Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate

Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate is the casual Spanish restaurant in York where we had dinner. Having had our fair share of English food, we thought that a simple Spanish meal would be nice for a change. Another reason is that it is a restaurant that is near Gray’s Court Hotel where we were staying. It is only a five minute walk down the road.

Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate, York — Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate (Day)

We passed by Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate in the day and were impressed by its nice cosy feel. The menu prices were also reasonable. We made a reservation to return in the evening. Ambiente Tapas has two outlets in York. The other one is at Fossgate, near the southern part of the old city.

Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate York restaurant

The atmosphere in York in the day is busy and brisk. Many visitors throng the city centre in the peak period from 9am to 4 pm. The period between 4pm to 6pm is the best. Most of the tourists have left. We can take pictures of places without people inside. The low, warm sunlight makes the place look better. At night, York is a very quiet place. We were glad that we picked a place very close to the hotel. Some walking tours of York are conducted in the evenings. I think they have haunted places and ghosts as themes. These are not our cup of tea, but still we were happy to see human activity in the streets, some of which were not as well lit as we would have liked.

Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate turned out to be quite a popular place. It was not a full house, but there was a regular ebb and flow of customers.

Here are pictures of the Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate menu. It contains the familiar Spanish tapas items and paella. We thought that we would order a round of some of the tapas first.

We had a bit of surprise when the tapas arrived. We had thought they would be small appetiser-sized dishes. But they were substantial. The four tapas filled the table and were more than enough for the entire meal.

Croquetas de Pescado (salmon & hake croquettes)

The salmon & hake croquettes served with a wild mushroom aioli (£4.95, picture) were the first to arrive The kind of tapas that we like to snack on. The braised beef cheek served with an onion purée (£5.95, picture below) tasted fine but the beef content was not very high. All the dishes went very well with the Spanish red wine that we ordered by the glass.

The best value for money award goes to the huge plate of aubergine fritters tossed in garlic, mint & chilli syrup (£4.50, picture above). The big slices of aubergine reminded us of vegetable tempura. Our final tapas of green beans pan-fried in garlic with sun-dried tomatoes & pine nuts (£4.50, picture below) looked and tasted like a dish of stir fried vegetables, Chinese style.

Our meal at Ambiente Tapas Goodramgate turned out to be very different from what we expected. The humble tapas that we had were certainly not gourmet quality but certainly good enough. The prices were very friendly, even without considering the large portions served. Our entire meal cost for two with wine was around £32.

Ratings:
Food: 3
Service: 4
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs