Anthony's

I cannot imagine a nicer dining experience than spending a long evening working my way through the tasting menu at Anthony's flagship restaurant in Leeds, in the company of my enthusiastic eater of a husband. Upstairs we sipped water and crunched pigs ears while having a nice chat with the very personable Maitress D' before being led downstairs ceremonially, our drinks bourne before us. The service has a degree of pomp (and frankly if I'm paying £100 a head I want a bit of pomp) but every highly-skilled waiter is informative, elicits feedback and hangs on your every comment as though vital. Being led downstairs into the calm brown and cream dining room immediately sets the tone – you are here for serious eating, and the food is seriously interesting to reflect this.

With their El Bulli pedigree, the team at Anthony's offers extremely fine dining at a price which fairly reflects the degree of skill and attention that goes into the many little dishes paraded in front of you. Expect to be dazzled by Anthony Flinn's deep, deep artistry. Be prepared to try combinations you've never thought of and put aside your prejudices – pork crackling with pudding, yes please! I thought I hated tongue until I had it here, slightly dried and combined with extremely fresh-tasting seared tuna. And leave room for the cheese course. Okay, giving the cheese its own menu might seem a little poncey but hell, I like cheese, and since you get to select from a couple of dozen varieties you probably haven't heard of you'll be glad to read up on them first. When they arrive, in order of strength, the waiter apologises for the delay but chef won't let them out of the kitchen until they're the correct temperature.

Attention is paid to every detail providing the kind of evening you sink into like a marshmallow as one dish follows another effortlessly, each surpising, each showcasing the flavours of the ingredients. And what appeals to the nipcheese in me is that while the food is relatively expensive we drank great wine for under £30 a bottle, the coffee was cheaper than Starbucks and the brandy an absolute steal – and if you want to test the waters without a big budget there's an excellent value lunch available too. The ultimate recommendation – it was so good that after the first course we booked for the next night.

So from the beginning: as an aperitif we were given some fat kalamata olives and crispy pigs ears: perfect posh crackling, which went brilliantly with a g & t! Then to start I had tuna carpaccio served as a little bungalow, on top of a square lawn of uber thin tongue. I can't remember what my friend had ( and this is a pattern throughout the meal ) as I was usually too engrossed in my own dishes.

For main I chose the lamb, which beat my friends fish dish hands down. Even the friendly and knowledgeable Spanish waiter agreed that if we were competing, I'd won ‘pick the best main’. I could sense the food envy. Yes, it was amazing. Beautiful, juicy, pink jewels of meat served on a bed of zingy Barley. Barley – who'd have thought it could taste delicious or indeed of anything? To finish the dish, there were tiny goats cheeses to the side with small bites of grilled artichoke and some peanuts and chick peas. It was pretty close to perfection.

Mains done, we opted for a cheese plate before pud. A smart move. There were loads to choose from, we selected 7, which were presented with a picture perfect loaf of bread, quince jelly, biscuits and a glass of port. Yum.

We were not yet beaten, so we marched on to pudding. Knowing the good things coming out of this kitchen, this had now become an all-or-nothing reconnaissance mission and no food soldiers were going to be left behind. My pudding was presented in a little white ceramic snood, not disimilar to something Grace Jones would favour in the 80's. It was classed as a trifle but a modern sort, with a sweet creamy foam on the top, smoked cherries below and a chocolate custard in between. My only criticism was that the smoky-ness of the cherries dulled the sweetness of the chocolate and meant it had a savoury tang rather than the full-on sweetness I was looking for.

All in all a great, GREAT restaurant, with exciting dishes – whose only flaw was playing it safe with the interior… and over smokin' their cherries.