Psycho Sandbar: We visited Michael O'Hare's new restaurant which is set to divide opinion

As Leeds’s only Michelin star restaurant, it was a destination for foodies from Yorkshire and beyond. With his long hair and penchant for statement footwear, O’Hare is a rock ’n’ roll chef with the culinary chops to match the hype.

He opened The Man Behind the Curtain in 2014 – it was awarded a coveted Michelin star a year later – and since then he’s shown himself to be one of the most exciting and talented British chefs of his generation.

His success on BBC’s Great British Menu, where he cooked the fish course at the all-important banquet in 2015 for the ladies of the WI, thrust him into the spotlight where he has shone ever since.

So it was a bold move to close Man Behind The Curtain. Announcing the news on Instagram, he teased his followers by saying he was replacing it with a “more accessible” fine-dining experience.

He said the rebrand was influenced by Brexit, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, which have had a significant impact on the food and drink industry.

Promising a “fish-heavy” menu, O’Hare said Psycho Sandbar would be more versatile and have a “surf-shack” theme. Remarkably the new restaurant was open within three months of the old one closing.

So has he delivered on what he said and, more importantly, is it any good? Well, yes and no.

O’Hare has made a name for being daring and making a food spectacle, and as such he’s always likely to divide the crowd. The minute you step down into this subterranean lair you know you’re in for an experience.

The vibe is somewhere between a Bond villain’s underground bunker and the kind of slick, minimalist nightclub I used to frequent in the ‘90s during my misspent youth.

For some people, the unapologetically in your face music (everything from 80s pop to house music and quite a lot in between), concrete walls, black décor and bright tube lighting would probably be their idea of a dystopian nightmare, but I quite like its austere simplicity.

It’s the kind of place you might expect to find in Berlin or Copenhagen, so why not Leeds?

O’Hare’s restaurants are bold, provocative and thought-provoking and Psycho Sandbar is certainly all of the above, though there isn’t much in the way of the surf-shack vibe I was expecting, aside from the surfboard sculptures you pass on the way to your table.

There is a lot to like about Psycho Sandbar, the food is very good and the service polite, but also some irritating creases that need ironing out – I really don’t see how staff walking around wafting a smoke machine adds to the dining experience.

The dishes seem to change quite regularly and when we went you could choose between the a la carte, a seven course “chef’s selection” (£110 per person), or the 10 course tasting menu (£165 per person) – the accompanying wine pairing will set you back £155 each.

We opted for the a la carte, which was loosely divided into snacks, small plates and large plates. First up were a couple of “snacks”. The Jersey royal mousse, with fried quails egg and gravy was a subtly tasty morsel and so, too, was the hand dived scallop warmed in beef fat with Gordal olive juice.

Next we plumped for two small plates. The native lobster cooked over wood in a Thai style bisque was impressive without being particularly memorable.

The tikka marinated Denia prawn lightly barbecued arrived on a replica old-school telephone and no doubt looks good on Instagram, but £19? At the end of the day it is still a prawn, albeit juicy and delicious, sitting on a prop.

The two large plates were a bit of a disappointment.

The salt and sugar cured hake with Iberian ham stock pil pil, was a clever flavour combination, as was the line caught turbot with lychee and horseradish ketchup and sauce bordelaise. The quality of the cooking and the ingredients isn’t in question, but when you’re paying £34 (as with the turbot), it’s not unreasonable to expect some carbs or vegetables, and both dishes were crying out for them.

The food itself was very good but at the risk of sounding like a greedy philistine, there just wasn’t enough of it.

We finished with a dessert which was the standout dish of the evening. The lemon curd ice cream, with lemon top milk sorbet and Amalfi lemon shaved ice was clever, playful and above all, delicious. It also had the kind of wow factor I enjoyed at The Man Behind The Curtain a decade ago and which I’d been waiting for all evening.

The drinks menu includes some tempting cocktails for under 20 quid and it’s great to see the restaurant team up with the brilliant local Northern Monk brewery to create a couple of bespoke beers (£7).

As with the food menu, though, the wine list is a bit perplexing. Wines aren’t listed by colour or price but by “house”, in other words the vineyard or producer. That’s fine but you need to be able to read them. My eyesight isn’t bad but trying to read the prices was a struggle.

Then there’s the cost. Most people want an affordable bottle of wine when they go to a restaurant, but we ended up paying £74 for four small glasses, which even by fine dining standards is eye-wateringly expensive.

Our total bill came in at £231 for two, which is a lot of money. Top notch cookery like this doesn’t come cheap and nor should it, and perhaps the tasting menu, which most other dinners seemed to go for, is actually better value.

At the same time there’s a thin line between theatrics that get people talking and gimmicks that are grating.

In daring to be different you can sometimes lose sight of what is most important, which in a restaurant is the customer’s experience.

Welcome 4/5

Food 4/5

Atmosphere 3/5

Prices 3/5

Psycho Sandbar, 68-78 Vicar Lane Lower Ground Floor, Leeds. LS1 7JH psychosandbar.com