Harvey Nichols Fourth Floor Brasserie: 'I tried this luxury Leeds restaurant that overlooks Briggate'

As someone who prefers to steer clear of spending too much and stick to more stripped-back joints (a tightwad, basically) the name ‘Harvey Nichols’ and the luxury weighed into it has always felt like a deterrent.

But when learning of the £35 set menu for Autumn now available at their brasserie, I felt it was high time to enjoy an evening of splendour.

So after dressing up in one of my five smartest corduroy vintage shirts, we headed down for the evening. But first we had to find the damn place.

Situated on Leeds’ most distinguished street, Briggate, and named the Fourth Floor Brasserie, it felt like it would be simple enough. But not for us.

After circumventing the front of the closed off store a few times we finally clocked on that the lift to get up there was within the Victoria Quarter, which, as you can imagine, also makes me feel like a tourist in my own city.

After getting the lift up a juncture with a smattering of own-brand products leads to the restaurant area, which is stylishly decked out with a refined and spacious touch. One can also imagine the balcony being a great spot to watch the world go by.

We were sat down with little input and left to browse the three-course menu; which meant Googling a whole host of items that were alien to us (stone bass, skate wing, moules mariniere, anyone?).

But when it came to order our waiter Gus was a beacon of insight, giving us a guided run through the dishes and informing us that stone bass is a white fish, skate wing is similar to scallops and moules is, well, mussels.

A gin spritzer is also featured in the deal so we whet our appetite before the tandoori stone bass and ham hock starters arrived.

The dishes were predictably diminutive (the ham hock in particular) but were brimming with a dynamic variety of flavour - with the ham hock combining a caramelly taste with the root goodness of the veg and mustard and the stone bass featuring a sweet tandoori taste and a whirlwind of a other subtle features.

Our mains also had a dynamic taste profile but were a bit of a downgrade. My partner’s pork fillet had a rich mix of sweet and savoury from the accompanying apricots and red wine sauce but was erring on the side of sausage and beans stew while my mussels, chips, chimichurri and white wine sauce did not quite set my world alight as hoped.

Thursday’s also offers discount on Harvey Nicholls own-brand wines on Thursdays so we enjoyed a lovely glass of the Sav before tucking into the delectable deserts with a decaf expresso. Both the hazelnut cake - served with a gorgeous whipped white chocolate - and crème brûlée with orange flapjack were soul liftingly tasty.

The restaurant had more or less emptied out as we concluded our night of opulence and headed out with an assurance that we had come to the right place.

FACT FILE

Address: Fourth Floor, Café and Bar, 107-111 Briggate Harvey Nichols, Leeds LS1 6AZ

Tel: 0113 204 8000

Website: https://www.harveynichols.com/restaurants/leeds/brasserie-leeds/

Open: Mon-Wed, 10am-6pm; Thurs-Sat, 10am-10pm; Sun, 11am-5pm

SCORES

Food - 8

Service - 7

Atmosphere - 6

Value - 9

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