Restaurant Review: Dough, Leeds

Chef/owner Luke Downing is clearly a talented chef – creative, thoughtful and resourceful. The environment is pleasing and the vibe sat back and easy. There’s absolutely no pretension in the décor; wooden floors, scrubbed tables, chunky chairs and contemporary prints on exposed brick work walls. The young woman who greeted us was cheerful, friendly and professional and remained so all evening despite waiting four busy tables on her own. Luke was sailing solo in the kitchen too (and is so most evenings); knowing that, the standard of food coming from it was exceptional.

There were four of us, and the consensus was that dishes ranged from “brilliant!” to “this just doesn’t work”. Sometimes it’s purely a matter of taste, of course. D’s confit of Yorkshire lamb breast served in a filo basket on a bed of creamed leaks with apple compote, Yorkshire blue cheese and crispy onion looked great and tasted just as good. But it had, in her opinion, one or perhaps even two too many ingredients – certainly she would have preferred it without the apple.

Civiche of scallops served on grapefruit and chilli salsa with rhubarb puree and black pudding was a success in every way but one – the overpowering chunks of onion within. My white asparagus with poached egg, creamy smoked cheese sauce and parmesan crisp was faultless but for the un-crisp crisp.

At this point a fine pall of smoke drifted towards us; cooking odours are tricky because by the nature of them, they linger. Two of us cared about this, two didn’t even notice it. Personally, my (stinging) eye was taken off the ball. These things happen of course, what can you do, other than whack up the extractor?

Main courses arrive on plates that are too big for the table. Elbow room is at a premium as it is, and the crockery underscores this.

I’m aware these grumbles might seem picky, but they add up – and most of them can be easily addressed. For some reason I didn’t expect Dough to be quite as cheffy as it turned out to be. I’m starting to long for a return to simpler (and smaller) plates of food with fewer smears, dots and slicks... but that’s not the style here. Instead, fillet of ostrich coated in dandelion honey on a bed of crunchy vegetables with blackberry and port sauce, caramelized onion chutney, coriander oil and carrot and orange puree is a teetering tower but is pronounced tender and tasty.

Fillet of sea bass served on smoked halibut infused spring greens, wild black tiger prawn and black caviar cream is the most successful dish of the night by some distance, the bass perfectly cooked. But why infuse vegetables with smoked halibut? Sea bass needs little to gussy it up when it’s well judged, which this is.

My slow-cooked belly pork with roasted Leeds rhubarb, black pudding, diver-caught scallop and crispy crackling on balsamic syrup and tarragon oil passes the taste test but is no oil painting, the top inch of fat still wobbling.

Given four spoons, a tall glass full of forced Leeds rhubarb and blood orange trifle topped with crème Anglais, Cointreau and whipped cream served with ginger oat biscuits, is polished off in no time. I would have liked less dairy fats and more rhubarb. But that’s just me.

The lad can cook, there’s no doubt about it. But I’m putting in a plea for some reining back and simplifying. I think that if the talented Luke Downing could strip it back and adopt the Bauhaus aphorism “less is more”, he’ll amaze us yet.

Two course set menu £21.95. Three course set menu £26.95. Seven course tasting menu £40 per person. Open Tuesday-Saturday 6-9.30pm. Sunday 12.30-6pm.

Dough, 293 Spen Lane, Leeds LS16 5BD, 0113 278 7255; www.doughleeds.com