Engine House Cafe

So, I’ve got a Highlife card (would highly recommend, although some good places have dropped out recently) and first visited this place about 18 months ago. Holbeck ‘Urban Village’ was just starting to spring up (basically it was the arse-​end of nowhere) and we were the only people in the restaurant on a Saturday night. We enjoyed our meal but didn’t think the place would last very long.
We were glad to find it was still open when we decided to go back a couple of weeks ago. Again it was Saturday night and this time it was quite busy. I’ve never been during the day but in the evening it definitely has the feel of a restaurant rather than a café. It’s set in, you guessed it, some sort of old engine room with attractive brick walls, windows on three sides and some interesting metalwork.
I’m no expert on food genres but I would describe the Engine House as serving English bistro style food, hearty and tasty. There’s plenty of fish on the menu, loads of good cuts of meat and a decent specials board. There’s not loads for veggies but we had the butternut squash risotto which was very good. I would also recommend the scallops with chorizo starter. Unfortunately we’re usually too full to eat puddings, as was the case on this occasion. All the sweets are on show in the fridge for you to eye up and I must say, they did look good… maybe next time.
There’s no beer on draught but they have bottles of Becks etc and we haven’t sampled the wine.
Prices fairly standard really; £4 to £8 for a starter, mains £10 to £15 for a steak. not super value but not going to break the bank either, particularly if you have a high life card.
All in all I definitely recommend you check this place out, it’s quite small so has an intimate feel and all the food I have eaten there has been really good. The newly developed area of Holbeck is starting to get a nice little buzz about it, so get yourself down there.