We visited Leeds’ top-rated Mediterranean restaurant, located in a gold club car park – which turned out to be a very classy venue.
La Palmera also comes out at the city’s sixth best restaurant overall, according to TripAdvisor. It’s located within the entrance to Roundhay Golf Club on Park Lane, you can even watch the golfers putting the balls directly outside the dining room window.
The Roundhay venue has a five-star rating on Tripadvisor with 113 'excellent' reviews, coming a mighty sixth in Leeds out of 1,100 restaurants.
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It’s well worth booking ahead, as it’s a cosy venue which filled up when we visited on a weekday evening. The clientele seemed to be a mix of families, it felt like civilised relaxed setting for our evening meal.
The service was welcoming and friendly, coming back to our table at regular intervals to check up that everything was adequate during the meal. The complimentary bread - always a nice touch - was warm and fluffy, it must have been freshly baked.
For starters, we ordered the Albondingas con Chorizo and the Champignons au Cognac. The Albondingas con Chorizo consisted of Spanish style beef and chorizo meatballs in tomato sauce topped with mozzarella cheese.
The meatball dish came out sizzling beneath the stretchy bed of mozzarella and tomato sauce. The sweet, full bodied tomato sauce was oozing with flavour. The meat coupled with the cheese and sauces perfectly with an exquisite grainy and succulent texture.
Champignons au Cognac consisted of whole mushrooms in a sauce of garlic, white wine, brandy and fresh cream. The mushrooms were juicy and sweet, covered in the intoxicating wine sauce. Perfectly cooked.
For our main course, we ordered the Moroccan Lamb and the Salmone alla Griglia, along with a couple of side dishes which were generously stacked.
The Moroccan Lamb dish consisted of a slow cooked lamb shank in Moroccan spices, topped with caramelized apricots and toasted almonds. Served with a side of saffron rice.
The dish was beautifully presented, the plating was very classy and really set up the appetizing meal on a high. The way the almonds were scattered across the shank and the rice was stacked in a column was simply divine.
The lamb meat fell of the bone. The seasoning was aromatic, and the apricot paired sweetly with the meat.
The Salmone alla Griglia consisted of a grilled salmon fillet on a bed of mixed leaf salad. We were served a huge fillet of salmon which had a vibrant orange hue and crinkles of charring across its delicate exterior.
The fish was cooked “just right” with as crunchy outer-layer and a melt-in-the-middle centre.
La Palmera is a really classy joint with a peaceful and civilised atmosphere.
The bill
- Albondingas con Chorizo - £6.95
- Champignons au Cognac - £5.95
- Moroccan Lamb - £20.95
- Salmone alla Griglia - £15.95
- Sauté Potatoes - £3.50
- Vegetables - £3.75
Total - £57.05
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