J Baker’s Bistro Moderne
Restaurant: J Baker’s Bistro Moderne
Address: 7 Fossgate
Jeff’s ‘Grazing Plate’ Lunch/Dinner: £10/£35
Rating: * * * * *
If, like me, you have suddenly and unexpectedly become a third-year undergraduate, steeped to the balls in essay deadlines, thrashing about in mounting debt like a cormorant in an oil slick, and with one eye permanently tracking the job market, you may think you recognise in the J. Baker’s website that most familiar of friends: the embellished CV. Well, to understand is to forgive. But in any case, you’d be wrong. There is, admittedly, the occasional handful of dust – a purple paragraph of gagging praise that may not entirely represent the opinions of the review it was lifted from… possibly… but unlikely.
This is a dazzling CV. Jeff Baker was the first Leeds chef ever to hold a Michelin star. In 2005 he was named Yorkshire Chef of the Year, and both Jeff and his first solo project, J. Baker’s, score highly in UK gastro-polls. A cursory glance at the website will confirm all of the above, along with a veritable trophy cabinet of favourable ratings and positive local press reviews.
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Quality – whether it’s a perfectly fried foie du canard or a lightly steamed university education – comes at a price. If you’re planning an evening meal, expect to pay no less than £35 a head for three courses, wine, tipping, etc. The ‘Grazing Plate’ or ‘Magnificent Seven’, as I have come to think of it, is a glorious pageant of seven courses: congenial comrades, but each one rivalling the next for ingenuity and panache.
Recently, the Grazing Plate has been better than ever. It begins with gunslinging wisehead Yul Brynner. This time he was disguised as a carpaccio of red mullet with sweet pepper accompaniment. He was succulent. Food of such genuine good quality could never fairly be accused of affectation, but the menu does, at times, go wildly astray over names and descriptions – a tendency that was exemplified by the course that followed: pumpkin ‘study’. This proved to be an aerated soup and was delicious. Nevertheless, the mind shrinks in terror from being imminently presented with ‘game bird sinfonia’, ‘prelude in endive’ or maybe ‘nocturne in muted sloe’.
Quickly succeeding the ‘study’ was a wispy cloud of pollock – an increasingly popular stand-in for cod on chip-shop menus. This came with a dollop of anchovy paté riding some sort of savoury, upmarket Dorito. A perfect, tender quail dish followed and, afterwards, a well-judged beef noisette with seared chicken liver and runny duck egg yolk sealed in a light filo parcel. My only complaint about the dessert – summer fruit buried in sorbet and lemon mousse – was that it was more than just a tasting portion. But that’s scarcely a complaint. The meal wound down with a stimulating epilogue of local and European cheeses – including a morsel of ‘Welsh smoked’.
I can think of few better ways to spend £35, but if you’re concerned about costs, consider the £10 lunch menu. J. Baker’s offers good food with personality and pride – a rare combination; rarer still is the presentation of simple ingredients with artistry and humility, often heralded by titles as unassuming as ‘sausage and beans’.
N.B. Jeff may be Michelin-rated, but he has feelings. Leftovers, I am told, are not received well in the kitchen.
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