Vasco Lounge Bar & Restaurant Around Town Rotherham - Winter 2007 - www.aroundtownpublications.co.uk Having previously enjoyed a drink in the downstairs wine bar at Vasco, we were eagerly looking forward to dining out in the upstairs restaurant. Is one of South Yorkshire’s new dining out venues, and certainly a great addition to the village of Wickersley, Vasco is already earning a great reputation among lovers of fine food as ‘the’ place to enjoy fabulous contemporary English food. Highly experienced head chef Peter and his young team are carving out a name for themselves with diners of all ages who simply appreciate a great plate of food, beautifully presented and oozing with quality and style. Walk into Vasco, both upstairs and downstairs, and you’ll see contemporary décor which is both stylish but welcoming. Upstairs the restaurant is fitted with solid wood tables, an oak floor, chic upholstered chairs, chic wallpaper and red leather seating. The open kitchen lends itself to the trendy feel and blends in with the overall ambience. The only comment I would make is that it might be better if the lights were turned down just a jot – although this is a personal thing as I quite like subdued lighting. After being seated, we turned our attention to the menu and soon found plenty to choose from. The menu is, by no means vast, but there is something for all tastes, including vegetarian. The wine list too is quite extensive, including four house wines of which we chose a particularly pleasant Andes Peaks red. Three of us were eating tonight and we all opted for different choices – I chose Smoked Feta and Roast Tomato Tart to start while my two pals went for Hand Dived Scallops and Smoked Salmon Plate. Service was snappy and we didn’t have to wait long for our food at all. Good job! We were hungry after a hard day’s work. All three arrived beautifully presented – in particular the salmon which was arranged on a white rectangular plate and looked fabulous I can only truly speak for my feta and tomato tart but this really was the ‘bees-knees’. It was so flavoursome and with a hint of basil, it was just perfect. With three clean plates waiting to be collected, I think it’s safe to say all three starters were spot-on. Moving onto mains and again it was three different options – I went for Marinated Chicken Breast served with mushroom linguine, asparagus and a cream sauce while my friend chose Sweet Chilli and Crab Stuffed Monkfish wrapped in Parma ham with crushed new potatoes and a beurre blanc sauce. Our ‘steak man’ lived up to his name and ordered Coppice Farm Beef Fillet, served with root vegetables, Lyonnaise potatoes and a rich red wine sauce. All three were just so good! Clean plates and full tums showed we really were enjoying our food and our visit to Vasco. Well, we just had to try a pudding – but let’s share one, we decided. Deciding on the Crème Brulee Trio, we were delighted with the presentation of three small individual brulees – one chocolate, one lemon and one vanilla. Personally I preferred the lemon but all three were delicious. Being full, we decided against coffees and sipped our wine for a little while longer while contemplating Vasco and this great addition to the Rotherham social scene. When asked about the choice of restaurant name, owner Trevor Dakin and his daughter Heidi were able to offer various reasons for choosing Vasco. Whatever origin they prefer, it’s still a great name and one which will certainly get this wine bar and restaurant noticed for a long time to come. As we left after a great meal, we passed through the downstairs wine bar which was buzzing with people of all ages enjoying a drink and socialising. Vasco not only provides a great restaurant for the area, but also a great social venue inside, and outside in fine warmer weather. All text and photos curtesy of Around Town Publications Close window