Will DAVID MARTIN be flying high after a visit to Kites Restaurant in York?

AFTER a largely fruitless evening of late-night shopping, it was with fond anticipation that we climbed the steep flight of wooden stairs, up above the Christmas lights of York's caf quarter, to Kites Restaurant.

The restaurant, and the connecting wine bar, are well-regarded members of the exclusive club of bars and eating places that has grown up in the Back Swinegate and Grape Lane city centre backstreets over the years.

The restaurant - separate from the bar and reached by a separate stair, is a distinctive mix of the austere (wooden floors, painted stone walls) and the intimate (dim lights, flickering candles and the festive stars on the windows). It's done out in a striking decor of deep, twilight blues and warm oranges, with a few sympathetic paintings on the walls.

It's obviously a popular place for upmarket dining and wining, as a long table was awaiting an office Christmas do, and during the evening the rest of the tables gradually filled up largely with well-heeled-looking couples.

We did spot what looked suspiciously like a table of students - I'm sure my own distant student days were characterised more by baked beans from Kwiksave than by terrines and parfaits...

We were quickly seated, and studied the menu and the evening specials' list. There was a good, if not stunning range of impressively-titled dishes, largely meat and fish-based. A three-course Christmas evening menu was available, for £18.95 per person, but we were drawn inexorably to some of the tempting dishes on the board - which proved our financial downfall.

Our young waitress made an abrupt return to find out what we wanted. Although the service was fine all evening, the two waitresses on duty did seem to be playing a variation on "good cop, bad cop", one friendly, one silent and disinterested - and you don't really want a waitress turning her nose up at you when you're about to part with a significant chunk of a week's wages.

We ordered a bottle of Sandford Shiraz (£14.50) - the wine list started at around £13 - and some bread was brought to the table. Our starters arrived promptly enough. I'd gone for the goat's cheese and red pepper salad (£5.95), which was excellent, the cheese and the bread it arrived on were warm and tasty, the salad spot on, in a lemony dressing.

Vix, however, was less taken by her chicken liver parfait, with green tomato and home made apple chutney (£4.95), finding it a bit overpowering.

For the main course, I chose the seared tuna steak, (£15.50) partly because it was described as 'with squid ink risotto' which seemed such an exotic idea that I had to try it. I'd had my doubts though as it also came with a glaze of goat's cheese and sweet chilli sauce, and I'd already has the goat's cheese starter. Unfortunately, glaze turned out to mean 'slab' - about the same mass as the tuna. But despite my self-inflicted cheese overkill, the tuna and the risotto were very pleasant.

Vix went for a festive option, escalopes of turkey stuffed with cranberry and lemon with sage (£13.50). However, she found the combination of strong flavours - cranberry, lemon and, unexpectedly, mint - overwhelmed the turkey somewhat.

Our waitress had asked if we wanted vegetables with our main courses, however we had not realised that meant we'd be charged an extra £3.90 for a bland side plate of boiled potatoes, carrots and cauliflower, which was taking liberties, we felt, given the cost of the main courses.

Desserts, lemon tart (£4.95) for me and panna cotta with raspberries (£4.50) for Vix were tasty enough and well-presented but without being amazing.

The bill did prove a nasty shock, not only because it added up to a hefty £67.75 for us both, but as the restaurant had whacked a ten per cent "optional" service charge on top rather than leaving the tip to our discretion, the total came to (sharp intake of breath) £74.53.

Kites is a well-regarded restaurant, with quality food and a distinctive look and feel, that obviously has its admirers. But the combination of the hidden extra charges and the slightly frosty ambience and welcome made me feel that in a price bracket where you beg comparison with the likes of Meltons and the Blue Bicycle, it didn't do enough to win me over.

Factfile:

Food: Good

Service: Three

Value: Expensive

Ambience: Exclusive

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Tel: 01904 641750