Lounge Bar & Grill Review
Oliver Review ~ Yorkshire Evening Post
9 : 9 : 2010
Lounge Bar and Grill
Merrion Street, Leeds
Star ratings
Food 4****
Value 3***
Atmosphere 3***
Service 5*****
Very Moreish!
The last time Oliver visited this reinvented restaurant to the north of city centre, he only dropped in for one drink and one course – Oliver really wished he’d had more.
Suitably impressed, Lounge went on to scoop the Best of British title in this years Oliver dining awards. And it was very worthy winner too since the menu is very traditional, local food.
Black pudding, salmon, beef and Yorkshire Ale pie, Barnsley chops, beetroot salad, its all here, cleverly put together in a menu which is small, and reassuringly so.
This time round Oliver wasn’t going to miss out on anything. We started with the Ham hock which was made up of truly succulent, well seasoned meat, nicely presented and too bad a price at £7.
Even better the value was my mackerel pate at £5.50 which came delightfully arranged in scoops on a narrow oblong plate. The fish was perfection, mixed into creamy balls with a warm salad of watercress and new potatoes.
Already we were excited. After this preamble we couldn’t wait for the next course. I opted for the trio of lamb which in three varieties – a mini hotpot, a confit of lamb breast and char grilled leg steak. A Really simple but cleverly conceived dish. The meat was sensational, a little fatty but that’s always to be expected, and the pea puree as an accompaniment subtly broke up the carnivorous feast. The price was a very reasonable £12.95.
Even my dining partners sirloin steak was pretty good value at £17.95 not least because it was unbelievably tender and came with a whopping mushroom and tomatoes.
The wine list, by the way, is impressive too. My dining partner, who actually knows rather more about wine that Oliver does, gave the list the personal thumbs up with a well thought out array drawn from across the world.
You’re talking nine or ten red and whites with a couple of roses thrown in there too. We went for the Chilean Merlot at £22, which was sumptuous and a great choice to go with our meat.
The final course was a white chocolate cheesecake, which didn’t exactly floast my boat since it wasn’t the baked variety and the white chocolate taste was a little too subtle, and my dining partner had a dark chocolate and Baileys Latte with cinnamon shortbread. He definitely made the best choice.
All in all the food was excellent, Not perfect but as near as damn it. And with a few soft drinks, a coffee and a side order of potatoes the final bill was a substantial £84.70. They didn’t instantly put a on a service charge (which always impresses Oliver) and this bumped it up to £93.
Ouch.
But the pain is bearable. Sure it is towards the expensive bracket of places to east in Leeds, but not too eye watering and its on of those eateries you mind shelling out for because its of such a good standard.
We’d made some rather pricey selections too. Most starters are around £5.50 and the majority of mains are £12-£15. Sweets meanwhile are an extremely good buy at £4 mark.
As for the wine, you can buy most of it by the glass with bull bottles starting at around £13 going up to around £33. Anyone who eats out regularly will confirm that’s not a bad price range at all.
So you can rack up quite a tab, or keep it fairly inexpensive … if you’re careful.
Either way Oliver was very impressed with the menu. As mentioned before, it isn’t huge but we’d prefer to see a small number of quality dishes rather than a huge selection of mediocrity. Furthermore they’ve adopted a theme here and run with it. They’ve run with it successfully as well. From first perusal to last mouthful you get the impression the people behind lounge have really thought it through – a refreshing change.
The service was fantastic , our waitress was attentive but unobtrusive and friendly without being too familiar.
The food came out in good time and nicely hot. Nothing was forgotten or overlooked.
It was lacking somewhat atmosphere since it was a very quiet midweek, but it didn’t seem to matter much. One can imagine it being nicely bustling of a weekend but even when you’re sharing the space with half a dozen or so other diners it actually just adds to the sense of privacy.
Up on the first floor youre cut off from some of the more lairy elements of a night in central Leeds and your attention is drawn to the roof terrace offering a lovely view of the tree lined churyard beyond.
Lounge offers a delightful dining experience, very intimate and with a character you wont find elsewhere. It has the feel of antique shop with busts, old photos and trinkets lining the furniture and window ledges.
Oliver suggests you come for supper.
A really lazy supper with mates. Grazing your way into the night until you’re rolled out the door. It isn’t a restaurant where you come to be see, where you indulge in the nuances of fine dining, nor is it fast food by any stretch of the imagination.
Its brilliantly difficult to define, but definitely worth trying.
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