The Living Room (From York Press)

The Living Room

10:43am Saturday 13th June 2009

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IT speaks volumes about The Living Room that I was more excited about the cocktail list than the dinner menu.

This has to be one of the best bars in town. A place for a proper night out, where you can get dressed up to the nines and enjoy alcoholic concoctions as colourful as the fashions on parade in the bar.

The location helps, too. From an unassuming door on Bridge Street, the bar expands Tardis-like to provide a lively bar area, sophisticated dining space and a riverside veranda with views over the Ouse to King’s Staith.

But first things first; the cocktails. While I waited for my friends JC and J to arrive, I had time to change my mind several times over before settling on a Raspberry Colonel: gin, raspberries and soda water, which turned out to be a refreshing choice.

After our aperitifs in the bar, we were shown to our table, nicely tucked away in the back of the restaurant, with a window view.

The menu is straightforward – if not hugely inspiring – with sections covering small plates and starters to salads, lighter meals and sarnies, and a range of more substantial mains.

Once we’d made our choices, we settled for a bottle of pinot grigio rosé (£18) which arrived cold, crisp with a dry, fruity zing. We liked it so much, we ordered a second.

We chose a mix of starters to share. Top billing went to the beer-battered tiger prawns with sweet chilli sauce and wasabi (£6.95). First impressions were deceptive. With their orangey-brown coating, they looked like the rock-hard scampi of my childhood. But the prawns were soft and bursting with flavour and the fiery wasabi paste and sweet chilli dip added the perfect finishing touch.

We also picked The Sharing Board – a selection of three dishes from the small plates menu for £10.50. Olives, wok-fried edamame beans tossed in soy sauce, ginger and chilli and houmous with pitta bread were ordered. They all came beautifully presented in small rectangular china dishes. The olives were plump and flavoured with Mediterranean herbs; the edamame beans were tasty too, and a new experience for me.

Unfortunately, I dived in first, and mistaking them for mange tout, popped the whole green pod into my mouth. Then I watched JC remove each bean from the split pod before eating them.

The houmous was thick and earthy and topped with toasted sesame seeds and among the best I’d had. The only fault was that we didn’t have enough pitta bread and had to ask for more – and they cheekily charged another pound for another small round.

JC and J are pescatarians – veggies who eat fish too – so went straight to the seafood section of the menu, ordering the fish pie and the smoked haddock risotto. Both liked their meals. The fish pie (£10.50), complete with salmon, tiger prawn and halibut and topped with creamy mashed potatoes was satisfyingly gooey and substantial.

The risotto (£10.95) comes with smoked fish, garden peas, asparagus, parmesan and warm poached egg, although J asked for one without the egg.

Again, it won praise, for its flavour, the quality of the ingredients and portion size.

Meat lovers will not be disappointed by The Living Room’s offerings of roast pork belly; steak pie; beef burger and shoulder of lamb (there are decent veggie choices, too). I fancied something classic and unfussy, so picked the 28-day aged ribeye steak with peppercorn sauce and chips (£16.95).

How a restaurant handles basic grub is always a good test, so it was disappointing that my steak and chips was below par. I’d asked for it to be cooked medium, but I could see before I even cut into it, it was well done. What’s worse, the cut was thin and grisly-looking and resembled a scrap from a cobbler’s workshop.

But all credit to the staff, who quickly asked if everything was all right. Despite my protests, they insisted in re-doing the dish. I’m always in two minds about this in a restaurant, as there is nothing worse than playing catch-up with your mates. But the chef knocked up another steak in minutes and it was much better, although not a world beater.

The cut was thicker and cooked so it was still bloody in the middle, but I felt the meat lacked flavour, considering it was meant to be a tasty ribeye.

Feeling full, we agreed on a pudding to share. There was no debate, it had to be the intriguing banoffee in a bag (£4.65).

Unfortunately, our gamble misfired as this has to be one of the nastiest puddings I have tasted. Imagine hot banana in a lukewarm and runny toffee sauce with a thimble of vanilla ice cream on the side and some broken tasteless biscuits.

We all agreed that The Living Room earns top marks for location, atmosphere and service, but we felt the food was poshed-up pub grub. With two more glasses of wine, two coffees, a side salad and portion of French beans, our bill came to £118 – close to £40 a head.

As much as we liked the setting, we’d experienced a meal of uneven quality, with expectations raised by outstanding starters, then standards dipping towards the end.

The Living Room, Merchant Exchange, 1 Bridge St, York.

Tel: 01904 461 000

Maxine visited on Friday, June 5, 2009.

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