Italian halloumi, Cuban tapas and broken glass

I’ve included reviews for two restaurant in this post as I’ve been a busy boy eating and working with not enough time to spend writing this!  I am working up in Wakefield at the moment and I was joined by a colleague yesterday, Chris, who is staying in the same hotel as me so we have been dining together.
Italian Halloumi
Wednesday night we we went to a delightful little Italian restaurant just over the road from the Fox & Hounds I blogged about on Tuesday (La Fortezza, 675 Barnsley Road, Newmillerdam, WAKEFIELD, WF2 6QQ).  I found this place by accident while I was walking along Tuesday night, not because it is hidden, it is not, but because it’s so small you would not think it could be a restaurant! It is right next to the lake at Newmillerdam and I guess it used to be a pump house or something.  When we arrived at 8:30 it was quite busy but there were one or two tables free.  The decor is quite in your face, red paint and a tree in the middle of the room; difficult to pull off but I think they managed it.  To start with Chris had the crab with salsa (£6.95) which he liked a lot and I had halloumi wrapped in Parma ham (£5.95).  Halloumi is not what I think of when I think of Italian cheese, but I love it, and this didn’t disappoint.  A substantial two pieces were served on top of crostini and I loved it.   So far so good.  The main for Chris was Pollo Fortezza (Chicken in a spicy sauce which wasn’t spicy enough for him but was apparently very tasty) at £13.50, and I had the Vitello Valdostana (Veal with Porcini) at £14.95.  Again this was delicious, and the veal thinly sliced and seared which gave it a nice smokey, chargrilled flavour.  If I had one criticism it would be that the porcini didn’t really stand out enough for me and there was definitely at least one slice of field mushroom in there which is cheating a bit!  The service was friendly but a little slow, it seemed to take a good while for our food to come, but it was worth the wait in the end. The whole meal came to £55 with drinks which is quite pricey for mid week, however, you do get what you pay for and it was worth the money for me.
Cuban Tapas

Thursday night we decided to eat in Wakefield city centre as I had been given a recommendation by my future sister-in-law, Helen who used to live in Wakefield.  The recommended place was called Qubana (25- 27 Northgate, Wakefield, WF1 3BJ) which is a Cuban restaurant and grill.  I was not sure exactly what Cuban cuisine was, but was guessing that it was probably like Creole cooking (don’t ask me why!).  Well Qubana is a Tapas restaurant really, and I guess as Cuba is a Spanish speaking country I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Although there were mains to order, I love tapas, so I convinced Chris we should order 8 dishes between us.  We had:

• Anchovies
• Vodka and beetroot cured salmon
• Meatballs
• Chorizo in wine
• Lamb (actually beef) stew
• Jambalaya
• Patatas with tomatoes
• Chips with Aioli

The standout dishes for me were the Chorizo (you would have to do something very wrong to a dish with that lovely sausage in it to make me not like it!), and the beef stew.  The menu said it was a lamb stew but when we ordered we were told that it was beef which was no problem for us.  It had butter beans and other pulses in it and the beef was incredibly tender.  The dish had an nice aniseed flavour to it, probably from fennel seeds, delicious!  I felt let down by the salmon though; it promised a lot but failed to deliver and the taste of the vodka was too harsh.  Also, these delicate slivers of salmon were served with a big blob of chunky (home made however) tartar sauce, and the two seemed at odds with each other.  All in all though, I was pleased with the food and the service.  The whole lot came to about £33 with beer so very good value for money, although I have to say I didn’t feel full at the end.  But that’s the thing with tapas; I’m never sure how much you are supposed to order!
Broken Glass
Upon returning to the car park I opened my car and noticed stuff all over the seat, I thought ‘I don’t remember leaving that there’, and then as looked about the car it looked more messy than usual, which is a feat in itself.  Then I saw the broken glass and it dawned on me – bastards!  They hadn’t taken anything of any value which was in some way more annoying because it cost me £75 excess to have a new window fitted! so not a great end to the night, but at least I’d eaten some good food!