Fourth Floor Cafe, Harvey Nichols, Leeds
PAST the doormen, up in the lift, through the food hall with its £50 boutique hampers, £45 Champagne-and-truffle sets and £70 "sferificacion mini-kits" and into the dining room.
Never mind that the country is up to its withers in debt and that profits at the Harvey Nichols group have tumbled 40 per cent, this store is wearing a brave face.
The confidence is contagious. It's packed for dinner this Saturday night. The window blinds are down, the tempo is up and it feels like a party, an impression reinforced by two bright jazz musicians.
More Champagne, sir? Well, why not, and make it a Jeroboam. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we pay. This may be the shop that sells things we don't need at prices we can't afford but that's why we love – or loved – it. Listen to that contented clatter of knife against designer fork.
And "sferificacion"? Ah yes, it's a culinary technique first practised by the Spanish restaurant, El Bulli which "allows you to prepare recipes never before imagined.
"To achieve Sferificacin you need to control the gelification of a liquid by mixing with Algin and submerging in a calcic bath, allowing you to make spherical preparations in various sizes: caviar, eggs, gnocchi, ravioli."
While the food at this restaurant reflects the times, I can't quite see executive chef Richard Allen mixing with Algin, whoever he is, or submerging himself in a calcic bath to prepare spheres never before imagined. Allen has been in charge for 10 years and the strengths of his kitchen lie in the integrity of its materials and its homage to classical principles.
Consider: chicken liver parfait with Cumberland sauce and toasted brioche; smoked cod fillet with butter poached potatoes and pea and ham velout; braised chicken leg with red wine-poached vegetables and herb dressing; chips with aioli. Nothing there to alarm Escoffier, Careme or even the Blessed Delia. That's not to say contemporary influences are overlooked. Seared pigeon breast with carpaccio of beetroot, horseradish and celeriac pure?
Haddock with ginger and lemongrass butter, tempura French beans and black bean and lime salsa. Evidence, surely, of a questing instinct. So an upmarket canteen, a cool crowd, an elegant menu – and prices to make Sir Fred Goodwin's pension look puny?
That may have been the case when this store opened 13 years ago, but someone has tuned into that refreshing commodity, reality.
We may associate Harvey Nicks with eye-melting extravagance, but value prevails in the restaurant, chiefly in the fixed-price menu where two courses cost 16.50 and three courses 19.50.
Or nearly. A 10 per cent "discretionary" service charge lifts these to 18.15 and 21.45. All the same, that's within realms of reason given the quality of the cooking. Take the smoked chicken and green bean salad with gruyre and hazelnut dressing, a delightful starter, light, fragrant and presented with pleasing simplicity.
Nor is there anything overworked about the free-range belly pork. This utility cut is raised to honour by cooking that yields crisp skin and melting meat. Pickled red cabbage, apple and fennel add consonant tones of warmth and piquancy.
Invention meets rehearsed technique with equally impressive results on the carte where starters include Thai-style mussels with coconut broth, and a salad of warm goats' cheese, hazelnut and filo mille-feuille, and pear and rocket salad with truffle honey. Truffle honey? Very Absolutely Fabulous.
Among this array is a starter of potted shrimp risotto with nutmeg and lemon of cosmic class. Texture: suave. Flavour: marine and punchy. Finish: surprising. What gives the dish its feisty pay-off line? A chef in the open-plan kitchen smiles. "Chilli in the butter."
Among la carte mains are two items likely to please the most exacting carnivore. The first is char-grilled Lishman's ribeye with parsnip pure, confit garlic and sage jus. The second, an equally good read, is slow-braised short rib of beef with tomato and herb sauce and thyme gnocchi.
The rib dish is miraculous for the 13.50 they charge. Is there a better one at this price in Leeds? You might expect to find such a creation in a bistro in Lyon.
Two huge pieces of meat, meltingly soft, arrive with a dark, brooding sauce on
top. It's country fare comes up to town and, in the company of the lovely chips, it's a stunner.
Add to it a classy side dish of winter cabbage with slow-cooked shallots and pancetta and you have some measure of the quality and imaginative resource behind this place.
The classical thread persists on the pudding menu in a chocolate and hazelnut mousse pavlova, even
though the presentation is thoroughly modern. Similarly, a trio of lemon dishes which includes a delightful puckery posset, is knocking on the door of a Michelin star.
Service, however, is not. Its tone ranges from lightly moderated bossiness (hands hovering on hips) to meek apprehension. In a restaurant as confident as this, staff should not be asking customers if everything is all right after each mouthful. Nor should they make the transfer of drinks from the adjoining cocktail bar such a major production. Co-ordination between bar and waiters would speed their arrival, though there's little to complain about when they come. The wine list is broad and long and host to some reasonably priced bottles before it jets off to the glitzy producers of Burgundy and Bordeaux.
Returning to the lift through the food hall, I feel the sferificacion mini-kit calling me. I spurn its advance.
If life is too short to stuff a mushroom, how long must it be to make a spherical egg too late for Easter?
Fourth Floor Caf, Harvey Nichols, 107 -111, Briggate, Leeds, LS1 6AZ. 0113 204 8000. Open: Lunch, Monday to Friday noon to 3pm, Saturday and Sunday noon to 4pm. Dinner: Thursday and Friday 5.30pm-10pm, Saturday 7pm-10pm. Parking: none provided but The Light is only a stroll away.
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