Vanilla Black, 26 Swinegate
Vanilla Black does not serve your typical student fodder. The dress code is business-casual, reservations are recommended, and the prices are quite high. The setting is small and cosy and the staff are attentive, if a bit over-eager. The use of seasonal produce and regular rotation mean that the vegetarian menu (with vegan options) does not have a great range of selection.
Wines are not cheap (the cheapest bottle being £11.95) on account of their organic, vegetarian production, but beverages such as cider are reasonable. The menu is pretentious, using culinary phrases that confuse the average layman, and, when the food arrived, it looked correspondingly over-presented. Despite being sceptical of the small (but reasonably portioned) towers of food, the taste was superb. The mille feuille of truffled mushroom duxelle (with tomato relish and sage infused jus) provoked its own moments of ecstatic pleasure, though it became too rich after a while. The baked portabella mushroom and brioche crumble (with red cabbage marmalade and brown tamarind sauce) was not quite as striking, though still delicious; the cabbage marmalade didn’t seem to bring much to the dish, it seemed as though the chef just wanted to randomly add extra ingredients.
When it came to dessert, my companions chose the white and dark chocolate cheesecake with raspberry puree, while I decided on the cinnamon braised apple with vanilla pod ice cream and almond crisp. The cheesecake was divine, the raspberry perfectly complementing its richness. My apple arrived with layers of biscuit and ice cream. Attempts to eat the creation, however, required some hacking, and were disappointing after the standard of the previous dishes.
Despite my complaints of the pretentious nature of Vanilla Black’s dishes, however, the meal was amazing, satisfying to even ardent carnivores, and well worth the £20 per person.
Reviewed by
Emma Fite-Wassilak
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Betty Keane
Vanilla Black is certainly not an expensive restaurant for the food or the wine. On my numerous visits I have found staff to be very helpful and polite and than ‘over eager’. I would say this restaurant is great value for money and makes a great change from the vegetable lasagne option.