Jones’ Cafe Bistro on Queen’s Road has long been one of the city’s most popular little haunts. Popular with students for the breakfasts and early dining offers, as well as other Clarendon Park locals who just appreciate the quality of food. In the daytime there are homemade cakes on offer and into the evening a fantastic cocktail menu to wash down the tasty food. We went down to check out their evening menu and they’ve even given us a voucher so one of you lucky ones and go down and sample it yourself!
On a Tuesday night you expect a lot of restaurants to be half empty, but with Jones’ you can pretty much guarantee it will be busy whatever time or day you go. Always book in advance. Taking a lovely window seat and greeted with warm baguettes and mixed pepper butter I could tell it was going to be good night!
Jones’ do a great 2 for £12 deal in the week on their pastas and risottos and many can be forgiven for always choosing from that menu but we decided to try something different for a change. So for starters it was the mussels in a bacon, cream and leek sauce and the salad of spinach, avocado, mushrooms and tomatoes.
Jones’ do a great range of mussels on the menu and I definitely recommend trying them for either a starter or a main. The portions are immense so save some room through the day before dinner! This is the first time I’d tried them and they didn’t disappoint with a great creamy sauce to bring out the mussel flavour.
The salad was equally big in portion and flavours complemented each other perfectly. On a summer’s evening it’d make an excellent main course too. If you’re a regular at Pizza Express you’ll know a very similar salad is on their menu, but between you and me, Jones’ is better!
On to mains and we opted to be traditional and sample the burger and fries and then go a little of track and try the duck with parma ham and polenta. As with everything at Jones’ you have to have a side of chips with parmesan and truffle oil too!
The burger was, to put it mildly, massive. As the photo demonstrates. Topped with cheese, bacon, tomato and onions it was a hefty stack to get through, but the great quality ingredients left it feeling not too heavy to manage. That said, the fries did end up too much to handle!
Onto the duck which was cooked to perfection and melt in the mouth. The polenta added a really different edge to the dish rather than standard potatoes and the different flavours worked well. Quite a rich dish but lovely with every mouthful. Duck isn’t something I’d normally order but certainly wouldn’t hesitate in having this again. In fact if anything, I think this dish proves that I could probably order absolutely anything off the menu here and enjoy it.
Absolutely stuffed full the lovely staff asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu. I couldn’t quite manage it so opted for a floater coffee but my dining partner was determined to squeeze something in so opted for the mixed ice cream. Some of you might think mixed ice cream is a bit of a boring dessert to go for but it was presented beautifully in a tall glass topped with a strawberry and sauce that it ended up appearing as something far more exotic.
Staff
We always like to mention the staff who serve us and Faye and James were a credit to Jones’. Very polite and attentive without being too much! They had a smile on their face for everyone and the service was really quick.
All in all Jones’ didn’t disappoint one bit. With the very reasonable 2 for £12 menu option as well as the a la carte this is somewhere that’s perfect for all occasions – first date, graduation, out with the parents, or just a casual evening out with friends.
Two tips – be sure to ring and book in advance and make sure you try the mussels!
9/10
WIN
Fancy checking out Jones’s for yourself? We’ve got a £40 voucher for a lucky Cool As Leicester reader to win! Just answer this very simple question?
What road is Jones’ Cafe Bistro on?
Send your entries to [email protected] by 5pm on Monday 18 August.
GOOD LUCK.