Marimonte, Huddersfield.
It's official. After my third visit to this wonderful place, Marimonte in Huddersfield is definitely my favourite restaurant.
Despite our University bringing more and more attention to Huddersfield, we are a relatively humble and unknown town. Mouth watering restaurants are few and far between, but little gems like this do exist!
This isn't so much a review as it is just me saying 'Oh my god, look at this amazing food!'. And seriously, it is amazing.
Nestled in one of the archways under the train line, Marimontes bold shop front glows out onto the road. It's just so enticing, in a quieter and darker end of town, the warmth emanates from the welcoming windows. It's not the windows themselves that are welcoming (unless large glass panes really excite you) it's what you can see beyond them...things like this!
Your mouth just filled with saliva didn't it? Well, I'm not bloody surprised.
The excellent, wonderful waitress that I cannot praise highly enough, Sara came to take our orders. We weren't ready and asked for another two minutes, we then went through the motions of this routine about 4 times before finally deciding on what we were having. You really can't blame us though, every single dish on the menu sounds fantastic and we inevitably ended up ordering way more than we needed because we just couldn't decide...
Just for a second, while I'm on the subject, I really need to talk about how great 'Sara the waitress' is. I refer to her as 'Sara the waitress' because I don't really know her and I may even have spelt her name wrong, but genuinely, she is the best waitress I think I have ever had. Don't get me wrong, all the staff are fantastic, but if I ever turn up at Marimonte and she isn't there I will probably weep...I'll definitely still eat there, but my food will taste salty from my many, many tears.
While taking ages to decide what we were going to eat, we had some much appreciated cocktails. Mine was a Pina Colada, and the poor, sad drivers had mocktails - all three of which went down a treat.
Ok, here's what we ate...
I ordered the Meza, because you can't not order the Meza. It's four amazing dips - hummus, tzatziki, baba ganoush and ezme and it comes with falafel, flatbread and dolmas. We also ordered extra falafel because it's delicious and we just couldn't help ourselves, and Jake ordered a big hunk of deep fried mozerella which is also A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
Just look at the delight on Sarah and Jakes faces!
I love starters like this, where it's every man for himself and you just grab as much of everything as you can before someone else has scoffed it. To be honest though, despite sharing the starters, they are so generous that it would have been enough without the mains, but lets not be silly, we didn't go there just to satisfy our appetites, we went to stuff our faces with delicious food until we couldn't possibly eat anymore!
With that in mind...on to the mains!!
Although I was a vegetarian until I was 15, I am now a passionate meat lover. That said, when it comes to Mediterranean food you just cant beat vegetables! They always seem to be cooked oh so perfectly in the most tantalising sauces, oils, herbs and spices that I just can't get enough. So I went for the stuffed Aubergine and holy moly! What a treat. I couldn't recommend this dish more highly.
Jake went for the Buffalo Burger and although he couldn't finish it (an absolute travisty - Jake is never beaten by food) he said it was a delicious delight.
Sarah had the Chicken Shawarma and a side of the Honey Glazed Chorizo from the Tapas menu (which I helped with) all of which was indescribably scrummy!
So there you have it, You now have absolutely no excuse not to visit Marimonte. It has something for everyone, you just can't go wrong.
...well...what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and book a table!! Oh, and you're welcome :)
