La Cachette

31 Huddersfield Road, Elland

Venue La Cachette

Tel 01422 378833

Website www.lacachette-elland.com

Opening hoursMonday to Saturday 12 noon to 2.30pm; Monday to Thursday 6pm to 9.30pm and Fridays and Saturdays 6pm to 10pm.

Children Yes

Disabled access Yes

The bill £54.15

ELLAND seems like a ghost town on a weekday evening. Although a Thursday, the streets felt to be deserted and though a school Prom Ball was going on at Bertie’s Banqueting Rooms even that failed to break the calm which was strange.

How can 16-year-olds be so quiet?

Still, no problem parking and getting a table at La Cachette which has now been established in Elland for well over 10 years.

It’s bistro cuisine, but you’ll realise that the moment you walk through the door as the bar has that typical cosmopolitan French feel. It’s virtually in widescreen.

Added to that and the fact that the first voice you hear has a strong French accent in the form of assistant restaurant manager Jean-Pierre Barriere and you could imagine yourself to be on the other side of the Channel – or La Manche as we’d be better call it to keep in the Gallic spirit of things.

Although it has an à la carte menu, La Cachette also offers a menu du soir that’s three courses with a half-bottle of wine per person.

Although maths was never my strong point, that equated to a full bottle for myself and wife Ruth so we went for the red.

Oddly enough not French. The house red is a Merlot from Chile that’s soft with ripe plum and red berry flavours.

Oh well, c’est la vie.

The restaurant meanders around the centrepiece wooden bar and our table was a step up so we were sitting right next to it.