Ego

What a great way to end the week… a fun Community Building Day with the students, real ale at the pub with colleagues, and date night with Mr. Snarky. While I was at the pub, Mr. Snarky did some research on where we would go to dinner. I wasn’t told where we were going, so it was a bit of a surprise, but I have to say as we walked up, I was pretty impressed. Part of me wants to cancel the lunch booking for my team next week and book us in at Ego so I can try more of their menu! Ego is right next door to the Winter Gardens and just across the square from The Crucible. You can park at Arundel Gate, about a 5 minute walk away.
When we arrived, we were seated quite quickly… especially for a Friday night. The restaurant is stunning… glass everywhere, beautiful lantern-​like light fixtures, it really is quite romantic. While looking at the menu, I pointed out the specials board, as I did so, one of the waitresses noticed that we were looking at it and brought it over for us to look at. This was typical of the service throughout our meal… attentive, quick, friendly… service alone should get five stars!
Not sure why it is called Ego, but they specialize in Mediterranean food. And… if you have had quite a bit to drink (you know if you went to the pub with colleagues for a couple of hours beforehand) and fancy a kebab… they do have kebabs. Posh kebabs, but still kebabs :) I did not order a kebab because I spotted the Andelucian Pork Loin! Pork Loin wrapped in Proscuitto with a smoky, creamy Sherry sauce served with Savoy Cabbage is definitely heaven for me. Mr. Snarky decided to go with a steak and they had two choices that night: a sirloin or a ribeye.
They do have a Prix Fixe menu, available until 7 pm on weeknights. However, the Andelucian Pork Loin isn’t on there! Our starters came out quite quickly, although we didn’t order anything very complicated: Mr. Snarky had the Chicken Liver Pâté and I had the Sauteed Garlic Wild Mushrooms. Mr. Snarky had not anticipated having to break through the layer of clarified butter on top. He still doesn’t know how he feels about that, although he did really enjoy the pâté and the tomato marmalade. His one complaint, there wasn’t enough of the grilled bread for all of the pâté. The mushrooms were nice, but I still not a fan of chesnuts. It did mention lemon, I got a hint of it, but a bit more acidity… either a bit more lemon or more of the Balsamic Glaze that was used to dress the plate would make this perfect.
Our mains came out and everything looked stunning! Mr. Snarky went with the sirloin in the end and it was so tender and juicy. It was served with the usual chips, tomatoes, peppercorn sauce. The pork looked wonderful, served in a bowl, pork to one side with sauce, and the beautiful green cabbage on the other side. The waitress had asked if I wanted another side as it did not come with potatoes, etc. Thinking this was a prompt that I should, I ordered a side of the new potatoes. In reality, you don’t need them and if I am being completely honest, the new potatoes were the most plain part of the meal. No butter, no seasoning… good for dipping in the sauce from the pork, but they don’t really add anything to the meal. The pork loin was beautifully tender and juicy. I think one of the best parts of this dish is actually the prosciutto wrapped around the pork loin was so crispy, even with the sauce over it. I thought the sauce was going to be a sweet sauce with apricot and sherry, but it was actually more smoky. And if you are like me and worried that the cabbage would be drowning in cream, it isn’t, in fact there wasn’t much cream and that was fine with me as the sauce over the pork was already quite creamy.
I was not planning on having dessert, but Mr. Snarky said yes when the manager came over and asked us if we would like to view the dessert and coffee menu as he cleared the table. They have a nice selection of desserts, most fairly traditional with a bit of a twist… like a Bread and Butter Pudding made with Panettone or Eton Mess with Stem Ginger. Typically I would have gone with Bread and Butter Pudding or Sticky Toffee Pudding, but I wanted something a bit lighter because of the gorgeous food we had just devoured. I decided to go with the Lemon Tart while Mr. Snarky went with the Eton Mess. The lemon tart was lovely, but Mr. Snarky was not really a fan of the stem ginger in the Eton Mess. I think it was more of a texture issue, but I asked if the ginger enhanced the flavor and he said not really. Besides that, the rest of the dinner was really nice. It is a bit more upscale and it is a bit pricier, but based on our dinner, we would be willing to have another date night here. By the time we were headed out at 9, all the tables were full! Definitely a hidden gem!

Nice and modern upmarket restaurant located in Sheffield city centre.
Not cheap, but the food was nice and the staff were great.