IT’S been a while since anyone from The Press team dropped in on our near neighbour in Walmgate, the Polish restaurant Barbakan, to sample the food.

To be precise it’s been eight years and in that time a lot has changed.

From the outside the fresh gold paintwork and colourful hanging baskets are much the same, but once over the threshold where once there stood a delicatessen which dabbled in delicious lunchtime snacks, you are now greeted by a homely and welcoming bistro.

A board above the till reminds you that they still do lunchtime light bites, but barring this concession, everything else appears geared towards diners who have the time to stay a while and enjoy a hearty meal.

We visited on a Friday night and when I booked, I was told they do two sittings – as the first 6.30pm option was a bit early to make after work, we were certainly ready for food when we arrived to a packed restaurant at 8.30pm.

To kick things off we chose a white wine from a decent list – their house white, a Romanian Sauvignon Blanc (£17.50 a bottle).

Not having had Romanian wine before we were unsure of what to expect, but we needn’t have worried as it proved cool, crisp and fruity and just the antidote on a warm summer evening.

To start I opted for deska wedlin (£6) – a meat platter that arrived with five – count them, because I did, five – different kinds of ham and sausages and a sweet cranberry sauce as well as some pickled mushrooms.

I was in heaven roving around the plate sampling spicy salami, succulent sliced ham, smoked sausage, pate and a thin and fiery little number, the name of which escapes me. Jordan had been looking forward to Borsht & Uszka (£5.95) having seen the menu online. If you’ve not yet succumbed to the pleasures of borsht we cannot recommend it enough, it’s a clear beetroot soup, and in the Barbakan incarnation, proved to be sweet and sour, satisfying yet light. It has a beautiful rich colour, but try to avoid getting any down your front.

The Uszka are bite sized mushroom pockets floating in the soup which Jordan deliberately left until last so they are properly soaked in the yummy broth.

For my main I went with rabbit leg (£15.95), which came wrapped in pancetta and served with butternut squash and braised red cabbage alongside a “marmalade” of beetroot and fig. I’d not had rabbit before and was pleasantly surprised.

The meat was truly tender and worked well in its bacon wrapper, complemented as it was by the extremely tasty veg. Not just that but it looked good too.

Jordan plumped for a very generous stack of Pierogi (£12.75). He advised our friendly waitress he’d prefer the vegetarian option and she brought an assortment of the fried dumplings, some with pot cheese and potato and others with spinach and smoked cheese. Both kinds were delicious, I’m told, but the pot cheese proved the favourite.

By the time it came to looking for a dessert we were both pretty full, but for the purposes of reviewing decided to push the boat out and I plumped for dark chocolate mousse cake.

All desserts are £4.85. Though too rich for me to finish, had I not just consumed a smallholding’s worth of meat, I might not have been so easily defeated. It was a delicious confection of gooey goodness served with freshly whipped cream, none of your squirty nonsense.

Jordan went for the hazelnut cake with cinnamon cranberries. It was very tasty indeed and luckily a lot lighter than it appeared.

He was able to polish it all off. The cinnamon was subtle and the fruit was really allowed to have the starring role here.

In total the bill came to £67.75 or £50.25 for food which was excellent value for the sheer quality and quantity of what we had to eat.

Barbakan has undergone something of a metamorphosis over the years and it’s night time incarnation really shines.

As a result the place is very popular and booking ahead is essential.

We can without reservation recommend it and we’re already looking forward to our next visit.

Barbakan, 58, Walmgate, York, YO1 9TL

Phone 01904 672474

Website deli-barbakan.co.uk

Food: Hearty 4/5

Service: Excellent 5/5

Ambience: Rustic 5/5

Value: Good 4/5

Reviews are independent and paid for by The Press