In The Waiting Room
Yorkshire Post (North Yorkshire Edition): Magazine - 18.08.07
A stubby little street, it is made spectacular by the end building with a tall, wide façade comprising slightly off-set mirrors which reflect the scene in a multitude of fractured images. Room restaurant is in a modern building at right angles to it, but modern in a way which is in-keeping with the big, handsome, Edwardian buildings beside and opposite it.
A semi would fit easily in just one of their ground floor rooms. The building Room occupies follows the pattern and has a door – a glass one – high enough for a giraffe. The bar area is split into a bar space, a lounge space and an eating space and like a cloud, there’s a lozenge-shaped mezzanine floor, reached by a spiral staircase which provides an additional eating area bounded by a balustrade.
Curious, I went up to see what it was like. The tables were all empty and were coming down, I caught a disapproving look off a member of staff. Well, it seemed disapproving , and feeling like a small boy caught in the act of doing something he shouldn’t, I felt obliged to explain that I was “just having a look”. There is another eating area – it was lost in darkness and cordoned off – downstairs, and private parties can eat in a side room behind a curtain.
A regiment could be seated at Room, but whether the kitchen could get every soldier a meal before the regiment is sent to Afghanistan is moot. At the height of business on a Tuesday evening, with the main dining area moderately busy, our food wasn’t exactly rushed to our table.
The incessant banging which passes for popular music was loud and intrusive when we first sat down , and it seemed Room was trying to live up to its initial aim of being a smart place for the young and trendy. In fact, the clientele contained a number of people who where neither of those things, and perhaps in deference to them – or did we just get immune to it? – the music trailed away. I had booked the table, and having given my e-mail address was sent an immediate message confirming the booking. The next day I got another, thanking me for dining at Room (Leeds) and asking if I would be kind enough to take the time to fill in a customer comment form.
The menu says it is based on classic retro dishes produced with a contemporary twist. It is compact – there are about 13 “mains” – and commendably restrained, so the Jamabalaya we ordered was described in two words “sea bass” and the liver and onions as “calf’s liver”.
The “Room twist” was apparent in the prawn and avocado cocktail and pigeon pie starters. Both were artistically presented on very large plates, the prawns were in a very thin batter, said to be tempura but not recognisably as such. Crunchy and pleasant all the same, it was accompanied by a dariole, or a small cylinder, of avocado purée with bits of apple in it, and a rocket salad. The avocado contributed colour and a creamy texture, but the predominant flavour was apple, so this was a somewhat unequal marriage.
The pigeon pie consisted of three smallish, samosa-type filo-pastry envelopes with small pieces of pigeon in them - and very good, too. They certainly had no need for the fig and vanilla chutney which came with them, and in which the figs were not so much upstaged as left hiding in the wings.
It might have been more useful spread on the dinky little bread roll we had been brought while we were waiting for the starters – but I had eaten that in the half hour it took for them to arrive.
The other starter we tried was a highly-successful paella with chorizo and shellfish. Only a little one, and judging by the bold flavour, cooked with a stock made from mussels.
After another goodish pause, a rectangular fillet of sea bass arrived sitting on top of a dome of rice. It was cooked to perfection, but the dish looked intimidatingly dry.
The charge could not be levelled at the liver and onions. They crowned another dome – this one of mashed potatoes – rising from a moat of dark gravy. The mash was plain, and what you might call “textured” which is how some people like it. My preference is for silky smooth and creamy, with black pepper and a hint of nutmeg.
The liver was the strangest thing I have ever eaten. Masses of taste, which is the point of liver, but it had undergone a transforming process, as though, perhaps, it had become involved in Star Ship Enterprise’s warp drive. Some of the pieces had the texture of sinewy blancmange. I was too intrigued to send it back to the kitchen. We rounded things off with a shared Room assiette (£3.50 supplement) with, among other things, two thick fingers of sensational butterscotch , and sample sizes of a tart summer pudding, a crème caramel, hot chocolate fondue and astonishingly dull artic roll like think blotting paper. Putting a slice in the hot chocolate only spoiled the chocolate.
An espresso coffee I ordered sat on the counter waiting to be delivered. Already cooled by the large, thick-sided cup, it was around room temperature on arrival. The waiter brought a replacement, also a long way from hot.
Having ordered our meal before 7pm we benefited from a special deal – all main courses £7 instead of about £15. Pasta, risotto and vegetarian are £10.50. Starters are £5. We had a pleasant Terre Forti Trebiano Chardonnay Rubicone at £12.70. A 10 per cent service charge is included.
Room (Leeds) Bond House, The bourse Courtyard, Boar Lane, Leeds, LS1 5DE. Tel 0113 242 6161.
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