Harvey nic's Leeds

We arrived in Leeds late on Saturday afternoon. We had intended to have a snack and go for dinner later that evening but when we saw the menu for lunch we, well, we gave in. My mate Dave owed me an expensive meal so I wasn’t fazed by the prices – because I knew he would be paying!

The menu is adventurous and appealing. For example, one of the starter dishes is slow-cooked pork belly, soy, seared squid with an orange and sesame sauce. I ordered this. Waitress very keen to make sure I understood there were squid on top; I assumed she was worried about squid being non-kosher. I wanted this with Dover sole but disappointingly, they had no Dover sole, so I changed the whole choice to plan B.

I had:
Cream of celeriac soup with crème fraiche and apple. Super. This came with a little posy of finely (and expertly) grated carrot bundled on top. Each taste element was distinct – some may criticise this as a failing but personally, I like it. Served with a choice of bread and Normandy butter. I went for the rye bread (unusually sponge-like for rye but I’m not complaining)

Rack of lamb. Yes, yes, I know it’s ordinary but it was what I fancied and it was smashing, perfectly cooked for me (actually, come to think of it, the waitress didn’t ask me how I wanted it). Just the slightest hint of red in the middle and no blood running out. The meat was tender, the aroma and taste were subtle lamb, not sheep-on-the-hillside-woolly-sheep-dropping lamb. By the time we got to it, it was lack of ram rather than rack of lamb – the wine caused this!

The rack came with a small dish of Lancashire hot pot! Yes, I agree, strange isn’t it? But it worked. Gooey and thick and sheep-on-the-hillside-woolly-sheep-dropping lamb to complement the finer aromatic rack. Of course, being Yorkshire, the menu didn’t mention Lancashire. A couple of insignificant char grilled baby leeks accompanied this – better to have left them off I thought, added nothing – and some beetroot jus.

We ordered a dish of new potatoes and a dish of carrots to share. Both fresh and expertly cooked to just the right al dente texture needed for vegetables and rolled in butter and herbs, which did not overshadow the natural vegetable flavours.

For dessert, I ordered Trio of Damson: sort of carrot-cake style damson cake covered with damson sauce (I left some), a small portion of damson ice-cream and a damson mousse. A couple of home-made style shortbreads. Disappointing as a dessert. No intense damson taste and disparate in conception.

We had the Dog Point New Zealand Sauvignon blanc, from the Wairau Valley region: a fine choice by my dining companion. So fine that we had two bottles. I also had water.

All this with coffee for just £120 for two. My only negative was the noise level. We had to shout to communicate really. I had a headache from this. There are no tablecloths at lunchtime, lots of other hard surfaces (in fact they are all hard) and no baffles between areas of the restaurant apart from one between the (very noisy) bar and the rest of the floor. Good way to spend two hours.

SS Bretagne, La Manche

Always been tempted to try the quality resto rather than the self service so I did and very good it was too. £19-50 for a 5 course meal. £8 for a quality half bottle of 2004 Bordeaux.

Fantastic buffet to choose from to start with; seafood, whole salmon, different crudités, olives, charcuterie. Very good stuff. Pork portugais style arrived with a mini tumbler with the sauce in, quality potatoes cooked in butter with chives, a mini salad in its own ramekin. very nice. The waitress whispered bonne continuation in my ear as she slid the plate in front of me.

Cheese course that had a dozen cheeses in the middle of the room to choose from with celery & apples.

Bread and Beurre d'Isigny in unlimited quantities.

Fruit salad dessert plus a small red berry cheese cake with raspberry coulis.

Coffee arrived with sugar mounted on a stick like a lollipop. A mini cornetto was also served.

A phenomenally good meal for less than £30. Highly recommended. Good sea views throughout the meal.

Relais d'Alsace, St Malo

Going back this way for the first time and ferry is 1030 am so it was an overnighter. Etap Hotel (for information) is very easy to find and for €39 you get a room for 3 (and the fourth on the floor if you want), en suite, TV with one english channel. No restaurant but the nearby ibis has one which you can use but it's a 10 minute drive. Only 6 free parking places outside so if you get one its best to stay there. Further parking costs money. Town centre is a good 10 minute walk and there must be some restaurants but I didn't see many until I found the Relais. On balance it might be better to stay at the Ibis. It will cost more but has a restaurant on site but I'm still not sure about the parking available. Check on the web.

Large and well appointed. Huge aquarium in the centre of the restaurant with your dinner swimming around in it. Simple menus at €18 for 3 courses. Jambon cru with pickles and onion rings. Strange but tasty; Bottle of Chinon lightly chilled; Leg of duck with chips, no veg but a peppery gravy; Rice pudding with apples. No pretensions , friendly service. Good meal

Le Grand Large, St Palais

We think we were directed to this by fellow campers who said it was a top quality restaurant. We'd been before but went anyway to try it again.

Carpaccio of scallops & Salmon in olive oil marinade with pink peppercorns was very good but partner's salade de mer was just ordinary. Her main of choucroute de mer was equally disappointing - 2 pieces of dried fish, some mussels and 2 langoustines. My Magret de canard was good but the accompanying bits were strange. Mushroom sauce, boiled rice, a jacket potato with chives & sour cream and a grilled tomato. Another flavour too far...

Creme brule and mixed apple crepe with cognac cream finished it off.

A mixed bag. Some very good but a lot of mediocre food. The best Magret de canard still Gaby's (a fish restaurant)