MADE FOR SHARING - Oliver Column

Yorkshire Evening Post 2nd April 2005

SOMETIMES a dining experience can be a bit like catching a bus – a long wait, sporadic hold ups and a frustrating test of your endurance. You may still leave the restaurant with a feeling of contentment but be conscious of the fact that you faced a challenge to achieve it.

Eating at Salvo's is like getting on a Japanese bullet train. It's fast, efficient and a pleasurable experience from start to finish.There's no hitches, hold ups or anything which leaves cringing or rolling your eyes in disbelief, as can so often happen in other restaurants.

At night they don't take bookings, so you just turn up and wait for a table, yet we sat sipping wine for no more than a few minutes before we were seated.
The atmosphere here is amazing, the warm bronze walls and low ceilings create a truly intimate feel. There's a real buzz to the place, diners chat across tables (even if they don't know each other) and check out each others food to see if the grass is greener.

W e arrived at around 7.30pm and Salvo's was packed with every kind of diner imaginable. Young couples having romantic meals, mums and dads enjoying pizza with their kids and thirty-something career women chatting about spreadsheets. It all works brilliantly and yet there's little or no pretension to the place, just straightforward good food and excellent service.

From the moment you order nothing takes more than a few minutes to arrive and while you're waiting there's breadsticks and dips to keep you occupied or you can order some other nibbles from the menu.

And what a menu. It may be an Italian but dishes aren't limited to pizza and pasta – although there are plenty of imaginative options here if that's what you want. If, however, you want a break from the norm the starters, which range in price from about £5.50–£6.50, include such delights as prawn and chorizo in olive oil, roasted field mushrooms or seafood stew. I chose king prawns in filo pastry with a sweet chilli dip at £5.75 and my partner has the tomato and basil bruschetta – a bargain at £3.45.

Everything arrives looking beautiful, invariably served on rocket or some other kind of salad and garnished perfectly. The portions are just the right size to provide the short sharp burst of flavour you need from a starter – just enough to leave you longing for the main. The mains here vary in price from around £12.50 to £16.50 and there's an amazing selection to choose from. Options include langostine risotto, calves liver or roast venison steak.

I chose the roasted barbary duck breast with black cherry sauce at £12.95 which was cooked perfectly. The meat, which was succulent and moist, rested on a bed of roasted carrot which made the perfect accompaniment, and the plate was garnished with a generous helping of black cherries.
My dining partner opted for the goats cheese and olive tart with caramelised red onion and balsamic vinegar, also £12.95.

Both dishes providing an incredibly intense flavour, looked stunning and left you satisfied without feeling bloated. Each course seems to flow seamlessly into the other, particularly as it is all served and your plates cleared so quickly without any fuss. The lot was washed down with an incredibly rich and fruity Merlot at £16.50, which was just one of dozens of bottles here. Most are reasonably priced and alluring.

But the best was yet to come and it came in the form of, wait for it, a Mars Bar fondue. It might not sound like the most sophisticated of dishes but wait till you see it. A large plate arrives with a bubbling bowl of chocolate that makes you want to sip the contents straight from the rim.

But hold on because you're provided with an array of food to dip – we're talking grapes, pineapple, biscuits, banana, marshmallows, redberrys.
The dessert adds up to an incredible experience which has to be shared. At £6.95 for two people it also represents excellent value as well.

From start to finish the service is excellent and fast, though you never feel rushed. Better still while Salvo's isn't cheap it does represent good value for money. Other restaurants might charge lower prices but the quality probably won't be so high. Other touches, like the shared fondue and the fact that most mains come with salad and vegetables as standard, means that you won't be caught out when the final bill arrives.

Our total came to £68.55, without a service charge, which wasn't added on.
The best part about Salvo's isn't the efficient service, the warm atmosphere or value for money it represents but the food itself.

Everything here is intensely tasty but the portions are carefully measured to ensure you can enjoy them. In other words, far from feeling too full to continue right through a meal (we've all done that) each course leaves you tantalised and expectant for the next one.

By the end of the evening you leave entirely full having enjoyed every single part of your meal, not begrudging a penny on your bill.

A modern, cosmopolitan place like Leeds needs stylish restaurants like Salvo's to fly the flag for good food in the city, particularly in this suburb. In Headingley there's an increasing number of plush places to eat, but they'll need to go a long way to get anywhere near the amazing dining experience of Salvo's.

Star ratings
FOOD +++++ (5)
VALUE ++++ (4)

ATMOSPHERE +++++ (5)

SERVICE ++++ (4)

+++++ EXCELLENT ++++ VERY GOOD +++ GOOD ++ AVERAGE + POOR