Description: Chile – 13/11/09The weather outside was distinctly chilly. But the welcome in Chile was warm. Hidden down an alleyway off Cross Street (between Subway and Johnsons, right by Albert Square) a doorway leads downstairs to this secluded restaurant. Like its near-neighbour the equally-subterranean
Armenian Taverna, Leoni’s has been a fixture on the Manchester dining scene for decades now. But Leoni himself is long-gone; the cellar is now Chilean-owned, something which injects a touch of latin spice to an otherwise standard Italian menu of pizzas and pastas.
The waiter hung up our coats and Paul, Ana and I were escorted to our table. Tango posters, panpipes and charangos hung on the walls… next to a large photo of Luciano Pavarotti, presumably here in this very restaurant. I hoped they’d had chance to restock since!
The menu had something for everyone. Lots of it would be recognisable from your local Italian, with pizzas and pastas and familiar antipasti. But there is also a list of tapas available too. The main courses reflect this cross-continental fare – rib-eye steak sits alongside paella, meatballs alla Napoletana and king prawns piri piri. But there several dishes with a distinct South American heritage. Pollo Boracho (‘Drunken Chicken’) came is a sauce of cream, pineapple, and four different liqueurs. The Parillada was a mixed grill of rib-eye, lamb chops, marinated chicken and chorizo which cast my salivating mind back to the
Argentinian steaks and
Brazilian churrascaria I had enjoyed so far this year. At £19.95 though it looked a pretty substantial dish.
Instead I ordered
Pollo Andino (Andean Chicken). This was flame-blackened chicken breasts marinated in lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and ‘herbs from the Andes’. It could have done with a bit more of the lemon juice; as it was it tasted pretty like a chicken Kiev with garlic butter. But there was just about enough of a zing there to give it a difference. And its accompaniments were impressive – roast potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot. Oh, and a little smattering of salad. And the veg was well cooked, not over-cooked. It was a very nice addition to the meal, and slightly unexpected. Decent value for £11.95.
Paul had chosen
Latin American-style lamb skewers (£12.95). This was actually just the one skewer, a wide, lethal looking bit of cutlery, threaded with sizzling cubes of lamb and slices of onion and pepper. It came with a timbale of rice and a pot of a chimichurri-like dip.
The Italian section of the menu was explored by Ana. Her £9.50
calzone - essentially a filled and folded over pizza – was absolutely massive. Frankly I’m astonished she managed to finish it off!
To accompany the meal Paul and I thought it was only fair to enjoy a bottle of wine. To reflect its dual influences Leoni’s has two different house reds and whites – an Italian and a Chilean. Of course, we ordered the Chilean, a £13.50 bottle of Santa Serena cabernet sauvignon-merlot. The rest of the named wines were a mix of South American (Chilean and Argentinian) and European (predominantly Italian and Spanish) vintages.
After all that we were too stuffed for dessert. What I did do though was order a liqueur. I had seen that the menu boasted a home-made traditional Chilean liqueur called
cola de mono for £2.95. Its name literally means ‘tail of the monkey’! Thankfully it didn’t actually taste like a primate’s derriere. Flavour-wise it was a vaguely coffee-tasting spirit, a bit like a Bailey’s Irish Cream but with a slightly sharper backnote. And indeed it is made from coffee, milk and
grappa-like
aguardiente (‘firewater’), flavoured with vanilla and cloves. It was quite nice. Which was a good thing as three more glasses came complimentary with the bill. And considering the fact that Ana wasn’t keen on trying hers that essentially meant that I ended up having three glasses of the stuff, on top of my half-bottle of wine. One would almost think they were trying to get me drunk. All the same, it certainly warmed me up prior to facing the chill of the streets again.
Leoni’s is certainly somewhere I would visit again. They have now started aggressively marketing some good value offers – in particular a pre-theatre two course menu for £7.95, and a £4.95 offer of any pizza or pasta and a soft drink at lunchtimes.
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