended up not in chilli central but in ye olde punch bowl a recently gastro-ed, microbrewered and tv'd pub not far from my hunting ground in north yorkshire - marton cum grafton to be precise. we booked and as we hit the packed car park at 1pm on a wednesday lunchtime it seemed a wise move as it was packed, though busy inside it didn't seem to reflect the car park until we saw a big party tucked away in a private room. If you dislike pubs painted in trendy 'pub green' - not strictly a farrow and ball colour but i'm sure you'll all recognise it, then you'll hate the PB but i like decent renovations and this seems to be one of the better ones. The schtick apart from the celeb owners & TV show is their own beer, they had 3 on, morrissey fox blonde, best bitter and mulled ale. my first sip of the blonde suggested that timothy taylors and theakstons et al should not be losing any sleep but after a few more, it grew on me. Obviously given that they are aiming to supply supermarkets it can't all be brewed on site and indeed it looks like it is mainly brewed at the cropton brewery nearby. i had a quick look at the menu online and it looked a little more poncy than it turned out to be in reality, it was straightforward pub food at decent prices everything under a tenner with a few sarnies and things of recognisable provenance, ie not out of the brakes catalogue. not sure if there's a seperate dinner menu but at lunch it was all chalked up on a board and from it we had cream of chicken soup, chicken liver pate & gumbo moules , all perfectly satisfactory. for mains an angus beef burger and mrs kirkhams, a steak and kidney pie and fish and chips - again all decent. given the amount i've scoffed over the preceeding days i thought better of dessert and eventually retired to a very cosy banquetted snug with real fire to sample some more of their ales. So is it a culinary must do? no, but it is a perfectly decent place for a casual meal, and given the tv exposure nicely buzzy, even on a dull wednesday lunchtime. It's also open 7 days a week and all day - a rarity in the sticks though food service sticks to traitional hours. Credit also to the staff as between a bar girl and a manager they kept the show on the row admirably.

but one bad meal (in your opinion) doesn't necessarily make it a bad restaurant. (no axe to grind, never been, thought about it and prob will at some point)

i saw the book in waterstones and thought it looked good in a useable way rather than a coffee table piece, it may just make it through my self imposed ban on buying more cook books!

and to add to their woes, they got written up by giles coren in the times on saturday