AL FRESCO dining at West Park Café is an experience in itself. Sharing a plate of cold appetisers from a pavement-side table is always going to be colourful.

But dining in front of a parade of shops close to a well-used bus stop added new meaning to the European art of eating outdoors.

Between sips of chilled Pinot Grigio (£14.95 per bottle) and snippets of after work chat, we soaked up the cosmopolitan sights and sounds.

Music drifted in from one of the first floor flats above the restaurant where young student types were laid about on a convenient rooftop to catch the last of the evening's sunshine.

Close by a group of women shared jokes with an elderly man as they waited for the next bus.

Across the road a group of teenagers took advantage of a downhill gradient to whizz along the Otley Road on skateboards in the direction of Headingley.

Behind us staff locked up for the night at a nearby nail salon.
Back at the restaurant a lone waiter was doing his best to juggle a handful of covers both inside and out.

We eyed the evening menu at leisure lapping up the laid back ambience of our surroundings, which had rubbed off on us customers.

One lone diner, who had been reading the paper between courses, struck up conversation with the couple sitting at the next table when their dogs forged an impromptu friendship.

Tearing ourselves away from people-watching we made a determined effort to make the toughest decision so far that night – what we were going to eat.

On first arrival we had been warmly welcomed and actively encouraged to help ourselves to menus and choose a table.

As it was a warm evening we opted for the attractive if not outright quirky option of sitting outside at this unusual location.

Furniture was simple and decoration minimal with a few neatly arranged planters marking the restaurant's boundaries.

Refreshingly the area was not swamped with outdoor heaters or smokers. There was nothing pretentious, disingenuous or fussy in sight and despite any sense of urgency, drinks were brought to us surprisingly swiftly.

While the daytime menu offers the typical and traditional, the evening menu is somewhat eccentric and confusing.

It was hard to understand what type of food was being served.

The menu featured Thai, Spanish, American, French, Morroccan, English and Greek culinary influences.

It was also teetering on the wrong side of affordable with mains averaging at £10 a dish, although this seems to be a typical price just about anywhere today when eating out.

On the plus side, there was an inspiring variety of dishes to choose from.

A dozen or so starters included salmon and prawn fish cakes (£5.50) and homemade duck spring rolls (£5.50).

Mains included pork loin chop (£11.95) in a cranberry, coriander and ginger marinade served with Parementier potatoes and side salad, and goat's cheese, aubergine, Portobello mushroom and beef tomato stack (£9.95).

There was also a full list of gourmet burgers (from £8) and salads (from £9).

We were instantly drawn to the mezzo (mix) of cold meats, roasted vegetables, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, hummus and pitta bread (£9.95) for two.

And we also fell for a portion of corn fritters (£5.50) and their promise of crispness.

It is probably impossible to go wrong when plating up chorizo, smoked ham and sun-dried tomatoes, in terms of both presentation and flavour.

However, while the meats and vegetables sat pretty and tasted delicious, the olives were hard and bland, the pitta barely warm and possibly stale. Voicing our disappointment, more by way of explanation as to why we had hardly touched the hummus, having had nothing to dip into it, our criticism was met with a contemplation on what exactly was the tastiest type of bread.

Pitta is usually mine, when fresh and well toasted.

The corn fritters lay limp on the plate, indelicately plonked next to two rashers of bacon – sour cream and chilli sauce were on the side.
The vegetable portions had perhaps been too large to fry, either way they had arrived heavily oil-soaked and far from crunchy.

For the main course, I had chosen leg of lamb skewers, served alongside a warm chick-pea salad and raita, a yoghurt dip (£11.95).

The cubed meat was lightly infused with Morroccan spices, perhaps cumin and coriander.

The chick-peas were delicate and wafted similar aromas, but beside a hint of onion there were few other signs of the promised salad.

My dining partner had chosen the Malaysian swordfish curry with jasmine rice and sugar snap peas (£11.95).

Having expected a saucy, zingy fish dish, he was instead served a yellow-tinged steak, that was pleasant to taste, but a tad on the dry side and far from exotic.

Perhaps the jasmine rice would have added the absent dazzle, had it ever arrived.

Slightly jaded despite a glowing start to our evening out, we ordered dessert – one coffee and walnut cake (£1.95) to takeaway.

Sadly that too turned out to be rather average.

Perhaps the owners of the West Park Café never meant their premises to compete with the other restaurants in the area.

Perhaps it was just meant to be what it is – a licensed café.

That would be fine, but to achieve this they need to tame a currently courageous line of dishes and slash the price tags.

FACTFILE
The West Park Café, 251 Otley Road, Leeds, LS16 5LQ.
Opening times: Evening menu is served from 6pm to 10.30pm Monday to Saturday. West Park Café also opens for breakfast and lunch seven days of the week.
Telephone: 0113 274 2222
Email: enquiries@westparkcafe.org
Website: www.west parkcafe.org

RATING
Food: 2/5
Value: 2/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Service: 3/5