Melanzana, 96 Elvet Bridge, Durham (From Durham Times)

Melanzana, 96 Elvet Bridge, Durham

1:42pm Friday 8th January 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

A warm welcome on a cold night.

IT must be a thankless task working in a restaurant sometimes.

Tuesday night was, without a doubt, a truly horrid night for travelling. Earlier that day, reporter Tony Kearney had been repeating to me with flabbergasted amazement the tale of the Oldfields restaurant worker who, when her car got snowed in, set off undaunted to walk 15 miles to get to work on time.

So as I sat in Melanzana, I had more than a share of sympathy with the two waitresses on this cold and frightful night who cast occasionally nervous looks at the skies outside and were probably hoping inside that they might get a chance to close early before the snow took its deepest grip.

Not that there was any sense of being hurried along.

Having slid my way across Elvet Bridge, the welcome was warm, the service as efficient as you could ask for.

The restaurant wasn’t hugely busy – four or five tables occupied during my time there – but for a wintry Tuesday night just after New Year, that’s perhaps busier than I was expecting.

There’s a faintly odd mix of atmospheres here. The food is Italian, the decor in the former St Andrew’s chapel is rustic and the music appeared to be Christina Aguilera as remixed by New Order.

The first two parts good (even if going to the loo at the pinnacle of the old building is an amusing experience of a narrow corridor and clashing doors), Christina growling about being dirty as the main course was served – a little odd.

But on to the food. Melanzana has a good-sized menu.

A good ten starters available, with options for carnivores such as myself and vegetarians, while the main menu offers a good mix of pizza, pasta and other dishes.

There’s also a specials board, and it’s into this that I dipped for my starter of smoked salmon and tarragon fishcakes. This was very gentle, delicate and delicious – attractively served and just enough to set you in the mood for the main course.

Weirdly, I always tend to steer clear of pizza when I go to an Italian restaurant. It always seems too mundane when compared to the other options available, so here I went for bistecca di manzo al gorgonzola (using the time honoured method of pointing and saying “I’ll have that”). This is sirloin cooked in a Barolo wine jus topped with gorgonzola and served on a bed of spinach and potatoes.

When it came to the table, it looked absolutely gorgeous, but it proved ultimately to be something of a disappointment.

No fault to the chef for that – it was cooked and presented as well as could be, and the steak knife found more use slicing through the gargantuan gorgonzola as through the meat. But the meat wasn’t the greatest – a bit too fatty in places, which was a letdown considering the effort that had gone in elsewhere.

A good piece of meat would have made it lovely – as it was, despite the rest of the meal hitting the spot, it really only passed muster.

The specials board also includes desserts, and the cold night outside tempted me towards a distinctly un-Italian treacle sponge and custard.

As pretty as it looked coming out of the kitchen, it tasted like it had come out of the microwave, so no plus points there.

All told, my three courses, plus a couple of apple juices, came to £27.17 – decent enough value for three courses, and there are bargain options available before 7pm.

There’s a nice, intimate feel about Melanzana – it’s a good spot for couples, and a pleasant place to watch the world go by on Elvet Bridge outside, and the starter and presentation of the meals showed a talent, but a bit of improvement in the raw ingredients would make a big difference.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)