It's always good to have a reason to celebrate – and these days there just seems to be more and more reasons.
Now my sons are grown up and have girlfriends my extended family seems to just, well, extend even more. Now I not only spend time with my own immediate family but with the families of girlfriends Hannah and Anna (yes, I know, the names are confusing). It’s just so nice that we all get on well together and enjoy each other’s company.
The latest reason to celebrate was the birthday of Hannah’s mum Danita and saw six of us enjoy a meal out in the neighbouring town of Halifax at Ricci’s Tapas & Cicchetti in the converted mill premises of Dean Clough, formerly home to the world’s largest carpet factory.
Today Dean Clough is once again a bustling place, home to offices, art galleries, music and theatre, conference facilities, a Travelodge, a cooking school and various retail outlets. The high calibre of its regeneration and arts programmes is widely recognised.
One of the success stories is Ricci’s which has been open in Dean Clough for just over a year. Huddersfield-born Michael Ricci already had a successful restaurant in Halifax town centre and has more recently created this unique eating spot in Dean Clough, bringing the tastes of Venetian Italy and rustic Spain to the old mill.
Driving into the vast car park on a pleasant early summer evening it was nice to see people sat outside on the heated al fresco seating area. It wasn’t quite warm enough for us so we chose to sit in the cosy, stylish indoor restaurant which was already busy just after 6pm.
Ricci’s specialises in Spanish style tapas and cicchetti which are small snacks and side dishes, typical of the Mediterranean and including olives, breads etc.
Our waiter recommended we choose four tapas dishes each so we scanned the menu to make our selection. After a lot of ‘to-ing and fro-ing’, we eventually made up our minds and ordered.
My four personal choices were pesto bruchetta, Italian meatballs in tomato sauce, chargrilled chicken on Romesco sauce and chunky chips with salsa brava. In total we ordered 24 dishes which seems an awful lot, but they did soon disappear. As for presentation, this restaurant gets 10 out of 10 and some of the dishes really were works of art on a plate.
We remarked that these dishes were some of the best tapas any of us had eaten and although all were delicious, there were one or two stand-out dishes which really were the stars of the show.
A couple of us ordered the burrata mozzarella with beetroot and sunblushed tomato salad and salted caramel macadamia nuts. For a tapas dish, this looked like a meal in itself and we all dived in to have a taste. Mmm, it was really delicious and as Peter Kay would say, a real taste sensation’.
The beetroot and sunblushed tomato offered rich and delicious textures and the whole dish was a perfect plate of food.
Similarly other top dishes included panfried scallops with cauliflower puree, curried cauliflower florets and nori pepper puree and the panfried lamb chops with patatas bravas, samphire and baby capers. Both these dishes were off the specials board and were, indeed special, both taste wise and in appearance.
Because tapas dishes arrive a few at a time due to cooking time we never felt overwhelmed and steadily munched our way through the lot, sharing tastes with each other.
Tapas is a very relaxed and casual way to eat but do be careful not to keep ordering and ordering lots of little dishes as they do stack up when the bill arrives. I’ve been caught out with tapas before so I’m very aware of this now.
Could we eat a pudding? You bet! Five of us were very up for a pudding and went back to the menu choosing tiramisu, mountain and pine-nut tart, sticky toffee pudding, vanilla cheesecake and the bizarrely named grandpa’s balls (Italian ricotta fritters with bitter chocolate sauce).
Needless to say this last option caused much hilarity, particulary among those of us who had had a drink or two. Personally I love tiramisu and it lived up to expectations, oozing with an alcoholic and coffee combination.
At the end of the evening we even managed to fit in a little taste of birthday cake which Hannah had made for her mum – a nice end to a lovely evening spent in very pleasant surroundings with excellent company, service and food.
F.Mill, Ground Floor Dean Clough, Halifax, HX3 5AX
Tel: 01422 410204
Website: www.riccistapasandcicchetti.co.uk
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday noon to late (last orders 9pm)
Children: Welcome
Disabled access: Yes
The Bill: £164.35 for six (including £31 for drinks)
Would you go back? Absolutely, a lovely place to enjoy a meal out.
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