Ambiente has become embedded as a firm favourite in the city thanks to its well judged balance of accessibility and value that doesn’t lead it to skimp on quality. I’ve eaten at both of the York branches many times over the years and can’t recall anything in the way of disappointment, so the news of their developing at home offering was welcome. This Dine at Home Family Feast comes in at £50 and is made up of five tapas dishes of your choosing from a selection and a paella kit that’s intended to feed a family of four, give or take making allowances for appetite. That price also includes a bottle of wine or a four pack of beer.

I think it’s fair to say that in some regards, tapas is a concept that lends itself extremely well to reheating at home but I certainly wouldn’t say the same about paella, something that in my experience doesn’t take well to reheating. To dodge that potential mis-step the paella comes presented in kit form, requiring a bit of engagement to bring to the table. Thankfully that doesn’t involve anything too taxing and presents the perfect opportunity to pop the accompanying tapas dishes in the oven. The paella is simple to prepare, really just involving combining a few bags of ingredients with some rice and water so everything comes to the table along with a glass of wine with minimal fuss.

As predicted, Ambiente at home hit all the notes that you’d expect from Ambiente, the selection of dishes doing everything I hoped. I should point out that the quantities were certainly generous, comfortably stretching to four portions (two meals for two people). The tapas dishes featured Ambiente staple “Albondigas”, pork & beef meatballs in tomato, chorizo and olive sauce, blue cheese and walnut stuffed mushrooms, shredded chicken with peppers and spices, roast aubergine stuffed with feta and some cubes of tender pork belly. With a bit of bread to mop up the sauces, this quintet made a very decent meal for two in itself and felt very much like a meal in Ambiente, even if it did brutally expose the cheapness of our crockery once again.

The paella also turned out very convincingly, the vegetarian version opted for here being not missing any meat or seafood elements. A generous hit of saffron helped things along and the result was another comfortingly flavoursome and hearty meal that gave a sense of occasion.

I’m not sure how much I like the term “new-normal”, its implication that the status quo we’d blundered our way to before was in some way normal but that’s certainly not to say I don’t want huge swathes of it back, with restaurants and hospitality predictably high in my list of priorities. This service from Ambiente is a welcome and accomplished glimpse back to some of the wonderful things we may have been guilty of taking a touch for granted a few months ago.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this meal, opinions are impartial.

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When we visited to check out the new menu, we were leaving 4 week old baby YoaF out of our hands for the first time so resisted the temptation to linger in the front bar over a flight of sherry, rather settling straight into a snug corner table in the downstairs dining area for a chat about the new menu. There may be a few branches of Ambiente these days (Leeds and Hull joining the York sites) but the willingness to give distinct menus makes sure that while the DNA of the experience remains true throughout, each venue keeps a sense of individuality.

We kicked things off with a Spanish seafood platter to share which came with a generous portion of bread and “picos de pan” (reminiscent of breadsticks) to mop up a side of salt cod pate. Our server had raved about the new Cantabrian anchovies so I made a made sure I was rude enough to grab the first mouthful and confirm that the recommendation was more than just an employee’s hyperbole. The Boquerones that have frequently appeared on Ambiente menus for some time remain as delicious as one would expect good quality marinated anchovies to be but the newer variant brings boast worthy subtlety and depth along with the sharp anchovy. Elsewhere on the platter we enjoyed fabulous tuna belly and salt cured tuna along with tender thinly sliced octopus.

Having enjoyed our seafood, we moved onto a couple of hearty meat dishes. A “Bola de Cordero” slow roast lamb shoulder croquette on squash puree revealed plenty of rich, slow cooked shredded lamb to contrast with the crunchy exterior. Not the most subtle dish but absolutely satisfying. Next up came “Ragu Española” which put braised beef shin with pasta. I’d not expected to be so impressed with pasta on this trip but the short strands here were superb and made a luxurious dish with the generous and rich beef ragu it shared a bowl with.

For some vegetable relief we chose wild mushroom, kale and feta empanadas garnished with oven roasted grapes in masala and a balsamic beetroot with baby onion salad salad. The baby onions with the beetroot were dyed red by the root veg leading to a very red plate of food broken by dill garnish; any lack of visual variety being made up for by an abundance of flavour.

I was really impressed with the new menu that offered plenty of great, bold flavours at really sensible prices. Our lunch attracted a bill of less than fifty pounds including a glass of sherry each. While the standard for eating out in York has risen markedly over the last five years, Ambiente certainly hasn’t been left behind and the Goodramgate branch remains a welcoming place to enjoy great food and sherry.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this meal; all opinions are impartial.

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