Zucco, Meanwood

Meanwood is an area of Leeds that I think is best described as "up and coming". We like it very much and one large draw is the very lovely Zucco, a local restaurant that is good enough (in my opinion) to thrive in the city centre but has chosen (thanks be) to situate itself a ten minute walk away from our house.

If you're familiar with Russell Norman's Polpo, you'll know the sort of food we are talking about here: essentially ciccheitti, the Venetian take on tapas, so smaller sharing dishes with an Italian slant. In fact, I believe that the owners of Zucco were involved in the original Soho Polpo in some capacity (although I could be mistaken on that score).

It's the perfect genre for a neighbourhood restaurant, being suitable for large parties (when we went last on a Saturday lunchtime there were lots of young families) and couples alike. The only potential issue is that the tables-for-two are not big enough to handle the number of dishes that a greedy pair like us might order. They deal with this well though, sending tranches of plates out in logical sequence.

On Saturday, which happened to be our fifth wedding anniversary (I know!) we went for broke food wise, washed it down with a fine prosecco and it came to £80. I call that pretty decent value although by no means cheap and cheerful (for that, you may want Marcel's Cafe across the road).

The food itself is excellent. Not, I think, falling within the fayne dayning bracket, rather, robust and flavourful. In this day and age, I sometimes find restaurant food under seasoned, but this is a kitchen that is well acquainted with the salt cellar. An early highlight was a pizzette bianca with ricotta, chilli, and garlic - had the potential to be bland but turned up grassy with olive oil, the dough bubbled and scorched. Meat and fish are sensitively handled with the ox cheeks being particularly excellent, falling apart at the mere sight of a fork.

From top left here, clockwise: soft shell crab, sea bass with baby potatoes, Parmesan crumbed chicken breast, ox cheek with risotto.

My favourite thing, though, and a dish I order every time I visit, is the cannoli. Why I did not discover such a thing until I was well into adulthood is beyond me: it's like a cheesecake but better.

A good local restaurant is a wonderful thing and Zucco ticks a lot of boxes. Is it perfect? Not if you're looking for a particular experience - this is big and bold and rustic rather than refined and elegant. But it's a little gem of a place in the extended Leeds food scene and I am gratified beyond measure that it happens to be within staggering distance of my front door.