My housemate Simon had a birthday last week and for his birthday he decided to treat a group of his friends to dinner. We went to a really nice restaurant called The Blue Bicycle, here in York.

The menu had many delicious options to choose from; the decision made even more difficult to some when the waitress pointed out the specials board. After much deliberation I decided to go for the moderately priced “Seared Salmon on Carrot & Cumin Purée with Wilted Greens & Mussel Velouté” for £17.50. For all my non-UK readers, that’s about 28$ Canadian.

Laura also went for the fish and decided that the “Parsley crusted Loin of East Coast Cod with Leek & Bacon Mash, Leek purée & Bacon crisp” was worth a cool £20.75 (or 33$).

The boys at the table decided to go all out on our posh adventure and opted for the most expensive item on the menu (a mean £23/37$) and chose one of the specials; “Venison steak with Mustard Grain Potato Cake, Black Pudding wrapped in Parma Ham and a Beetroot Purée.”

* The pictures are dark because I didn’t want to use the flash and disrupt the rest of the restaurant. I wouldn’t say that I didn’t feel like I belonged there, because we were dressed up, we definitely looked as if we could belong, but we were at least 20 years younger than any of the other clientele. I can only assume that those diners were beyond the stage of their lives where taking pictures of food is regular fare.

The food was amazing. I didn’t hear one bad thing from anyone. It is definitely the kind of place I would take my family if they visited. The atmosphere was really neat, too. When you go to a fancy restaurant you expect everything around you to be fancy, and expensive, but this place had a really eclectic feel. The tables were rustic; thick planks of unfinished wood on heavy iron bases. Each chair was from a unique set and had different fabric on each seat. And my favourite part, cobalt blue water glasses.

Before any food arrived,  our waitress brought out plates of butter (in triangle shapes) and cooked garlic. I can’t say the garlic look that appetizing but it sure did smell good. No sooner did I suggest that bread would be ideal, did tiny terracotta pots with individual bread loaves appear from the kitchen.

At first I thought it was just an inventive way to serve bread but we all soon found out that each loaf was baked  in its pot! The bread was still hot and required a little knife play to get out, but it was delicious.

After dinner, we all ordered dessert (or pudding, as it was called on the menu). A popular choice was the sticky toffee pudding with lots of cream, complete with red currants on top. I, however, decided to try the dessert sampling platter (or assiette, if you’re French and classy), it’s meant to be shared but I thought I could handle it. It came with four different cakes: fudge brownie with pistachio and chocolate syrup; vanilla ice cream with candied fruit and whipped cream; sponge cake with red currants; and lemon and ginger cheesecake with blackberries on top.  I soldiered through that assiette, I tried every cake but I just couldn’t finish it. Luckily, Luke had just the right combination of beer, red wine, and champagne cocktails to finish the rest of my dessert in a few giant bites.

Once the food was gone, and the final sips of champagne were had, we packed up our table and headed back home where the much less classy birthday celebrations were to take place. Unfortunately for Simon, he fell asleep only an hour and half later. But don’t cry for him, he was in fine party form for the next two days.

Thanks, Simon!