Cakes for Japan

Next Saturday, 2nd April there will be an excellent event at Dock St Market raising money for the Japanese Red Cross. Donate cakes and come along and spend lots of money. Its for a good cause, and you get to eat cake. See the Facebook page for details. 

El Bareto

I was invited for a free dinner at El Bareto for the purpose of the review. Although my meal was paid for I went unannounced 'secret shopper' style so the staff there on the day didn't know I was there to review until the end.

We hadn't booked with it being a Wednesday and were slightly alarmed when we were told that the restaurant had unusually for the mid week been fully booked. The bar man apologised and said he could seat us if we didn't mind waiting in the bar for another table to finish eating.

We didn't mind at all as the bar is amazing, its decorated to look like a rustic Spanish shack, we really felt like we were abroad. We drank Spanish lager and took a look at the menu. We were called to our table after about 15 minutes, for which most of the time the bar man chatted to us and showed us the specials menu handwritten on a piece of paper.

Due to the full restaurant we had to sit up on stools by the bar in the basement dining area, but it wasn't really a problem as there were only two of us.

The menu is a large list of tapas and paella dishes, some I recognised but plenty I didn't, including Montaditos- home made bread with various toppings.

The waitress gave us a paper version of the menu and a pen and asked us to tick against the dishes that we wanted- I thought this was a really good idea as ordering tapas often gets complicated, especially in large groups.

Our food came out in the order it was cooked, with the first cold dishes such as olives arriving almost immediately. As we ate we watched in anticipation as some musicians set up their kit (we found out later that the violinist is the managers wife and plays in the restaurant regularly) but unfortunately due to a technical problem the couldn't get the speakers to work so packed up again.

We had: good quality olives and classic very crispy patatas bravas,

delicious cheese stuffed jalapeños and the most juicy chorizo cooked in cider,

tender meatballs and lambs liver served with a delicious, thick, sticky caramelised onion sauce and a vegetable and goats cheese topped montadito.

I was pleased that there were things we recognised but even more pleased that there were dishes like the liver  that were completely new to me.

We were stuffed after all this but sat with our drinks for a while letting our food settle before we asked for the pudding menu. Emma had the classic crème caramel and I chose the Baileys cheesecake . Both the dishes were home made, and the cheesecake was so think and rich I could feel it clogging my arteries as I ate it. Amazing.

The service was friendly and efficient and the place had a really lively atmosphere with staff running up and down the stairs with plates of food and chatting to each other in Spanish.

The bill that we would have paid for this was just under £50 for the both of us- well within the realms of reasonable especially when you consider that everything is made from scratch from the owners grannies recipes. The bustling candlelit atmosphere only added to the experience and we loved the way that with all of the authentic looks and sounds we felt like we had been transported to rural Spain. I just wish that the musicians had been able to play as that would have made the experience perfect.

The location is a bit out of the way, El Bareto is on a little parade of shops on Gledhow Valley Rd off Harrogate Road just outside Chapel Allerton. There is plenty of space outside to park and it is just a 2 minute walk from the 2 & 3 bus routes. Really worth the effort to get to- just book ahead as we found space can be limited!

El Bareto

*Authentic Spanish Tapas
*Great decor and  atmosphere
*Reasonably priced

120 Gledhow Valley Rd,
Chapel Allerton
LS17 6LX

0113 266 6946

Website

Diva Italiana, Pudsey

Except for the beer festival I have never been to Pudsey before, so last week along with Gilly I decided to make the special effort and go. The purpose was to visit Diva Italiana, a restaurant I had heard lots of good things about mostly from The Globe Troffers.

We had gone with the intention of getting the early bird menu which the website says runs from Tuesday to Sunday but when we got there we were told there was no early bird as it was actually 'Tuscan Tuesday' where for £15 you could get a 4 course set menu of traditional Tuscan dishes.

Our initial disappointment at not getting to choose from the early bird soon was forgotten when we heard what dishes were on the menu.

After the fresh bred with balsamic and olive oil had been nibbled through, we were given a tomato soup with crostini. The soup was rustic and chunky, I really enjoyed it.

The next course was fish ravioli. This had to be my favourite dish, the pasta was home made and the sauce was a lovely thick bisque type thing. Full of flavour and nothing like anything I had eaten before.

Main course was suckling pig. We had managed to between us imagine this dish to consist of a big slab of crackling, so the lack of skin was slightly disappointing when it arrived. The meat however was very tender and came with a delicious herb stuffing.

The pudding was a bitter sweet custard and walnut flan- something I wouldn't have chosen from a menu but I was glad I had it!

We were offered a bin end bottle of Frascati for the price of the house wine so with that the total bill came to just £44 for both of us.

The restaurant itself is in a little stone built cottage in a yard set back from the road. It has a cosy intimate atmosphere. There is also a cocktail bar downstairs if you want to stay for drinks after your meal.

The service was good from (who I presume was) the manager. They had a young Italian lad working too who was very polite but he didn't speak much English so struggled to fully answer our foodie interrogation about ingredients etc, but I wouldn't fault him on that as we were being pedantic and annoying!

The dishes weren't what I have come to expect from an Italian restaurant which is refreshing, and I think suggests that the menu is a bit more traditional instead of catering to the expected norm of stodgy carbonaras and mozerella salads. Well worth the bus trip out of town.

Diva Italiana
*Excellent authentic Italian food
*Lovely building/ atmosphere
*Good value early/ weekday menus

8-10 Booths Yard
Pudsey,
LS28 7AD

0113 255 5810
Website

Lishman's Butchers, Ilkley

Lishman's have got a good reputation and I have seen them a few times at foodie type events but today was the first time I had visited their Ilkley shop.

I wasn't disappointed. There was what you would expect from a butcher- the various cuts of meat, bacon and homemade sausages, many with labels saying that the meat was from local farms.

There were also a lot of delicious looking pre prepared dishes such as chicken Kievs and meat in stir fry marinades- a good compromise between convenience food and cooking from scratch.

At the end of the counter there was a lovely looking selection of home made pies and other savouries.

As it is pie week I bought a couple of pies to take home with me: the steak pie had really good chunks of tender meat and a nicely glazed pasty. The sausage roll was fantastic, unusually for a sausage roll the meat content was in a greater proportion to the flaky pastry, and the sausage meat you could tell actually had some texture and taste to it. I will definitely get one of these again!

I am yet to try my black pudding sausages but the bacon was cut in decent thick slices and retained its shape and size under the grill- a good sign of quality.

The customer service was excellent and the charge for 2 pies, an excellent sausage roll, 6 rashers of thick bacon (160g) and 4 large sausages (340g) - £7.85. Reasonable I think and competitive with the supermarket 'finest' ranges, and all the better knowing that the meat is locally reared and the items are freshly produced in store.

Lishman's

*Traditional butches
*Locally reared meat
*Excellent pies and sausage rolls

25 Leeds Road
Ilkley
LS29 8DP

01943 609436
Website

Donuts at Anthonys

It appears that Anthonys have opened a little American style donut concession in the ground floor Piazza in the Corn Exchange.

There was a massive range of flavours and all were colourfully decorated. 99p each or £10 a dozen. I had the pistachio and a chocolate crispie variety which were both pretty tasty.

A great treat and a nice alternative to frosting loaded (and dare I say it, slightly passé) cupcakes.