Gusto, Cookridge, Leeds; 17 Oct 10

I’m not a late riser but even for me 0600 on a Sunday was a bit early. However I bribed myself with the promise of a decent breakfast and the wife and I set off for Bradford at 0630.

Breakfast was a treat at LP4 as le Petit Four is now known. We stopped at the one on the A1 by Peterbororough and enjoyed excellent fresh croissants and good coffee. Almost worth the early start. Click here for more info about LP4.

But why Bradford? Most people have an opinion of Bradford based either on knowledge of its large ethnic population or the possibley larger Eric Pickles who lead the City Council 1988-90 . That’s a pity because Bradford is pretty classy in parts and reflects the habit of robber barons in the 19th century of investing in public spaces to atone for their commercial excesses. I’ve no doubt that it has fine buildings. I know it’s got at least one excellent park viz Lister Park in the north of the city and that was where the Bradford half marathon was to start and finish. And number one daughter was participating and we went to support; she did well and just beat 2 hours which seems pretty good to me.

The other half of the deal of course after breakfast was lunch and we went to Gusto in Cookridge. Gusto is a small chain of classy Italian restuurants (click here) which began in Knutsford. Methinks its the Est,Est,Est! crew again and good for them if it is. I was told that this one is often very busy. Lunchtime today it was not and the other guests were all families with at least one babe in arms. Fortunately any noise they might have made was drowned out by some rather aggressive house music.

We didn’t exactly stress the operation. One beer (click here) between the four of us and that was for me. A couple of helpings of garlic bread to keep the vampires at bay and then a fairly humdrum set of main courses: lasagne, penne arabiata and beef carpaccio. Plus a hamburger. I also had an espresso to tell my stomach to shut down.

All perfectly good. I’m not going to complain about my wet glass or the mistake with our second order of garlic bread because both were addressed promptly and politely: the glass was dried and we got the garlic bread gratis. It was Sunday lunchtime after all and there was a general feeling of let’s not rush, just chill out a little. First impressions were positive; I do like the chain and I trust that it will look to Cambridge perhaps for its next opening.