Dakota
On a warm Friday night in May, whilst visiting Leeds we ate at Dakota. Not knowing Leeds, we booked this place on the strength of lots of positive online reviews.
The restaurant is located in the basement of a hotel, and is gloomily dark. I'm not a fan of massive strip lighting in restaurants, but I do think the lights could have been turned up a bit. We note that online photos do show the restaurant more lit up.
The service was efficient. However, the waitress we had serving us, should work on making guests feel less "patronised" when engaging in small talk, for example when commenting on a customer's wine choice, or when discussing the purpose of their visit to Leeds.
We started with what was a “complimentary bread with a tomato, goats cheese and mozzarella dipping sauce" — apparently this was the favourite dish of the waitress. It was tasty enough, but perhaps a little heavy on the over-reduced tomato purée flavour.
The food was fine, the cod with prawns on a finely chopped red pepper base was fine, and my companions lamb was well cooked. A single side of soy glazed tenderstem broccoli (rather than the "recommended" 2 or 3 sides) was more than sufficient for us.
Overall I wouldn't recommend Dakota or revisit if I was in Leeds again. There are plenty of other options, which, in hindsight would have been better.
Camino Victoria
Camino Victoria is a fairly newly opened tapas place in one of the various new developments on, or near, Victoria Street. It was a nice warm evening, and lots of people were outside enjoying some food and drinks. If you're not near Victoria, they also have four other branches in London.
We sat inside in the comfortable seating room, and started ordering our dishes.
We went for the traditional tapas: Padron Peppers, some were hot and spicy, and some were sweet and mellow; Tortilla de Patatas, which had a lovely gooey centre; Patatas Bravas, with a pleasant spicy ketchup sauce; Croquetas, with its cheesy centre; Arroz Negro, a cuttlefish black rice, with squid ink; and Talos De Chorizo, soft mini tortillas, with minced chorizo, butternut squash, and some yoghurt.
There were three talos in the serving, but you can upgrade to have a fourth one — excellent when you're sharing with two, and frankly something that should be available for every sharing dish, when the number provided do not divide between the size of the party.
With our dinner, we also enjoyed a bottle of a really lovely cava, because we felt like it and it was Friday.
We were in the mood for some dessert, and shared a couple of chocolate truffles to finish our meal.
All the tapas were tasty and well presented, but not absolutely outstanding. For that, you'll probably have to head to Spain, and visit a really good tapas place — we've had bad tapas in Spain too! But if you'd like a taste of Spain in London, then Camino Victoria will do just fine.
Albert's Schloss
If you are in search of a bierkeller (German for beer cellar), with a band, and where you can dance on the tables (but not the benches), then Albert's Schloss is the place to be.
Luckily for us, there is also upstairs Schenke (think: German bakery café), and in the cellar there are many tables for less entertaining dining far away from the band. Here it is quiet enough to have a conversation over burgers, bratwursts, schnitzels, and other alpine fare. And the accompanying beer.
And this is where we found ourselves on this Friday evening.
Hiding away in the back, next to a ski gondola converted into a dining place, we started with a half pint of a traditional German beer. My wife chose the Currywurst as her main, two thick sausages with a spicy sauce and fries. I selected the Cordon Bleu schnitzel, a flattened chicken breast stuffed with Gruyère and ham, served with a mushroom sauce and served with Parmesan fries. The schnitzel wasn't of Austrian proportions — it did actually fit on the plate — but was well cooked, and certainly enough.
We washed our mains down with another half pint, and as we were quite full, we decided to have a digestive. You can get schnapps by the dozen, in all kinds of fruity flavours, but we went for something more classic. My wife had a Genepi, a slightly fruity grape schnapps, and I enjoyed a Mentzendorff Kümmel, which had a slight caraway and aniseed flavour to it.
We enjoyed Albert's Schloss, and it was great value. But it's not the place for a romantic or date-night dinner. Great for a group or a party with friends though.
Mowgli
Mowgli is situated on Charlotte Street, not far from Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. A section of this street is dedicated to restaurants. You can find anything there. Mowgli is a new addition, replacing Côte, which has gone from this location and many others.
Mowgli is part of a chain, that specialises in Indian Street Food. When we arrived, was a good buzz in the restaurant, with half of the tables full. Unlike last week, we were not the youngest.
We didn't fancy wine, and instead enjoyed a cocktail. My wife had a delicious Smoked Cardamom Old Fashioned, and I chose the Masala Espresso Martini.
Their menu is extensive, but almost overwhelmed with choice. As this was our first visit, we took the lazy option and went for the Street Food Sharer, in the “meat” variety (vegan and vegetarian options are also available). Our starters included a trio of dishes: an Indian take on Patatas Bravas, fried cubes of potato in a sticky turmeric masala, with some raw onion and chilli sprinkled over it; gunpowder chicken, lightly battered and fried; and the most delightful yoghurt chat bombs that were crisp and filled with chickpeas, a yoghurt, and spices. The latter was the star of the show, and as they were liquid inside, not possible to share. Which was a problem, as we were given five for the two of us.
The main consisted of three curries (chosen by the chef), rice, and Roti breads. All three curries (Butter Chicken, Temple Dahl, and Agra Ginger Chicken) were excellent, although I still find my own butter chicken much better than anything you find in a restaurant.
The desert was a scoop of ice cream. My wife enjoyed a scoop of mango sorbet, and I had a scoop of salted caramel to finish our meal.
It was a great and tasty meal out, in a modern, but not loud setting. It's an excellent place to come for a meal after a busy day of shopping (or not), and we expect to return to try more of that menu (and especially the yoghurt bombs).
Soutine
We booked Soutine a little later than normal, but there was no problem for us to get a table on a warm and sunny Friday evening in St John’s Wood. When we arrived and were shown to our table, I immediately thought that it had a resemblance of Brasserie Zedel, near Piccadilly Circus. Which ended up making sense as it has the same owner.
The interior consists of mostly wooden panelling, and loads of mirrors, giving the inside an airy, but cosy atmosphere.
We started with the smoked salmon crumpet for me, and a single oyster for my husband. We ordered a carafe of Chardonnay to share. For the main I had the rather calorific souffle suisse, which was delicious, but perhaps not something to have too often! As a consolation, it did come with a salad.My husband had the roast lamb, which was very tender, and was served with a mushroom flower and some rocket. With that, he had a separate class of Côte du Rhone.
We were originally expecting to be able to order off the set menu which according to the website should have been available, but alas was not offered.
The food and ambience was nice, but we couldn't quite shake off that we were by far the youngest in the restaurant!
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