I have long been a fan of Stuzzi; there’s a theatre to the place that I love.
On arrival, a moodily dark stairway leads up to the main dining room. The stairway is lined with artfully designed posters for past events at the restaurant that put me in mind of film posters and heighten a feeling I have of being a kid and going to the local Odeon. The first-floor main dining room is a beautiful space – giant half-moon windows rise from the floor almost to the ceiling, providing a raised view of the shoppers below on Vicar Lane like Victorian aristocracy in the box seats looking down on the stalls. There’s a small room at the back of the restaurant where, behind glass, from the Grand Arcade you can see the performance art piece that is the pastamaker at work.
My experience of the food at Stuzzi has also always been highly enjoyable. On a previous visit I had a memorable lasagne fritte, or fried lasagne, which was not just a slab of lasagne battered and dunked in the fryer Scottish chippy style (although I’m sure that would be great in its own way), but rather something done with an altogether more considered method. A tomato and basil lasagne was fried and paired with a sharp pesto that balanced the unctuous weight of the fried pasta.
Typically, Stuzzi focuses on small plates like this – their website explains that Stuzzi is short for stuzzichini, which is apparently the Italian term for small plates – but we are here to try something a little different. Stuzzi has added a two or three course lunch menu to their offering, much more focused in scope than its extensive menu of small plates, and we are here to give it a go.
The starters on offer give you two options: one meaty and one veggie, and we are brought one of each. The first is a zucchini starter, the courgette for which, we are told, is locally sourced from Meanwood Valley Farm and comes thinly sliced and elegantly arranged on the plate. It is dressed in a light raw herb marinade and studded with salted pumpkin seeds, black olive and pickled red onion. It’s a thoughtfully constructed dish: light and fresh, and with the optional addition of a creamy tide of buffalo mozzarella, it is perfectly balanced.
The second starter is a plate of ribbons of quality prosciutto tangled together with house pickles and house- made grissini. It’s all very good stuff: the pickles are wonderful and the grissini are far from your typical dry breadstick afterthought; they bring a fennel savouriness and a textural counterpoint to the rest of the dish.
For the main course, we choose two plates of pasta that will be, no doubt, a product of that in-house performance art piece out the back. Both are classics: one a carbonara, the other a cacio e pepe, both offering a cheesy silkiness that encourages you to wipe a finger through the leftover sauce in the bowl when you’re done (or perhaps I just have appalling table manners). One is studded with golden fatty chunks of guanciale, the other run through with a hefty dose of black pepper. It’s simple stuff but it is executed incredibly well.
Dessert options are a tiramisu and an affogato. Again, these are standard dishes from the Italian culinary songbook, but, again, the execution is excellent. The tiramisu hits all of the right notes: creamy, rich and satisfying. The affogato does what it says on the tin: a shot of espresso served with a ball of milk gelato combines nicely to create the perfect post-lunch pick-me-up.
It has to be said that this new lunch menu at Stuzzi is exceptional value for the quality of food. At £18.50 for two courses, or £23.50 for three courses, there are few places where you can access this standard of cooking for such a reasonable price. The options are a little more limited than the main menu, but the price leaves you with a little room for manoeuvre to add one or two things from the full menu if you feel like it.
If you’re looking for inspiration, I’ve heard the lasagne fritte is quite good.
Service options: Reservations required
Located in: Grand Arcade
Address: 7 Merrion St, Leeds LS1 6PQ
Hours: Sunday 12 noon until 6 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday to Saturday 12 noon until 10 p.m.
Phone: 0113 245 5323
All photography by Jac Williamson.
