Tapas-style restaurants are becoming more popular and for good reason, they allow diners to enjoy small bits of different types of food for a similar price to a full meal in a sit down restaurant.
Initially the domain of Spain, the style of dining has since been adopted by various cuisines, perhaps most notably in Carlisle by The Andalusian and The Shabby Scholar, the latter of which offers its own form of ‘Cumbrian tapas’.
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So it’s not surprise that Sage and Vine, aptly a Mediterranean tapas and pizza restaurant at The Crescent, is able to fill tables throughout the week.
Me and my dining partner were in the mood for a casual bite to eat and a drink, something in between Wetherspoons and Penny Blue, but somewhere we haven’t been before.
Normally this need would be satiated by such eateries as Printyard, The Last Zebra or Namh Moon, a personal favourite that is sadly shut till February.
It’s somewhere we’ve always wanted to go but often settled, understandably, for known winners, but eager to try something new we entered in, gauchely without a booking, and were lucky to find a fairly premier table by the window.
Tempted by the many small plate options and sharing platters, notably the fish platter with its tantalising offering of cod cheeks and nduja prawns, we were swayed in favour of a hand-stretched wood-fired pizza each and some fries to share.
As is the style of tapas, the food comes out of the kitchen and onto your table when it’s done, so don’t expect an ordered course-based meal – this ensures the food is as hot and fresh as possible when it’s on your table.
Greeted and served by a very pleasant and polite waitress, we were soon supplied with our drinks, and shortly following, our piping hot pizzas.
The order:
Athena (feta, olive tapenade, sweet and spicy peppers, oregano and rocket) – £14
Local (fior di latte, local oak smoked coppa, thinly sliced courgettes and rocket) – £16
Skin on fries – £5
Chocolate brownie – £7.50
Charred pineapple dessert special – £7.50
250ml Enrico Serafino Gavi – £9
125ml Harlot Brut – £7
Floral spritz cocktail – £8.95
Gin and lemonade – £5.70
Pizza was exactly what I wanted by the time it arrived, truly I didn’t know what I fancied but had to decide, this was due to the great variety on offer here, there’s something for most tastes.
The pizza came unsliced and pleasantly asymmetrical with a base both crispy and chewy, perfectly flavoured and salted, and delightfully charred ever so slightly.
Athena pizza (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)
The toppings on the ‘Local’ were a first for us, as for us capocollo seemed something that only existed within the dreamy world of The Sopranos, and it was great – a slightly fermented flavour and rich fatty pork flavour that was nicely cut through by the tomato base and pungent rocket.
Local pizza (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)
The Athena seemed perfectly Mediterranean with feta and olives and went down as quickly as it was delivered to our table with ease.
I’m not exactly sure what the situation is but Sage and Vine seems linked to its neighbouring Italian restaurant La Mezzaluna, due mainly to the fact that my Apple Pay showed up as such after paying.
This may explain why the pizza rivalled many of the best from other Italian restaurants I’ve visited – flavoursome throughout each component and thoughtfully decided topping varieties for each one (on return I plan to try the Ocean, which as it sounds is topped with various seafood).
£16 may seem quite expensive for a pizza of roughly 10 inches in length, but considering that it’s hand-stretched with dough that actually tastes of something, is seasoned carefully and is fired in a proper pizza oven, and is also the standard price of your average main course and probably more filling, it’s reasonable.
The fries were where I would suggest a price reduction though, or at least more of them – there were enough but £5 is slightly teetering over the edge of steep, nevertheless, they were good, fairly similar to Five Guys which, of course, do the best fast food fries.
It was all going very well and then we were asked to see the dessert menu, at which point we channelled our inner Steve McManaman and had a look, of course.
As is usual now my dining partner opted for the warm chocolate brownie, a staple of restaurants in the UK, whereas I chose one of the specials – charred pineapple rings in rum with coconut ice cream and gingerbread crumb.
Charred pineapple (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)
There were no complaints for the near-impossible-to-ruin chocolate brownie, whereas my dessert was difficult for me to conceive of when reading its contents on the supplementary specials menu – how would this be served, and how would it come together?
Chocolate brownie (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)
A gorgeous idea for a dessert as the flavours were sublime, pairing superbly with my glass of Harlot (don’t flame me for ordering an aperitif with dessert – it’s a casual affair and I’m intent on destroying culinary class barriers).
It was also served in an equally gorgeous fashion, in the skillet in which it was cooked with the ice cream placed atop the pineapple – aesthetic indulgence.
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There’s something I wish more restaurants learned from Sage and Vine here in offering dessert specials and making bold choices for them.
Praise must be given to the cocktail as well, the floral spritz is exactly as it sounds, a zingy, light and ludicrously refreshing elixir of gin and prosecco with edible flowers as garnish, and their wine selection was quite good too.
I wish Sage and Vine another successful year and look forward to returning very soon.
Dining and Cooking